Stories from the Sales Frontlines

robr2 · March 2006

Same reason someone wants to carry every song ever recorded around with them.

Because they can.

au1994 · March 2006

I always get a good laugh when I see 5 grand worth of tires and wheels on a $1500 Impala.

Reminds me of the old saying about a fool and his money...

bobst · March 2006

In the late 70's we test drove a Nissan, or maybe it was a Datsun, 240 SX, a small car with a hatchback.

It had a button on the dash that said "Rear Wipe".

I didn't try it out, but I guess it could have been useful if you had an 'accident' while driving or if you had to leave home in a rush before you had time to attend to matters.

The newer cars don't have that exact option, so I suppose that technology has been lost in the sands of time.

1racefan · March 2006

"It had a button on the dash that said "Rear Wipe".

I didn't try it out, but I guess it could have been useful if you had an 'accident' while driving or if you had to leave home in a rush before you had time to attend to matters."

...Or after having a close call with another motorist...or for passengers like myself when I am riding shotgun with my wife.

guss · March 2006

you are not right in the head.

Did you also think the ABS light somehow gave you a six pack ?

jlawrence01 · March 2006

Good god, those cloth tops on the "big boat" cars (Cadillacs, Lincolns, Grand Marq/Crown Vic, etc) are HORRENDOUS!

If you think thay are bad on THOSE vehicles, I used to see a LOT of them on the Tempo/Topaz models in Detroit.

My feeling is that if you are going to "pimp" a Topaz, why not just move up to a Taurus.

mirth · March 2006

...was one of the worst cars ever put into production. IMHO. Adding a fake top should trigger an arrest by the fashion police.

mazda6iguy · March 2006

I remember back in the late 70's or very early 80's at a Cadillac dealership seeing a Fleetwood Brougham on the showroom floor with a set of Uniroyal Royal Seal tires and thinking that they looked really gaudy at the time. The white stripes were too wide, and I think they had a thin gold stripe on them too.

michaellno · March 2006

I don't see too many of these here in Colorado, so I was quite surprised to see a Mercury Sable with the 'faux landau' roof on it while on my way to work earlier this week.

Quite a sight!

mazda6iguy · March 2006

A couple days ago I saw a PT Cruiser tricked out with 'Gangster' whitewalls.

robr2 · March 2006

...was one of the worst cars ever put into production.

Hey I take umbrage with that. My wife brought a 95 into our marriage and although not a perfect car, it ran. We traded it in with about 140K on it. The used car manager wanted to send it to Ripley's.

kdhspyder · March 2006

The young guy who comes in riding high in his JACKED up 4 WD truck with $10000+ mods and tires/rims off a CAT roadhauler.

'Uh, son, did you realize that by doing this you cut your resale market to ONE....and he's your little brother who will have his license in 4 yrs.'

Please find me a Corolla to give away quick.

snakeweasel · March 2006

Well Many years ago me and the wife were looking for either a mini van or an SUV and we were looking around at a Honda dealer. The salesman took me out back to show me a car that I could have at a real good price. They had an SUV there (CR-V IIRC) that was totally pimped out. Had all the ground effects, the lights, paint job, fart can all the works.

It was offered to me right off the bat for around 70-75% of the sticker.

Apparently someone ordered all this and the deal fell through, then this dealership got it in a trade from another dealer.

jsylvester · March 2006

I remember those late 70's FWD Toronados, Riverias, etc. with the vertical rear windows looked really sharp with the padded vinyl roofs.

Part of the problem is everything looks more and more the same anymore due to aerodynamics and the homogonization of tastes. I for one would love a chromed, woodgrain, and button tufted interior (ala living room on wheels), but you cannot get that even on a Town Car.

This European drab interior look is getting really old to me.

mirth · March 2006

The used car manager wanted to send it to Ripley's.

LOL.

travler · March 2006

The best advise I can give is anytime you're frustrated, confused, lost, or down right uncomfortable with the situation DO NOT make a decision. No matter how much pressure being imposed walk away and reorganize your strategy. Always trust your instincts. Tomorrow is another day. A deal shouldn't change that much, if at all, in 24 hours. If there is a deadline it'll be in writing somewhere in the advertising. Ask for proof.

Never leave a deposit unless you completely understand the deal and you have accepted it.

travler · March 2006

The wheels were probably stolen. Who can afford $5000 tires if they're driving a $1500 car? I guess it's possible.

snakeweasel · March 2006

Well maybe by buying a $1,500 car saves them the $5,000 for the tires.

golic · March 2006

...and don't forget the 2,000 -3,000 dollar subwoofer, mega cd-changer and more speakers than a tuesday afternoon rotary club.

I often marvel at the cars which have better sound systems than I have in my own home *headshake*

thebill · March 2006

Any Honda dealers check out the pilot forum lately?

check out post 5808!

"I just came back from a dealer and placed an order on EX-L 2WD. The base price is 26752, which is $1,900 under invoice, plus freight (550) is $27302. Total out the door price is $29018.05 (include doc fee 99, TTL). The car will be in the dealer lot on Monday and I will test drive it first then sign all the paper works. The buying process is very smooth. The salesman just gave me the price up-front. I am in the MD area. I test drove the car with my wife and both of us were very satisfied with it. It is a wonderful SUV. No vibration at 70 -80MPH, and I will test drive the one I will buy. The VCM works silently and you will see a "ECO" light on in the instrumental panel when it is engaged automatically. We couldn't feel it was running on 3 cylinder and switch back and forth. Hopefully this will improve some mileage."

This was supposedly first pencil on a LOCATE!!!!

yeah, right

snakeweasel · March 2006

I often marvel at the cars which have better sound systems than I have in my own home *headshake*

Really? I usually end up cursing them.

isellhondas · March 2006

I usually stay out of the "Prices Paid" forums because of all of the "false information".

Trouble is, people read these postings and come to me wanting to do even better!

mitzij · March 2006

Is there any way to post this on Edmunds' front page?
Excellent, perfect advise!

british_rover · March 2006

I guess I will pick and choose on the details and which ones to tell.

This past friday I had a couple of guys come in wanting to test drive a Supercharged Range Rover Sport. I was across the street getting lunch for myself and our F&I manager when they came in. He had already sat them down gotten the necessary information and made a copy of their liscense. He steps out of the room with me to give me some back ground information.

My first response is that they can't test drive the Supercharged Sport cause we only have one and our other sales guide sold it last night. The day before was our F&I guys day off and that day was our other sales guides day off. I just hadn't mentioned that the car was sold yet.

So we look a little silly but thats ok just tell them that they cannot test drive the Supercharged Sport but they can test drive one of the regular ones. They also wanted to test drive one of 2004 Range Rovers. The particular one they wanted to test drive was sold but we do have one very similar to it. Ok cool got a plan so lets go in and say we are sorry and explain what needs to be done.

So we go in and start explaning the situation to the guys. We don't even get half way into the explination when they start getting upset. Well specificly the guy who said he was interested in buying the car starting getting upset. His buddy just sat there not saying anything.

We told him he could test drive a regular sport but no he only wanted to test drive the supercharged one.

No, sorry you cannot that car is sold and we do not test drive sold cars.

Well then he wants to test drive our black 2004 Range Rover.

No, I am sorry that car is sold but you can test drive the silver one which is pretty much identical to it.

Now he is really getting upset starting to get all red in the face and such.

He stands up and starts talking to his buddy saying how this is just what happend when he bought his Five, reffering to the 2001 Five series he would be trading in, the guys at BMW would not show him any respect because he was young and dressed "like a punk". Those are his exact words too.

Yeah and the next day I came back and put down 20,000 dollars cash to buy one of their cars but I made sure I didn't work with any of the people there the day before.

Now he is really upset and starting to cuss us out he starts asking if we gave him his ID back which we had about 5 minutes ago. He pulls out a money clip flips it open and makes a big show of fingering through all the cash in it to find his ID.

I saw a few hundred dollar bills in there and it was a pretty thick clip. If they were all hundreds he probably had 3,000-4,000 dollars in the clip. The whole time he is talking about how he owns three businesses and five houses and he never gets any respect because of how he chooses to dress.

Now it is just a funny situation cause he is trying so hard to show how much money he has and how rich he is that it is almost emberassing.

He stomps out of the office and tries to leave the showroom but he tries to open the wrong door. He goes to push on it and it does not open since that is the big door that we use to bring cars in the showroom. He about hits his head on the glass and then tries to pull the door open. It still does not open cause it is locked and he finaly opens the other door.

The whole time he is yelling at us and cussing. As he gets to his car he flips us the bird.

At this point we are both trying not to laugh and eventually give up fighting it.

Now I specificly left out this guys apperance from the story because I did not want this to influence you even by accident. He was dressed like a punk with baggy torn jeans, untied sneakers, two or three gold chains, wife beater t-shirt, big baggy jacket and a base ball cap turned crooked on his head.

I have sold cars to people who have dressed "worse" then that and they paid with cash so I do not prejudge people based on what they wear. I will however judge people based on how they act and this guy was a punk that dressed the part too.

He also drove up in a pimped out escalade with 22 inch dubs on it and enough chrome to sink a battleship.

Ahhh but the story continues....

And you can read the rest of it tomorrow cause I am going to bed.

snakeweasel · March 2006

He pulls out a money clip flips it open and makes a big show of fingering through all the cash in it to find his ID.

My experience is those that carry wads of cash do it just to impress others. The cheap ones have singles between a couple of hundreds. Plus they usually don't have all that much money to begin with, not that they are poor but not rich. Most rich people I know usually walk around with less than $100 in their pockets.

Your description of him fits.

biancar · March 2006

...if you know exactly how much money you have - you don't have very much. ;-)

mikefm58 · March 2006

Good story, I look forward to today's update. The guy just doesn't fit the mold in the book "Millionaire Next Door".

jipster · March 2006

The "punk" sounds a bit like a drug dealer(i.e pimped out Escalade, carrying a lot of cash, gold chains...and a baseball cap turned sideways on the head indicates gang involvement...or a wanna be). Did he say what type of business he was in? He said he had five houses...maybe they were crack houses.

Any of you guys in the "bidness" ever have someone pay cash, as in a briefcase full of cash, for a automobile?

ezshift5 · March 2006

...very, very entertaining tale.

..and I regret you and your buds have to deal with 'scrotes like that...

..two Q's - if I may....

..1. What's the ratio (good to bad) customer behavior?

.....would 80/20 (good to bad) be close?

..2. 22-inch dubs? Would those be wheels with the two plates......one of which continues to spin at a stop sign?

..again, appreciate the notes from the firing line...

best..ez

mark156 · March 2006

British_Rover... can't wait to hear the continuation of your "punk" story.

When I was buying my 2006 LR3 HSE, there was a guy in the showroom that looked really scruffy and was about 60ish in age. My salesman had finished waiting on him then started to help me. The "ole dude" kept coming over to my salesmans desk (sitting out on the showroom floor) and asking more questions, apparently, of which my salesman had already given him answers to.

My salesman said "sir" we can not let you drive our new Jaguar without a driver's license. I'll be more than happy to drive the car for you with you as a passenger so that you can feel how the car rides, etc. The "ole dude" mumbled something and said Ok... and then wanted to look at a figure of the amount of the check he would need to bring in. My salesman gave him a readout off of the computer with the total figure that included tax, etc. Then, the man walks out.

My curiosity got the best of me so I just asked my salesman what was the guys story. My salesman said that the man told him he was released from a 12 step facility and lost his driver's license due to drunk driving but will get it back soon. And, that he wanted to pay cash for a new Jag sedan. The salesman said that he treats all customers the same even if they are a little weird. (He has more patience than I do). This "guy" was a piece of work in my book.

To be a salesman, you have to have a lot of finesse. :surprise:

-mark156

bigdveedubgirl · March 2006

I have been on the reverse side myself. I was In Las Vegas a few years back,for the VW Guild which is the top 30 salespeople in the southwest. I went to a timeshare presentation on a bus out to some resort and before they do the presentation they have mininmum income requirements and minimum age requirements. I was just by 2 days meet the age requirements and I met the income requirements also. The gentleman who did the prestation who was a old crappy 70s tv actor saw my income he said "there is no way you make that much selling cars, I used to sell cars and there is no way you make that much." and proceeded to tell me that I was lying and that the next bus would be there in 45 min. I told him that it was true and the reason I was in Vegas to begin with. And he made a big scene and I said "Well maybe you were just not that good at it!" And my friend and I walked out and called a cab to get back to the strip.

But as for shady deals, truly shady deals, people do what is called a straw purchase. Like lets say Jimmy has bad credit, or no credit, or is a felon with a suspended license, or has no papers, he gives his money to a friend to buy the car for him. And he has nothing to do with it. Or if financing and his credit is bad, he has someone finance it for him.(not a co-x).

We had someone recently buy a car for his girlfriend and he financed it, and she was currently incarcerated. But since he bought it and was the primary driver, we let it go through. He bought a $8,000 set of wheels and tires for this car (I must say its the sweetest looking A4 in town) and paid cash money for them. Last week we got served with a search warrant from the FBI to get all records that pertain to him. Stay tuned for any details.

But bottom line, money talks and I have been doing this for a long time and I know I have made some good money off of people who did not look like they could buy a rollerskate, so to me bad taste, bad clothes, bad breath (well that one sucks sometimes) I will treat everyone the same. Now that guy at the ROver store, he was just rude and i wouldnt want to sell him a car anyway even if he had money to back up the bling!

sbell4 · March 2006

IT SOUNDS LIKE THAT PUNK WAS LOOKING FOR A GOOD BUY...AND THAT IS WHAT YOU GAVE HIM, A GOOD BYE!!!

Life is way too short to put up with any type of crap like that.

jipster · March 2006

"a old crappy 70's tv actor"

I'll bite...was it Danny Bonaduche? That guy, Horseshack, from Welcome Back Kotter?

oarsdad · March 2006

I'm not being sarcastic. With a couple exceptions I do not understand why people trade in their vehicles. I would like to her from the salesmen as to why their "trade in" customers do it.

The exceptions that I can understand/think of:

1. You have enough money and you don't really care about the money you're losing by trading in.

2. You're a single female living alone and you have safety concerns. You don't feel comfortable having strangers come over for the test drives.

But, excluding these exceptions, I truly don't get it. What I'm I missing.

A personal example. A few months back I sold my '01 Odyssey and bought an '06 Odyssey. At the time, KKB said my '01 had about a $13000 trade in value and about an $18000 retail value. Private party was near the middle of those two - about $15500. I was able to do better than the PP value but lets say I got just the $15500 PP value for the '01 Ody.. That is still a $2500 difference. Lets also say I didn't want to give the car a bath so I spent $200 on a detail job and another $50 on some newspaper advertising. Also, if I trade it in I think I reduce my sales tax on the new vehicle by the amount of the trade in (ie. $13000 x 6% (MI sales tax rate)).

Sell myself
$15500
- 200 detailing
- 50 classified
- 780 savings in taxes $13000 x .06
= $14470
- 13000 Trade in value
= 1470

Maybe it also takes 5 hours of ones time to write the ad and be available for people to test drive.

$1470/5 hrs = almost $300/hour.

So unless your time is worth more than $300 an hour why would you trade in your car. Unless of course you are one of the 2 exceptions. I realize this is one example and if your trading an older vehicle then the money one would be flushing down the "terlit" would be less. What I'm I missing.

My father-in-law is a perfect example. He will drive 3 miles out of his way to save $.03/gallon on gas - about $.60 total on the fill up. Then he will go flush $1000 trading in his car.

David

geo9 · March 2006

DAVE........Even putting aside the difference in the
sales tax you would pay,running to the bank to pay off
the balance of loan you may have, waiting for a new
title or release of lien, putting up with the joyriders,
strokes and looky loos.

Not to mention if they have mechanical issues and blame
you for not disclosing them even if your sales statement
is carefully worded "as-is, no warranty expressed or
implied etc. etc."
Most states they can still drag you to small claims
court and make quite a hassle..........

You have to remember the "retail" book value in MOST
cases CANNOT be borrowed from a bank on a private
party sale. The most a bank will give you is LOAN
value which in most cases is THOUSANDS less than retail.

Most folks don't have the difference in cold hard cash
and are payment buyers! Not everybody has $15k+ cash
laying around either..............

Thats where Mr Dealer comes into play and EARNS that $$$.
He can provide full financing, warranty, etc.........
Not to mention putting up with any issue the buyer might
have..........

Lets face it...For most folks its easier not to mention
Mr. Dealer has to make a few bucks too. Selling a new
XYZ mobile at cost don't pay the employees or keep the
lights on..............

mikefm58 · March 2006

I agree with you David as far as the finances are concerned between trading and selling it yourself. I too doubt if I'll ever trade in a vehicle again, just doesn't make financial sense.

golic · March 2006

I think you are too cavalier over the safety issues.

I am not a female and the idea of placing an ad in ebay, newspaper etc, then inviting people to my house just makes me nervous.

1. Do I really want to go on a test drive with this person?

2. If I don't, will I let them take the car for their own test drive, mechanic check and who is to say the drivers license they give me is even real.

3. What if they wreck the car in the process of the test drive/mechanic check?

4. Do I have time to field phone calls at work? What if they want to see during the day? Do I have time to leave work to go into the parking lot to show a car?

5. Am I supposed to collect sales tax? What if I don't? Wiil the State send me a bill 90 days later wanting sales tax I didn't collect?

6. What if it takes me 2-3 months to sell the car? Now I ether have 2-3 extra car payments on top of my new one OR I will be paying additional interest on the money I had to borrow to pay-off the vehicle so I can get the lien.

7. Will their check bounce? Is this a real "certified check"?

8. Since, they now have my home/office number and now where I work/live everytime there is a problem are they going to call me up and harass me?

9. What if something breaks and now there is a major repair? Now I HAVE to fix it in order to sell it.

There are many many factors that come up over the sale of the car and when I recently bought a new car I had the very same intention of trying to do this myself and you are right, the UPSIDE is about $1,000 - $2,000.

But there is a significant downside chance that that $1,000 can dissappear before you know it OR you end up with nutcase who stalks you, steals the car, or hauls your rear end in court.

Bottom line, unless you have lots of time it just was not worth the aggravation to me, YMMV. My resolution was to detail my car ($200) and shop it around to places that bought used cars. I took it to CarMax, I took it to a ma/pa used car lot and had REAL quotes in my hand when I went to the dealer and offered the trade-in, rather than relying on KBB, TMV, etc....

I gave myself options so I didn't have to rely on the dealer and if they didn't want it I had valid quotes from companies that did.

I have asked Edmunds more than once to put up a forum for how to sell your car on your own...I think the information would be invaluable. But those requests have fallen on deaf ears.

1racefan · March 2006

Kind of goes back to the old "time is money" thing. A lot of people I know would leave $1000-$2000 on the table just out of the sake of convenience.

thebill · March 2006

Last day of the month, not enough time between appoinments to read that much.

golic · March 2006

SELL SELL SELL!!!!

GOOD LUCK ON CLOSING OUT THE MONTH!!

MAY YOU GET HAPPY MINI'S FROM EDMUNDS CUSTOMERS AND MAY YOU BE BLESSED WITH MSRP'S, WHEEL LOCKS, MUDGUARDS, AUTO-START, AND GOLD MEDALLIONS ON ALL OTHERS!

CARPE DIEM.

nonjth13 · March 2006

I think previous posters may have covered the topic, but here are my .$02.
Where I live sales tax on a new purchase is paid on the difference between price and trade value. If you are trading in a car worth $20000 that is $1650 right there
For an inexpensive car, which I would peg at less than $4000, I would sell it myself because those are easy sales usually and I can demand cash payment.
For a more expensive car there is no way I am going to deal with all those "buyers" who don't really have the ability to pay. I am not a dealer or a bank and have no desire to play one on television.
By the same token, absent some extraordinary circumstance, I would not consider buying a private party used car. Sure you might get a good deal but you can also buy somebody else's trouble and have few avenues of practical recourse.
So, oarsdad, what you are missing is that not everyone shares the same set of circumstances or values the same thing. For me, if I wanted to sell used cars I would go get a job at a car lot.

lmp180psu · March 2006

I live in PA, and am in the process of trading in my 04 Mazda3 sedan for a 06 Mazda3 hatch, and I wanted to know how the taxes would work in my situation. Say for example I get $12,500 (realisitic per Terry

for my trade, and owe $8500 on the loan. Since the tax rate is 6% would $750 ($12500 * .06) be subtracted from the taxes, or would $240 (positive equity of $4000 * .06)be deducted?

Now of course this may not make a difference if PA isn;t as state were this situation would apply

div2 · March 2006

I'm fortunate in that I have a reputation for being obsessive about the maintenance and repair of my vehicles. As a result I'm almost always able to sell a car quickly- and for a good price. I've only traded in two cars in the past fifteen years. Here are the gory details:

1973 Bavaria 3.0- Sold in 1990 to the service manager of the independent BMW shop I use. Time on market: 2 days

1987 Scorpio- Sold in 1991 to a co-worker for $2500 over best trade-in offer. Time on market: Zero- buyer asked me if I wanted to sell it.

1987 535is- Sold in 1992 to a friend. Time on market: Zero. The buyer had made me a standing offer to buy the car whenever I wanted to sell it.

1991 740 Turbo- Traded in 1994 on a 1993 Pathfinder SE for $1200 more than lease buyout. I must have made a good deal, as the car sat on the dealer's lot for over two months...

1988 M6- Sold in 1995 to fellow BMW club member. Time on market: 1 day.

1984 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe- Sold in 1998 to the owner of my son's day care. Time on market: Zero. Buyer asked me if I wanted to sell it.

1998 318ti- Traded in 2001 on a 1997 528i for $1000 over auction price(according to Terry in Real World Trade-In Values). This was one time when the deal was so good that it wasn't worth selling it myself.

1993 Pathfinder SE- Sold in 2003 to the owner of the previously mentioned BMW shop. Time on market: Zero. I mentioned to him that I was putting the truck up for sale and he said "I'll take it."

1997 528i- Sold in 2005 to a customer of that same BMW shop. Time on market: five days. The car had 130K miles and four accidents on Carfax-which I disclosed. The selling price was double what Carmax offered. FWIW, I talked to the buyer about a month ago; she still loves the car.

I've never bought a newspaper ad, though I did list the M6 in the local and national BMW CCA classifieds.
The reason I was selling the 5er was because my wife wanted an SUV(so that she could negotiate our 1/2 mile gravel farm road in inclement weather). We narrowed the choices down to two very different vehicles- a 2004 CPO X3 and a 2005 Xterra Off Road. My BMW salesperson agreed that I'd be much better off selling the 5er myself. At the Nissan dealer my salesperson was excellent, but the Sales Manager popped in and pressured me to trade the 528i. Even though I explained that I had a buyer and that the sale was a done deal, he still insisted on reciting a litany of problems that could befall me if I tried to sell it myself(yes, he wanted a deal TODAY!!!). The guy's attitude really ticked my wife off, and he probably wound up costing his store the sale.

montzter · March 2006

Same with us here in Ohio. The amount we receive for trade-in of our used car towards a new one is exempt from sales tax.

My example: My 2006 Civic with mud guards and all weather floor mats stickered for $18,058. My trade in had an NADA retail value of $12,900 and an NADA trade-in value of $11,100. Buying "retail to retail" as I call it, I received $12,498 for my trade in towards the sticker price of $18,058. So, the total "value" of the trade was $13,373 including the tax savings.

I could have purchased the new Civic outright for about $16,688. That means I would have had to get about $11,900 out of my trade to make it an "equal" deal. Even if the car is detailed and I take the time to advertise, show, sell, etc, chances are I won't get the $12,900. Most people shopping cars from individuals won't pay top dollar. So even if I would get $12,400, the extra $500 I would save would not be worth it, especially if the car did not sell for several months.

jlawrence01 · March 2006

In addition to Golic's litany of sorrows:

1) People who set up an appointment to drive your car and don't show up.

2) People who "test drive" the car with NO INTENT to buy.

3) People who cannot come up with the cash for the vehicle so you sit there for 2-3 days.

4) The person who buys the car and then harasses you when a minor problem arises in a car with 150k miles.

stickguy · March 2006

if you get a tax credit (some states don't give it, NJ does), it normally is on the trade value. What you owe/your equity has nothing to do with it.

SO, new car = 18K, trade value =12K, tax is on the 6K difference.

lmp180psu · March 2006

Thanks for the explanation

By my calculations, if PA is one of the states that gives a tax credit, I would save about $750 on taxes :shades: (New car is 21K, trade-in 12.5K )

snakeweasel · March 2006

I understand where you are coming from. In almost every case one is better selling their car than trading it in. But doing a trade in offers more convince for the new car buyer. Is it worth the extra cost? Thats what each person has to ask themselves.

snakeweasel · March 2006

Every car I ever sold I never had any of these issues. FWIW the only time I ever heard from anyone who bought my used car was when a friend bought it.

golic · March 2006

Div-

And in all these cases you used your network of friends and contacts to sell these cars. All a smart move. When I was looking for my last car, I did the same thing and drop the message I was selling my car let me know if you are interested.

I think what you describe is what most people should do, send an email to your address list, talk to people in Moms club, etc, etc...

I think the air of caution is people salvating over the "private party" value and then going out and selling to a completely unknown stranger.

Many people invest hours finding the best price on the new car and then when it comes to the trade in, pull two appraissals and get into arguments with the dealer.

My approach was to go out and get "real" offers. Like Carmax which will give you a quote good for 7 days/300 miles and you brought up some great ideas of hitting your network of friends and car dealers you had a relationship with.

Now, you have some real offers in your hand and have essentially turned the table on the dealer and put him in a match position versus and offer position.

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