It may not be as bad as getting a root canal, but the anxiety involved in selling a car can often feel the same; it’s time to do it, but you dread the process. You hope you’re getting the best deal, but you wonder if you’re getting ripped off.
We asked Eyal Leeder, COO of Driveway Auction, for some tips on selling your car. He knows there are many options out there for sellers, but whether you use an online service, such as Driveway Auction, to sell your car or decide to do it on your own, he wanted to share 10 tips to make the process easier:
1. Knowledge is power. Do your homework ahead of time so a potential buyer won’t take advantage of you. For example, check Kelly Blue Book, Edmunds, or Carfax.
2. Have a trusted mechanic inspect your car before you sell. This can prevent a buyer from claiming something needs to be repaired when it doesn’t. It can also help you better understand the condition of your vehicle and allow you to establish a more realistic value for the car.
3. Clean your car inside and out before you have potential buyers or dealerships see it.
4. Don’t repair anything or buy new tires. If a dealership buys your car, they will do the repairs for half the price.
5. Visit several dealerships so you can compare their offers before you sell.
6. If you decide to sell to a dealership, it might be best to sell to the dealership that is your car’s make. For example, you may get a higher quote from a Toyota dealership if you own a Toyota.
7. The market changes every day, so understand that prices fluctuate. An offer a dealership makes one week could drop the following week.
8. If you use an online classified ads website for advertising your car or the old-school method of placing a sign in your car window, make sure to conduct business safely. Never meet a potential buyer alone. And don’t meet at your home, instead meet in a busy place.
9. Understand how you transfer the title and registration through the DMV. Your car must be paid off if sold to an independent third party. On the other hand, if you sell to a dealership, they will take a car with a lien and take care of the lien for you.
10. And finally, a tip for buyers: dealerships have quotas to meet, so it’s best to buy a vehicle at the end of the month, end of the quarter, or end of the year.
As you can see, selling a car on your own is a lot of work. Fortunately, today, there are many ways to sell a car other than walking into a car dealership or putting a for sale sign in your car window. Driveway Auction is one of those ways. Founder, Brittany Redpath, launched the company in 2017.
“She founded Driveway Auction because the process of selling a car was so awful,” said Eyal Leeder, Driveway Auction’s COO. “We do the work for you.”
Here’s how Driveway Auction works: an inspector comes to your home to thoroughly inspect your vehicle; from there, they create a condition report, enter it into their system, and with one click, it’s up for auction to dozens of dealers in your area.
“The entire process can take 24-48 hours,” said Leeder. “We make sure we get the seller the highest offer.” Once the deal is made, the seller drives their car to the dealership that won the bid and picks up their check. There is no haggling. No long days at the dealership. No driving all over town trying to get the best offer.
See the Driveway Auction process in the video below:
Driveway Auction is located in San Diego and Tucson, but they have plans to expand in other areas of Southern California in 2022. They can be found at www.DrivewayAuction.com
