Selling your car
Selling your car is the opposite of buying a used car; everything I’ve taught you to buy a used car you must now be used in reverse – it’s easy.
There is just ONE thing that influences your sale – the price. You can’t just pull a number out of thin air, that number must mean something. That asking price is the upper limit for the buyer and that buyer is in control of this sale.
Price high
Start at Edmunds.com and come up with the lowest asking price you want – what the car is really worth. Do this now, go to Edmunds.com and get the 3 prices:
- Trade-in
- Private Party
- Dealer Retail
Trade-in Price
This is the price you can expect to get from a dealer when trading in this car – this is the lowest price you must sell the car for. This price represents the price the dealer will get at auction plus a profit for the dealer.
Private Party Price
This is the price you can expect to get when selling your car yourself. This is the price you must not really go below. However, this is never the price you ask for!
Dealer Retail
The is the upper range of your selling price – you will never get this price. This price is the Private Party price plus the dealer’s markup, which is the profit for the dealership and the salesrep’s commission. You really have no expectation of getting this price.
Your asking price
Everyone wants a deal – so you must offer a deal to your buyer. The Private Party (PP) price is the price you should finally settle on but you must set your asking price higher. Add 10% to 15% or more to the PP price and let the buyer feel good when they haggle you down, in price, to the PP.
You have to put up a fight and him-and-haw and finally show defeat by allowing the buyer to pay the PP price. It’s all part of buying or selling a car. When folks call you and state that your asking price is high, explain why it is – better this and more of that and ….you get the idea – BS.
Expect the buyer to reduce their price two times 1) The initial haggling 2) after the mechanic brings back a laundry list of things wrong with your car. So when you initially haggle you should stop at 5% above the PP and give up that 5% after the mechanic’s inspection or the buyer just decides your asking price is too high – so lower it 5% to the PP.
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