Lowball Sale Prices. Many people will ask you to write a lower price than they actually paid you on the title and bill of sale, to save on sales tax at DMV. Ethical? Unethical? That depends on your point of view about government. However, we will definitely say that a buyer who wants you to write $4,000 on the bill of sale and then pay you with a check for $5,000, is completely loony. They’re asking you to aid in tax fraud – and then deposit a check that proves it! If they’re paying cash, your call. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Sport’ Category
Selling Your Used Car Post 6
Friday, June 3rd, 2011Selling Your Used Car Post 5
Thursday, May 26th, 2011We go for a test drive. If they’re from a non-industrial country, they find 24 things wrong. They will make the car creak, rattle, and groan like it never did before. They find a steep hill, turn on the air conditioning, and show how the car has no power. They say the compression is bad. They say it will cost $1,000 to fix these things. Because of these problems no one but them will buy the car. But they will pay you $1,000. You say: “No, thank you.” They discuss it among themselves. (more…)
Selling Your Used Car Post 4
Thursday, May 19th, 2011If you’re selling your car for less than $4,000, life will be more interesting. You’ll get more phone calls. You’ll meet kids buying their first car; people who don’t have the credit to get financing at a dealer; eccentrics; cheapskates; people who like to work on cars; representatives from around the world — and with luck, grownups who just want a cheap car that will last a year or two. (more…)
Selling Your Used Car Post 3
Thursday, May 12th, 2011With the exception of a few born chiselers, it isn’t that hard to make a deal with these people. If there’s a problem, it’ll come later, when their check bounces, or when they call back in three weeks and want you to pay for a $500 repair bill, claiming you knew about the problem when you sold it. (more…)
Selling Your Used Car Post 2
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011Selling A Car Yourself
If you can, you grab a convenient man (husband, boyfriend, father, uncle, son, third cousin), and get him to do the whole thing for you. Some men actually like selling cars! And as you can see from the comparison chart between selling yourself and the dealer trade-in price, you can definitely afford to bribe them. (Best dinner in town, a football game, a new tool, etc.) (more…)
Selling Your Used Car Post 1
Monday, April 25th, 2011There are two ways: trade it in, or sell it yourself. Please at least skim this whole page, because there are some details to selling cars that vary from state to state.
Either way, if the paint and upholstery are in decent shape, do yourself a big favor: spend $50-100 to have it “detailed” – that is, professionally cleaned by a place that buffs and waxes and vacuums and treats the vinyl. (more…)
Auto Breakdowns
Friday, April 15th, 2011When to Keep Driving, and When to Pull Over
There was a time when most men (and a fair few farm women) could fix a car on the side of the road – say, the 1950s – as long as they had tools and a few spare parts in the trunk. In 2003, that day is pretty well gone, even for auto mechanics. The cars are just too complicated. (more…)
The Stay With the Car Myth
Friday, March 25th, 2011We get nervous when we hear radio interviews with experts advising people to “Stay with the car, always stay with the car until help arrives.”
Driving Dealers Off the Road Post 2
Friday, March 18th, 2011According to the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), 61 percent of franchised new-vehicle dealers were maintaining some kind of Webpage in 1998-up marginally from 53 percent in 1997. NADA found, however, that dealers were selling an average of just 5.3 vehicles per month through their own sites. But many of those same dealerships are selling far more through Net referrals.
Driving Dealers Off the Road Post 1
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011Mike Kinnear, owner of a small car dealership in Jasper, Texas, has looked into online referral services, and has his own Website for prospective customers. But when it comes right down to it, he insists, the Internet is no way to sell cars. “Internet car buying is a fad,” he drawls. “We’ve got a Website, but as far as selling cars, it hasn’t sold the first one.”