Ugh, selling cars

[stuka]

So, anyone has any experience using cars.com, autotrader, ebay, swaplease for sale section, Toadfly, etc?

I need to get rid of the Turbo to make room.

My sales guy gave me a whole sale quote which is not out of line, but I would rather get close to retail since the car is still under warranty till 12/07. I emailed him back and asked if he can sell the car for me retail and I'll cut him a percentage as commission. That might not pan out, and I would really rather not try to sell it myself, but if I have to I have to.

Thanks for the pointers.

[Doug]

I sold my car within a day on Autotrader

[AF]

I've done very well selling on ebay ... it is definitely the best way to sell a car IMO.

I've sold everything from an eclipse convertibe to an Antique Rolls Royce along with many cars in between. If you do it, than you need to take A LOT of pictures, describe every deatail that is negative about the car (like scratches, paintweork, etc) and be 100% honest to the fullest extent about the car.

If you do this you will sell your car very quickly and most likely site unseen ...

It is a very easy way to sell a car for the honest seller ... if you decide to do it, let me know and I wil lgive you tips on what has worked for me.

[equ]

So, anyone has any experience using cars.com, autotrader, ebay, swaplease for sale section, Toadfly, etc?

I need to get rid of the Turbo to make room.

My sales guy gave me a whole sale quote which is not out of line, but I would rather get close to retail since the car is still under warranty till 12/07. I emailed him back and asked if he can sell the car for me retail and I'll cut him a percentage as commission. That might not pan out, and I would really rather not try to sell it myself, but if I have to I have to.

Thanks for the pointers.

I had good luck with autotrader selling the 996. For the turbo, pca and rennlist/6speedonline/rennforums are good options as well.

[stuka]

I've done very well selling on ebay ... it is definitely the best way to sell a car IMO.

I've sold everything from an eclipse convertibe to an Antique Rolls Royce along with many cars in between. If you do it, than you need to take A LOT of pictures, describe every deatail that is negative about the car (like scratches, paintweork, etc) and be 100% honest to the fullest extent about the car.

If you do this you will sell your car very quickly and most likely site unseen ...

It is a very easy way to sell a car for the honest seller ... if you decide to do it, let me know and I wil lgive you tips on what has worked for me.

Thanks dude. We are heading to Dallas to look at places in Highland Park and West Plano, but when we are back, I will give a car a good wash and wax, take lots of pictures, and take you up on the offer to help with my car sale.

So, if I read it right, you are better off setting up an auction that has a reserve so that you don't get dinged each time someone places a bid (that has no intention of buying). I think if you do reserve, you only get charged the transaction fee when a bid that was placed meets the reserve. No?

[stuka]

I had good luck with autotrader selling the 996. For the turbo, pca and rennlist/6speedonline/rennforums are good options as well.

Thanks, will do that as soon as I get back from Dallas and take lots of pictures and stuff.

[AF]

Thanks dude. We are heading to Dallas to look at places in Highland Park and West Plano, but when we are back, I will give a car a good wash and wax, take lots of pictures, and take you up on the offer to help with my car sale.

So, if I read it right, you are better off setting up an auction that has a reserve so that you don't get dinged each time someone places a bid (that has no intention of buying). I think if you do reserve, you only get charged the transaction fee when a bid that was placed meets the reserve. No?

You definitely set up a reserve to avoid getting less for the car than you want ...

Some of the things I do that make an auction look hot sorta speak is I start the bidding at $100 or $1 ... in your case I would start the bidding at $10,000 ... I know it sounds low but more people bid on the car and physcologically they get people watching see an auction with 30 bids compared to the person who puts in the same car wih a starting price of $85,000 who will have no bids.

Another thing is start the auction on a thursday evening and make it a 10 day auction, this way it ends on a sunday evening when most people are home sitting at their computers ...

When you great closer to the time you want to put it in, just let me know, we'll come up with a good auction ad ...

[Optimus Prime]

You definitely set up a reserve to avoid getting less for the car than you want ...

Some of the things I do that make an auction look hot sorta speak is I start the bidding at $100 or $1 ... in your case I would start the bidding at $10,000 ... I know it sounds low but more people bid on the car and physcologically they get people watching see an auction with 30 bids compared to the person who puts in the same car wih a starting price of $85,000 who will have no bids.

Another thing is start the auction on a thursday evening and make it a 10 day auction, this way it ends on a sunday evening when most people are home sitting at their computers ...

When you great closer to the time you want to put it in, just let me know, we'll come up with a good auction ad ...

I'm putting the wife's Mazda6 up tonight. Any other advice or examples you'd like to share?

TIA

[AF]

I'm putting the wife's Mazda6 up tonight. Any other advice or examples you'd like to share?

TIA

Oops sorry I am a little too late to answer this but I think if you read what I have written you've got a good shot at selling it ...

Do you have a link to your auction ?

I wonder what the Mazda is worth ... I have been car shopping lately and was thinking of throwing mine on ebay .. the dealer has offered me $16,500 as a trade in which is pretty good though I haven't found a car at a local dealer that I want.

[Optimus Prime]

Oops sorry I am a little too late to answer this but I think if you read what I have written you've got a good shot at selling it ...

Do you have a link to your auction ?

I wonder what the Mazda is worth ... I have been car shopping lately and was thinking of throwing mine on ebay .. the dealer has offered me $16,500 as a trade in which is pretty good though I haven't found a car at a local dealer that I want.

I wasted Thursday night fixing the leak in the basement, so I still haven't listed it. I was on the road all day today, so hopefully I'll get it up by next week.

Edmunds/Nada/KBB have me around 17k-18k private party. We'll see how it goes.

[stuka]

OK, How's this? I posted it on Rennlist, and will modify it with pix this weekend.




2003 996 Turbo Speed Yellow/Black 6 speed with the following: Sunroof, Black Porsche mats, Painted yellow seat back, CD Changer, Stainless Steel Exhaust Pipes, 18" Sport Techno Wheel, Small Aluminum trim, and Metal Door Sill Model Insignia, .

The car has clearbra since the day I bought it new, so no stone chips.

New OEM N rated tires front and back.

Since it's been raining in L.A., I don't have pictures yet, but it will be up this weekend (hopefully it won't rain this weekend).

15K service done and stamped.

[AF]

I am a strong beleliver in giving as much information as possible and to answer as many questions in the ad as I can

In other words I would put a lot in the ad letting them know I am the original owner, the reason I am selling, any imperfections on the car, etc. keep in mind these people are not going to see the car and need to get a feel of what you, the owner are like and being that these are not your typical car buyer they are going to want to feel comfortable that you are the type to take care of your car and that you love your car and are always on top of what it needs, etc.

Anyway ... Check out my current ebay auction, my big mistake with this one was the resolution on my pictures are too low.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=4617030616&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT

[undefined]

so what was the reserve?

$15,100 didn't get it? :speechle:

[AF]

so what was the reserve?


it was set at $17,999 ... I'll probably throw it on again later in the week ...

[stuka]

Well, I took a gazillion pictures of the Turbo after a long ass wash and wax (happens when you haven't washed it in five months and it just sits in the dark garage never seeing sunlight). I had to repeat the soap cycle three times to get it all nice and clean.

It is on rennlist but that's kind of a half ass place to sell it anyway. So we opened an account and was going to sell it on eBay.

Well, the lawyer instinct kicked in and she started asking questions:

1. If we are doing third party buyout, what if the guy can't work it out with Chase and ended up not getting the car? We are legally bound to sell the car to the successful bid, what would happen to us?

2. What if there are two guys bidding each other and we ended up selling to the lower bid because he was able to complete the transction with Chase? Wouldn't the first guy who could not complete the transaction be able to hold us liable?

3. If they bid over the buyout price, do we pay sales tax on the entire price of the buyout plus profit? Or do we pay sales tax on the profit?

4. While Chase has said that they will be happy to do third party transfer, are we allowed to put this car on an auction site seeing as though we do not own the car?

So she wants me to put it on Autotrader because it's just an ad, and we are not obligated to sell to the guy if he for some reason can't compelte the transaction.

To me, auction or not it seems no different, we are essentially brokering the car and perhaps make a small profit, if any.

So this weekend I have to put the new front spoiler on along with cleaning the airbox and make it focking black and take some more pictures.

Then put it on Autotrader.

Until this happens, there is no new car in the horizon...

So, anyone has any idea on this whole third party transfer deal? Help me get my GT3, I will give free test drives.

[AF]

Stuka ... is this car a lease or financed ?

It sounds like your worries would apply more to a lease ... if you can answer this I can give you some answers to your questions ...

[stuka]

Stuka ... is this car a lease or financed ?

It sounds like your worries would apply more to a lease ... if you can answer this I can give you some answers to your questions ...

Lease with Chase. And I did verify that they can do direct third party buyout where I give them the buyer info, Chase do the paperwork and mail it t othe buyer, buyer then pay Chase and come collect the car.

[AF]

If your car is leased and you are setting the reserve price at the cost of the buy out of the lease and if the winner of the car has the money to purchase it from Chase than you don't need to worry about anything as far as Chase approving the buyer is concerned unless their is something specifiying this in your lease contract when buying the vehicle out early is concerned. It sounds like you already spoke to Chase about this so you know what conditions they require in order to have someone else purchase the vehicle.

As long as your auction expresses clearly the vehicle is leased and what terms and conditions of the buy out would be (from chase as well as your own) then it is up to the buyer to meet those terms. If they are the highest bidder and they do not meet those terms then they will not be able to purchase your vehicle.

Your job is to put the information in your auction and be certain to add that the purchaser must have the funds available and ready at time of bidding. If they are financing they must be approved and have thier loan in place at the time of bidding as well.

As far as the sales tax question, first you need to know if Chase is able to have the buyer purchase it directly from them or are you stuck purchasing the vehicle and having to pay the sales tax ... I do not know how your state works but if you were to make a profit on the vehicle I would believe that would fall under your income tax and not your sales tax.

Lets say for argument sake someone purchased the car and you did not go through with the deal, I do not know if you really are legally bound to that deal though I would check ebays site to be sure of this but I have always been under the impression that the worst case would be a negative feedback score and possibly being banned from ebay.

BTW one way of getting out of an auction after the auction is done is to tell the purchaser the vehicle has been in an accident :eeps: (after the auction) and you are willing to let them out of the sale as it will take weeks between your insurance company and the body shop to have it fixed ... usually people bail when they hear that ...

[stuka]

Well, as I got the prelim 1040 from my accountant, I was reminded that the Turbo gave us a nice writeoff for 2005, and that the term entered was 48. Since the full lease term was entered in the schedule, I am not sure what kind of bad things might/could happen to our taxes if I get rid of the car before the terms are up.

We will be meeting with the accountant dude next week and I might have to keep the Turbo for the long haul. We shall see.

[killerdeck]

Well, as I got the prelim 1040 from my accountant, I was reminded that the Turbo gave us a nice writeoff for 2005, and that the term entered was 48. Since the full lease term was entered in the schedule, I am not sure what kind of bad things might/could happen to our taxes if I get rid of the car before the terms are up.

We will be meeting with the accountant dude next week and I might have to keep the Turbo for the long haul. We shall see.

You are likely going to need to recapture some depreciation.

[stuka]

Update, according to my tax guy, since lease is straight expenses, it can just get dropped from your taxes without any consequences.

The E30 needs the following:

1. Half shafts boots completely torn to shreds, casualties of sideways driving.

2. Muffler.

3. Timing belt - damn has it really been 60K already!?

4. Sunroof trim (it's too old and beat up and the OBC check list modules keep falling down).

5. That stupid weather strip that remains a problem in E46 coupes.

Once the E30 has been fixed, the Turbo will be on eBay.