First Post: Want to sell my 2014 Scion FRS. How to get the most for my car?

[Jethro]

Hello folks. I have lurked here on and off through the years. I loved my FRS but I used it primarily as the occasional weekend car. The car is a red 6 speed manual 2014 FRS in pristine condition and with only around 22,000 miles. Garage kept. Handwashed with no fine swirl marks in the paint and the car is mechanically perfect. Basically in collectors condition which is primarily what I did with it, it was more a less a fun car for only the weekend jaunt to play tennis. The car basically is close to showroom condition and I am the original owner.

At 54 years of age I want to replace it now with a more family oriented vehicle and given the way used cars are selling today I think this is the best time to do it to get the best return.

My question is what is the safest way to sell the car and get the best return? I would like to try private but I want to make sure the people buying it wouldn't try to scam me. What safeguards should I have in place? If I don't feel comfortable I might try Carvana. Thoughts?

Also what would be a reasonable return on a private sale? I'm hoping around 25K.

[soundman98]

the worst thing about private sales is the people.

you're pretty much HAVE to use facebook to sell anything anymore. craigslist is dead because of their $1 listing fee.

according to kelly blue book*at least using my zip code):
https://www.kbb.com/scion/fr-s/2014/...hicleid=393276

'very good' bottoms out around $20k as a trade-in, and 'factory perfect/excellent' tops out at just over $24k at $24,141 for private party.

the question you really need to ask yourself is if any an amount somewhere near $2k(the likely difference between private party and dealer trade-in) is worth 2-4 weeks of constant hassle dealing with hundreds of responses like "is this still available", "i can meet in 2 hours(never shows)", "i've got a broken jet ski and some old toothpaste tubes, are you interested in a trade?" or my favorite "i don't have all the money right now, but can pay you $100 every few weeks, when can i get the car?"

a good first step is to make a move to decide what you want to replace it with, and give that dealer a chance to make you an offer as a trade-in, or at least get a free appraisal at carmax for the car-- a lot of times our opinion of our cars condition is greatly inflated, and i like to use the carmax estimation for a re-evaluation of my expectations and condition of the car i want to get out of.

from there, decide how much cost gain you stand to make private party, and if that amount is worth the extra effort/time/frustration that it will demand.

carvana is becoming more established, so last i checked, i'm seeing their purchase price estimations fall more in-line with standard kbb trade-in values. the only real gain in this scenario is to physically separate the trade-in from the new vehicle purchase so if the replacement vehicle dealer ****s you around on numbers games, you 'stiff' them on the trade, and make the numbers of the new vehicle easier to digest. this is really no different than trading the car in to carmax as well. personally, i like this method of selling/trading off the 'old' car first. it makes it easier for me to count the cash i got from that transaction, makes me feel safer that i can officially close that 'chapter' of vehicles. it also makes it easier for me to move into the new vehicle as a brand new and separate transaction with the straight cash from the old car instead of playing paper number games that only a skilled magician has training to deal with.

as far as if you choose to go private party to get the most money back out of the car, i've always insisted on cash. no payments, no 'later', come prepared to buy for the test drive, i'm not holding it for you or anyone else until i see the entire amount. it's a first-come-first-get's-it deal. but i've also never sold a vehicle over $6k.

given that there's a possibility that they might have financing of some sort, many guy's say to refuse cashiers checks, as they can be cancelled(YMMV), and insist that the best method is to do any of the transfer paperwork at the issuing bank, so the seller can leave with the banks check, or even better straight cash, handed over by a reputable bank employee, instead of a random strangers scribbled piece of scratch paper that happens to look like a valid check...



just for an idea for you, i just sold a ford ranger early on in the spring this year, private party, through facebook. carmax's offer on that truck was $2500. slightly different, as the old rangers are unobtainable new, many people are unhappy with the new ranger size, which drives up interest and prices in the old model. i had paid $5k for it 3 years ago(put nearly $8k into it in maintenance though), but the market pushed it up to $5,250 valuation. i asked $6.5k, fully anticipating that they would barter me down to $5.5k. i sold it after 2 weeks at that $5.5k.

i had close to 200 "is this still available?" requests, 4 people flagged me down in traffic with the signs, extremely interested, never heard from any of them. had 15 people that would show extreme interest for a number of back-and-forth responses, and then go suddenly dark around the time i would attempt to nail down a time to meet. there were about 4 people that scheduled a time to look at it, but never show. there were about 12 offers for trades of varying qualities. 1 was actually a broken jet ski.

3 people that actually showed up to look it over. 2 were unhappy with how much rust an 18 year old snow belt truck had(go figure), but were at least honest enough that didn't bother trying to barter. it significantly helped in this scenario that i never had less than 2 people showing interest at a time on it.

i did it specifically at the time because i had the new truck picked out, and wanted to maximize the money i was getting back out of the 'pit' from re-building so much of it. all that money was going into the down payment on the new truck, and nearly $2k over trade-in was worthwhile for me in that time.

[Jethro]

Originally Posted by soundman98

the worst thing about private sales is the people.

you're pretty much HAVE to use facebook to sell anything anymore. craigslist is dead because of their $1 listing fee.

according to kelly blue book*at least using my zip code):
https://www.kbb.com/scion/fr-s/2014/...hicleid=393276

'very good' bottoms out around $20k as a trade-in, and 'factory perfect/excellent' tops out at just over $24k at $24,141 for private party.

the question you really need to ask yourself is if any an amount somewhere near $2k(the likely difference between private party and dealer trade-in) is worth 2-4 weeks of constant hassle dealing with hundreds of responses like "is this still available", "i can meet in 2 hours(never shows)", "i've got a broken jet ski and some old toothpaste tubes, are you interested in a trade?" or my favorite "i don't have all the money right now, but can pay you $100 every few weeks, when can i get the car?"

a good first step is to make a move to decide what you want to replace it with, and give that dealer a chance to make you an offer as a trade-in, or at least get a free appraisal at carmax for the car-- a lot of times our opinion of our cars condition is greatly inflated, and i like to use the carmax estimation for a re-evaluation of my expectations and condition of the car i want to get out of.

from there, decide how much cost gain you stand to make private party, and if that amount is worth the extra effort/time/frustration that it will demand.

carvana is becoming more established, so last i checked, i'm seeing their purchase price estimations fall more in-line with standard kbb trade-in values. the only real gain in this scenario is to physically separate the trade-in from the new vehicle purchase so if the replacement vehicle dealer ****s you around on numbers games, you 'stiff' them on the trade, and make the numbers of the new vehicle easier to digest. this is really no different than trading the car in to carmax as well. personally, i like this method of selling/trading off the 'old' car first. it makes it easier for me to count the cash i got from that transaction, makes me feel safer that i can officially close that 'chapter' of vehicles. it also makes it easier for me to move into the new vehicle as a brand new and separate transaction with the straight cash from the old car instead of playing paper number games that only a skilled magician has training to deal with.

as far as if you choose to go private party to get the most money back out of the car, i've always insisted on cash. no payments, no 'later', come prepared to buy for the test drive, i'm not holding it for you or anyone else until i see the entire amount. it's a first-come-first-get's-it deal. but i've also never sold a vehicle over $6k.

given that there's a possibility that they might have financing of some sort, many guy's say to refuse cashiers checks, as they can be cancelled(YMMV), and insist that the best method is to do any of the transfer paperwork at the issuing bank, so the seller can leave with the banks check, or even better straight cash, handed over by a reputable bank employee, instead of a random strangers scribbled piece of scratch paper that happens to look like a valid check...



just for an idea for you, i just sold a ford ranger early on in the spring this year, private party, through facebook. carmax's offer on that truck was $2500. slightly different, as the old rangers are unobtainable new, many people are unhappy with the new ranger size, which drives up interest and prices in the old model. i had paid $5k for it 3 years ago(put nearly $8k into it in maintenance though), but the market pushed it up to $5,250 valuation. i asked $6.5k, fully anticipating that they would barter me down to $5.5k. i sold it after 2 weeks at that $5.5k.

i had close to 200 "is this still available?" requests, 4 people flagged me down in traffic with the signs, extremely interested, never heard from any of them. had 15 people that would show extreme interest for a number of back-and-forth responses, and then go suddenly dark around the time i would attempt to nail down a time to meet. there were about 4 people that scheduled a time to look at it, but never show. there were about 12 offers for trades of varying qualities. 1 was actually a broken jet ski.

3 people that actually showed up to look it over. 2 were unhappy with how much rust an 18 year old snow belt truck had(go figure), but were at least honest enough that didn't bother trying to barter. it significantly helped in this scenario that i never had less than 2 people showing interest at a time on it.

i did it specifically at the time because i had the new truck picked out, and wanted to maximize the money i was getting back out of the 'pit' from re-building so much of it. all that money was going into the down payment on the new truck, and nearly $2k over trade-in was worthwhile for me in that time.

Thank you for your thorough response. Yes it is the people I am most concerned about but I don't know how much Caravana would value my car. I guess the only way is to try. I like the idea about doing the transfer directly at a bank. So if I do decide to go private I will choose that route. Thanks!

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by soundman98

the worst thing about private sales is the people...............

WOW! - what a dissertation -

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Jethro

Hello folks. .........

Hello Jethro and welcome to posting to...... The Gang's forum .....

Over the years, I have sold several older used vehicles via private party. Cash only or go away.

As far as selling newer used vehicles, I am lazy, I just trade them in on a new vehicle. Clean out the car, give them the keys. Sign the papers, get the keys to the new car and drive off.

[NARFALICIOUS]

Sure you can do private party, you might find an honest buyer.
My question though, other than the aforementioned hassles, is Would a private party (possibly uninformed to TODAY's used car climate) offer/agree to a price higher than a dealer/carvana/carmax?

Both Carvana and Carmax are painless and easy to deal with.
I have sold to Carmax twice, but the last time was pre-pandemic.

A few days ago, I quoted one of my cars on Carvana's website, it's pretty damn quick, I filled out the questions in less than 3 minutes and they e-mailed me a quote. I haven't gone through with it, but from what I understand, they just pick up your car once you agree to their offer.

You could get quotes at these places then also list private party and compare?

[Jethro]

Originally Posted by NARFALICIOUS

Sure you can do private party, you might find an honest buyer.
My question though, other than the aforementioned hassles, is Would a private party (possibly uninformed to TODAY's used car climate) offer/agree to a price higher than a dealer/carvana/carmax?

Both Carvana and Carmax are painless and easy to deal with.
I have sold to Carmax twice, but the last time was pre-pandemic.

A few days ago, I quoted one of my cars on Carvana's website, it's pretty damn quick, I filled out the questions in less than 3 minutes and they e-mailed me a quote. I haven't gone through with it, but from what I understand, they just pick up your car once you agree to their offer.

You could get quotes at these places then also list private party and compare?

Thanks. If I get a quote today from Carvana is it possible for that quote to change say a few weeks/months from now? All things being equal meaning I don't put any additional miles on the car. Can I keep requesting quotes to see if the value of my car goes up? Silly question I know, but I don't know if it is possible to ask for several quotes. The pandemic, supply issues etc obviously have raised the value of used cars so I'm just wondering if this is the best time to sell.

[soundman98]

both carmax and carvana's offers are only good for 7 days. i guess you could keep going back for a new offer, but personally, i've got better things to do with my time(carmax generally takes about 15-30 minutes for the appraisal every time), and if i'm that serious about getting rid of a car, i'm happier with the extra cash and no vehicle. there's nothing about the selling process or salesmen that gives me pride or makes me want to hang around.

while none of us have a glass ball, i don't forsee the vehicle market changing for at least 6-12 months out currently with the current situation.

sales of everything historically falls a little flat up until march or april, as everyone recoups from the holidays, and tax season, so usually the best time to sell IMO is the spring. it's also historically when i've bought nearly all my vehicles...

but other than that, i don't think you're going to get much better pricing after fall-- anywhere else in the country is thinking of storing sports cars for protection from the winter elements, and few like storing a brand new toy before they get to use it.

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by humfrz

WOW! - what a dissertation -

my excuse is that i've been inside all day today

just feeling wordy this weekend. you should've seen the 5 page email i sent my boss about my ideas for the future of the company, "just a couple thoughts"...

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by soundman98

my excuse is that i've been inside all day today

just feeling wordy this weekend. you should've seen the 5 page email i sent my boss about my ideas for the future of the company, "just a couple thoughts"...

Brings to mind the story of when I worked for IITRI (Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute) in Chicago. My boss was a fellow named Dr Rich Matalas, who was an ex MIT professor, and the senior VP of Research at IITRI. I would fly up to Chicago on Monday, stay in a hotel, eat at fancy restaurants and fly back to St Louis on Friday (when I wasn't flying all over the US and Europe).

With nothing else to do on the weekday evenings, I would make an evening out of dining out at fine restaurants. After my first martini I would start making notes on a napkin as to how to expand IITRI's scope of business and thus profits. After the second martini I would order my supper and continue to make notes. I would have a third martini and complete my note taking.

I related this procedure to Dr Matalas. One morning during one of my private meetings with him, I was going down the list of ideas when he stopped me and stated that my last two ideas must have come to me after my third double martini -

[HKz]

My fellow tennis player at least get a quote from carvana, it doesnt cost you anything and you don't need to speak with anyone to obtain it. They gave me what I thought was a very reasonable deal especially considering they came to my house, didn't ask any questions, gave me a check and hauled my baby away. Well worth it considering I didn't need to post any ads or deal with gross people.

Though with only 22 K for a 2014, could be worth considering trying to sell on maybe Cars & Bids or BAT?

[CincyJohn]

Originally Posted by soundman98

while none of us have a glass ball

Speak for yourself - I have many glass balls.

[Flarpswitch]

The guaranteed Subaru trade-in for my 2017 BRZ Limited was just over $15K back in November. To get a real world idea of how to price the car for private sale, I checked all the usual places and got some unsolicited offers that matched the numbers. As previously mentioned, some of the offers came with some contingencies. Since I divide my miles among several vehicles, my BRZ was low miles and garage kept. That sparked a lot of interest. All the national services had initial offers that came within a few bucks of one another and when I had CarMax make an offer in writing, it was exactly what I was offered privately. CarMax gave me a check for $25,000. The MSRP for the car was about $30,500 and I bought it for $26,700. I had a talk with the guy at CarMax and he said that the older the car is, the better it's condition has to be for them to feel comfortable in reselling it. They are not going to make a fortune on the sale alone, so they get it in volume. Naturally, there is profit in selling you other stuff. I would recommend CarMax if you are looking to avoid being your own used car lot. I personally have had no serious problems selling cars, trucks, boats and RVs, but selling motorcycles... for some reason I got some real squirrels showing up at my door. I can still hear the gearbox grinding as the bike pulls away on a test ride. On one sale, someone flew in from quite a distance to look at an RV we were parting ways with. I promised that he would have first right of refusal and he could get back on the plane home if he decided against buying. These days, I think taking a little less for the sale may be worth it for a quick and clean transaction.

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by CincyJohn

Speak for yourself - I have many glass balls.

lol.