Question about selling a car

[Notifier]

It has been will over 10 years since I've had to privately sell a vehicle, since then it seems that the internet has changed the way to list and sell a car. Before, you could simply put an ad in your local newspaper and soon someone would be calling interested in the vehicle you are selling. Seems like newspaper readership is down, and even looking at the "For Sale" section in the classifieds is depressing. What used to take up four+ pages in my local paper is now only two pages on a good day!

So here is the question, which are the "best" websites to list a used car for sale? Seems to be a good number of them, and want to avoid wasting my time or money on something only to find out nobody looks at it. Or even a site that seems to attract a lot of scammers. I don't mind paying to place an ad. And still going to go the local newspaper route.

[ccurzio]

AutoTrader and eBay Motors are the most popular (and reputable) options. Craigslist is still rife with scammers, but legit buyers still check there for deals so it can still be a pretty decent lead generation tool.

You'll also get scammers on eBay and AutoTrader, pretty much anywhere you'd list a high-ticket item. But it's just easier on Craigslist.

[Dangermouse]

I've sold two vehicles recently on CL without much problem Flush out most of the scammer/spammers by stating in the ad that all replies must include a phone number and a specific codeword.

This doesn't help with no- shows etc but at least you are on a par with newspaper ads.

If your car is newer, give Carmax a try. I have sold them 2 vehicles also, at or above the price I was thinking of asking for the car. (under 10 years and 100000 miles are there limits I think - any work they have to do to it,however, will drastically affect the appraisal - so no bodywork damage or baldy tires  )

[DMC3165]

Since 2003 I've bought and sold at least 4 vehicles in total through e-bay. In the past it was free advertising to a nationwide audience. Now you have to pay regardless but it's still great exposure.

[Notifier]

Awesome, thanks for the suggestions. Not too worried about scammers, just want to try to avoid them to begin with. It's my intention to only sell the car locally, in person, and not to some guy who simply mails me a check and says to ship the car to him (or something like that).

[Mike C.]

I sold my Chrysler in 4 minutes on Craigslist. Put ad up, phone rang 4 mins later, made appointment, guy showed, car went bye bye. It was fantastic!

[Notifier]

Just wanted to thank everyone for their suggestions, this worked out better than I expected!

Decided to advertise the car on three sites, the online forum for the make, ebay motors, and autotrader. I actually placed the craigslist ad, but after I posted it had second thoughts on the local site I put it under and was forced to wait 48 hours to re-post the ad. Anyway, within 3 hours of posting it on ebay motors, got a phone call from someone 10 miles away! Met up with him the next day and the car was sold. I was just so happy I didn't have to deal with anyone 100+ miles away.

Actually, most of the responses I got were from the online forum, and most of them seemed legit. Autotrader was a bust, got only one hit and seemed too fishy to follow up. The best was this email I got:

"Hello, I want to purchase your item is still for sale ? What is the final price and what is the condition of the item ? I would like to pay using PayPal,After payments has been made i will arrange for pick up of the item as soon as possible...Looking forward in reading back from you soonest."

Yea, don't think so buddy...

[jackb]

I sold my Chrysler in 4 minutes on Craigslist. Put ad up, phone rang 4 mins later, made appointment, guy showed, car went bye bye. It was fantastic!
Ha, same exact thing happened to me (I didn't time it exactly, but it was less than 10 min). Got my asking price for it, and all it made me think was "huh, since it sold so fast at my asking price, maybe I should've asked for more"
I've bought 2 and sold 2 cars on CL, my dad has done a few on ebay.