Private Party
Car Sales

Trade It In or
Sell Your Car Privately?

Private party car sales have both advantages and disadvantages for someone trying to sell a used car.

I've made a list of both the good and the bad so that you can easily compare and decide which way, trading it or selling it private party, will be best for you.

If after reviewing the following you would still like to sell your used car private party then I'd highly recommend reading my private party car sales guide - 14 easy steps on how to sell a car quickly and for maximum profit.

I'm going to start this with the list of disadvantages, because unfortunately, it's the longer of the two.

Disadvantages To
Private Party Car Sales

1. There is no guarantee it will sell.

   This is especially true if you have negative equity and are forced to try and sell your car for well above market value.

2. There is no guarantee you will get what you expect.

   What you "think" your car is worth may be thousands more than what someone is actually willing to buy it for.

3. You may lose out on a sales tax credit by not trading.

   This will vary by state and if a tax credit does apply, then be sure to apply that tax credit to the trade in value offered by the dealer. This will give you the best apples to apples evaluation.

4. You may have to handle two payments at once.

   If you are paying on the car you are trying to sell and you've purchased a new car already, then you'll have payments on both until you sell your used car.

5. You'll receive phone calls at random hours of the day.

   You may get calls at 5:00 in the morning, during dinner, at midnight, etc. Not everyone understands phone etiquette.

6. You'll have strangers coming to your house.

   Expect to have all makes and models of people wanting to stop by Your Home to look at your car for sale. Who are you going to get? The good, the bad or the ugly?

7. You are at a much greater risk for fraud.

   Bad checks, fake certified checks and whatever new scams happen to be popular at the time.

Advantages

1. You stand to make more money.

   Yup, that's it. You have the potential to sell your car for more money than you could trade it in for.

Oftentimes you will get more when you sell your car on your own, but you need to factor in the disadvantages of private party car sales, from above, and decide for yourself how much more money you'd need to make in order to put up with the hassle.

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