Most of us are watching every dollar these days. But when it's time to sell a car, a lot of people take the first number they're handed and move on. For most families, a car is one of the most valuable things they'll ever sell. Selling it $2,000 or $3,000 short is real money: a few months of car payments, or a lot of groceries.
Where the free numbers come from
You can get a number on your car in five minutes without paying a dime. The trouble is, each of those numbers answers a different question.
- Online value guides, like Kelley Blue Book. A good starting point. But the guide never sees your car. It works from averages, and you pick the condition yourself.
- Instant online offers, like Carvana and CarMax. These are offers you can actually take, from companies that have to buy your car low enough to recondition it and resell it at a profit.
- The dealer's trade-in offer. A wholesale number, with room built in for reconditioning and the dealer's profit. It can also get blended into the price of your next car.
None of those numbers is wrong. But none of them comes from someone who looked at your car and is working for you. That's why they can swing so far from each other, and from what the car is really worth.
Where people leave money on the table
- Taking the first offer. One number isn't a market. It's a starting point.
- Not knowing what makes their car worth more. The right trim, a towing or tech package, low miles, a complete set of service records. The person buying your car isn't paid to point those out.
- Selling a clean car short. People worry about rating their car too high. Plenty of owners of well-kept cars rate theirs too low.
- Selling at the wrong time of year. A convertible in December or a four-wheel-drive truck in June often brings less than the same car a few months later.
- Walking in without a walk-away number. If you don't know the lowest number you'll take before you start talking, the other side sets it for you.
How to sanity-check your own number
You can do a lot of this yourself. Here's where I'd start.
- Get at least three numbers. Your dealer, a second dealer and an instant online offer. If they're thousands apart, that tells you something.
- Look up sold prices, not asking prices. Find cars that match yours on year, make, model, trim, mileage and condition, in your region, and see what they actually sold for.
- Walk your car the way an appraiser will. Anything you find, they'll find too. Here's how a dealer appraises your trade-in.
- Know your car's history before the buyer does. A Carfax report shows what every buyer will see: accidents, owners and service records. Don't let it surprise you at the desk.
- If you're trading in, run the tax math. In most states, a trade-in lowers the sales tax on your next car, and that can make a lower offer the better deal. Here's how that works.
- Set your walk-away number before you go. Then stick to it.
Or get a second opinion for $45
If you'd rather have someone who's done this for a living look at it, that's what the Value Check is for. Send me the VIN, the mileage, a few photos and any offers you've had. Usually within 2 hours or less, you'll get a written value range: what a dealer should give you on trade, what it should bring in a private sale, and whether the offer you have is fair. It includes a Carfax report on your car. No call needed.
Think of it as cheap insurance. If it keeps you from selling $500 short, it paid for itself more than ten times over.
I spent 11 years putting numbers on trade-ins, then 8 years running pricing and sale strategy on lease returns, routinely selling more than 2,000 cars a month at auction. I'm not making you an offer on your car, and I don't get paid by anyone you might sell it to. The only thing I'm working on is your number.
Want a sanity check on your number?
Send me the VIN, the mileage, a few photos and any offers you've had. For $45, you'll get a written value range, a Carfax report and a straight answer on whether your offer is fair.