Sell Your Car on Craigslist

Selling a car on Craigslist is fairly easy. You need just a few things to get the job done quickly. I'm not a car dealer, mechanic or anything official, and I've bought and sold several cars on Craigslist and plan to do so again in the future.

THE CRAIGSLIST LAYOUT

Craigslist is a very simple website. You go to the main page and click on your state, and your state page will list several large cities. Click on one of those pages, and you'll find listings for people from that city and the surrounding area. You may also get results for outside your immediate area.

Chances are your city may not be listed on the state page, but curiously enough, it might still be there.

A city page web address will look like this...

http://city.craigslist.org

Sometimes, you can stumble on a page that isn't listed by putting it in place of "city" in the URL above. (Just keep in mind, there may be a city in another state with the same name.)

SELL YOUR CAR ON CRAIGSLIST
STEP ONE: RESEARCH SIMILAR CARS FOR SALE

Before deciding on a price point, it's important to do a search and see who else is selling what, and how much they're asking. Because people will drive quite a ways to save on a car, it's good to check the listings for all the areas nearby.

You'll notice right away that there are two different listings - owners and dealers. Dealer prices will always be higher, and there will always be people who would never buy from an independent buyer. That doesn't mean you can't use their prices to your advantage.

Read through the listings and see which cars are most similar to yours. There is such a big variety - leather seats, upgraded stereo systems, limited trim and the like. There's no point in getting excited about prices of the same make and model if your car doesn't have the same options as those others. Make sure your price compares to the prices of truly similar cars.

STEP TWO: FIND THE BLUE BOOK VALUE

You can go several places online for free and find the blue book value of your car. Kelley Blue Book is the standard used by most US banks, courts and others. Because so many people use Craigslist to sell their cars in emergencies, you might find the comparable prices are lower than the estimated blue book value of your car.

People buy cars over Craigslist to take advantage of the savings, and to find good cars they otherwise wouldn't have the chance to buy. If your make and model isn't highly sought after, you'll likely be taking a loss on the book value.

Using this pricing information, pick the amount you want for your car.

STEP THREE: TAKE PHOTOS

Photos of your car are essential, and you can find people anywhere who can take digital photos of your car and put them online. Most of your friends probably have cell phones with this capability.

You'll want to clean your car, and get it washed. Take pictures of the exterior from all sides. Take pictures of the inside showing:

- the dash and odometer
- the front seats
- the back seats
- the trunk
- under the hood
- any known imperfections

STEP FOUR: WRITE YOUR AD

Before you write anything, open a text editor like Notepad. Write your whole ad in this first and then copy and paste it into the Craigslist ad form. 1) Writing it in a text editor vs. a word processing program like Word prevents any weird characters from showing up when you publish later, and 2) using a text editor prevents you from losing your ad midway through writing it if there's a glitch with the website or your internet connection.

There are three things your ad should have:

Description: year, make and model along with any special features plus mileage plus any potential problems

Service history: IF you've changed the oil regularly, IF you've recently changed the belts or tires, IF you've kept it in the garage, say so here.

Accident history: In some states, you have to disclose accidents by law. In others, it's still a nice thing to do. Besides, being honest about a car's history gives buyers trust in you.

Sale price and conditions: How much do you want, are you offering a guarantee or selling "as-is" and are you willing to negotiate ("obo") or is your price final? Will you accept cash, checks or credit card payments?

Most of all, focus on what you loved about your car. Make it personal in a positive way. Even better, make your ad funny. Help them feel good about the sale. People like to associate themselves with good things and good people.

Said bluntly, save your sob stories for your mother. People might feel badly that you've just lost your job, or can't make your payments because you're getting divorced, but they won't want to buy anything from you.

IF YOU GET ASKED WHY YOU'RE SELLING, UNLESS THE CAR IS IN ILL-REPAIR AND YOU'RE PASSING IT ON AS A FIXER-UPPER, YOU CAN PROBABLY HONESTLY SAY YOU'RE SELLING TO BUY SOMETHING DIFFERENT. YOU DON'T HAVE TO TELL THEM IF YOU'RE DOWNGRADING!

STEP FIVE: POSTING YOUR AD

Go to the Craigslist car page for your area, or whatever city you feel would give you the best exposure. In the right hand corner of the page, you will see a link that says "Post". Click it, and scroll down to "cars & trucks - by owner".

Your posting title should be a brief, specific description of your auto:

"2000 Ford Expedition, 110k"

or

"2006 Pruis, Electric Blue - RARE!"

You have to put in your email address in order to control your ad - to make changes or delete it once your car is sold. You can choose to hide your email address, in which case you need to list contact details in your ad, OR you can choose the "anonymize" option. This gives you a generic Craigslist email that forwards to your account while your ad is active. You must use a real email address, however, or you can't publish your listing.

Copy and paste your written ad from your text program.

Click add/edit images and upload up to four photos. I would include a front view, odometer, front seat, and under the hood, and save the others for people who contact you privately.

After you enter your ad, you have to go to your email address and click on a link that takes you back to Craigslist where you publish it. It's an extra step they use to prevent software programs from taking over the site, but it is an extra step you should know about.

STEP SIX: TAKE CARE IN EVALUATING POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS

Take care in evaluating people before inviting them to your home. People like to stay anonymous online. Be wary of someone who contacts you and offers up all their personal details before you've asked for them. Conmen know you want reassurance, so it's the first thing to expect from them.

I personally would not accept anything but credit card or cash. (Anyone can safely take credit cards through Paypal.) Checks, money orders and wire transfers are rife with problems, and you don't want them.

STEP SEVEN: SHOW YOUR CAR AND BE READY TO SELL

Before you post your ad, before you show your car to anyone, know your area laws on used car sales. The DMV should be able to help you find the information you need to complete a transaction.

I showed my cars parked down the street from my house. I had a title, bill of sale and odometer reading ready, and we exchanged cash for cars on the spot.

Sell your car over Craigslist to get the most from the transaction. It takes a little work and comes with more risk than trading in your car to a dealership, but with a little preparation, all will be fine. Good luck!