best way to sell a vehicle?

[Rock'n Robin]

A month ago we got a 2002 Chevy Trailblazer for a good price. We still have our leased van until Feb. because the bank won't let us turn it in. It is over mileage already.
Things are getting a little tight with Dh's business. The original theory was that his business would pick up the lease payment and it is parked at his office, but I don't want to burden him with it right now.
I would like to sell the trailblazer and take my lumps on the lease next spring. I've only put 1000 miles on it and it is in wonderful condition.
Since I won't be trading it in for anything (in fact DH hasn't even OKd this) I have to sell it myself, right? I doubt any dealer would give me what it is worth. According to NADA and KBB it is worth more than we paid for it, but if a dealer knew we'd only had it a month they would probably lowball the offer. I would like to get at least what I owe on it (and I've only made DP plus one payment).
Any advice?
Robin M.

 

[helenabear]

I haven't really sold a car myself so I have no idea, just bumping for you

 

[Carl]

I can't tell you the best way to sell one, but I can tell you that using Auto Trader.com is a waste of time. I had a Mieta which had less than 5000 miles on it, was a limited edition and a real cream puff. Didn't even get an offer and I was offering it for 9 thousand less than it sold for new. It was 2 years old.

 

[ToyStory Fan]

There's a few things you can do:

1) ad in the Pennysaver/local newspaper, but there are too many incentives (0% financing or cash back) from the dealer to make it worth while for someone to buy your used vehicle that will cost them on the financing side.

2) fast cash for cars...unfortunately they will give you wholesale value on the car (essentially dealer trade-in value) maybe slightly higher, unless which I think will be the case in your situation there are alot of similar vehicles on the market. The SUV market is flooded and my guess is that the Trailblazer/Envoy field is a pretty full one, which means they can pick and choose their prices because someone (not necessarily you) will be desperate or uninformed enough to take the offer they throw out there.

3) try to go back to the dealership and see if they can work with you and a wholesaler to "take it back" without hurting you too much financially. Depending on your finance rate at the time (which should've been relatively low if not 0%) you just need to figure out your pay-off and how much you've put in and try to get a fair shake.

What you really need to do is figure out if you are going to buy the van at the end of the lease...if you are stick it out with the blazer until then, or pre-trade the blazer against the buy out option (making sure you get good money) but the catch is if you do that you have litlle bit of leeway because you will get a sales tax benefit on the blazer towards the buyout... for example if your buyout on the van is $20,000 you would pay sales tax on 20,000 but if you trade in the blazer (it's worth more than the van) so you wouldn't pay the sales tax so assuming 6% on 20k you have about $1,200 of play in what they offer you for the blazer.

Wish I had better news...if you can sell it privately and make a friend in the car business you can actually bring them the deal and say I'm trading this into you (against my buyout) and then this person is going to buy it from you for the agreed upon amount, so everyone wins.

 

[jel0511]

I think ToyStory Fan has given you some good advice on how to sell your car, but I believe it's going to be very difficult. GM is really trying to move their cars now. With 0% financing and thoudands of $$$ off MSRP, it will be difficult for you to sell your 2002, unless you sell it at an INCREDIBLE discount. You'll also have to find someone who will pay cash, since the current interest rate for a used car is around 6%, bascially negating any savings by buying your 2002 vs buying a new 2003 at 0%. There is a way to get out of your lease now. All you have to do is pay all the remaining payments, and turn the car in (we just did this to get out of DH's lease). I'm sorry that you're in such a tough financial situation, but the car you bought is having problems moving off the dealers lots new, without TONS of incentives. Go to www.kbb.com to check on the trade-in value of your car. This website is pretty good, letting you know how much you could expect for your car. I also agree, that I wouldn't expect more than wholesale for the car, since you're in a situation where supply definately is more than demand.

 

[MomE@Home]

Whenever we have wanted to sell a vehicle we just put a for sale sign on it and park it near the road. The longest we ever had wait for an offer was 2 days and we live in the country on a back road.

 

[4greatboys]

You could try Carmax--they buy vehicles. We we bought our suburban we had a mini van to get rid of and the car dealers practically wanted us to just give it to them and it was only 2 years old so we tried Carmax and I believe we got a fair value. Yes we could have gotten more selling ourselves but not a whole lot more.