How do I sell my car to buy a van...

[TMG51]

One of my holdups in buying a van and hitting the road life is that I bounce between two modes of thinking:

1) Trade my car at a dealer, come away with a van.
2) Buy something cheap private sale.

If I go with #1 it simplifies a lot of things:
1) I have NOWHERE to keep 2 vehicles prior to hitting the road.
2) My current car is financed. If I buy private sale I have to sell my current vehicle.
3) I can use the equity that is in the current vehicle at a dealer, and therefore I can afford something better... rather than scraping my savings for something cheap.
4) I don't even know how to sell my current vehicle if not as part of a trade-in.

Reasons to go with #2:
1) WAY more selection private sale than at dealers for these kinds of vehicles (I'm talking high top, or converted class b vans).
2) Spend less money (in theory - in reality, I have less upfront and don't even know how to make the deal work logistically).

My current vehicle was bought and financed last year for $10,500. I put $4,000 down the day I bought it and have paid something like $1400 on it since then. So I have roughly ~$5k equity in it minus whatever depreciation has occurred in a year. I have about $4k in the bank. If I buy totally out of pocket private sale, $4k doesn't get me all that far and still have enough to outfit the van and keep some savings before hitting the road. I could take out a loan, probably, but then I would still have my current car, and I would be paying on two loans.

How do I get the equity out of my car when I can't find a dealer that has what I want? :huh:

 

[ttpadilla]

You could conceivably sell your car back to the dealer and use the cash for private purchase

 

[Bdog1]

Find the value of your vehicle on KBB or NADA web page, call and get pay-off on your loan and start shopping. There is something to be said for the full service experience, just make sure you know your numbers. You can save on sales tax too.

 

[TMG51]

So you guys think the dealer I bought it from might just buy it back? I'm sure I would take a loss on top of depreciation that way, but, so would I in a trade; dealers always want to make money on all sides of the deal.

I could go with no car for a while I suppose. I live in a city currently.

 

[ttpadilla]

I didn't mean necessarily the same dealer, just a dealer. They'll make the numbers work in their favor whether they're buying it or accepting it as a trade-in. Dealing with dealerships pretty much guarantee a financial loss. You could sell it privately and maybe do a little better.

 

[GotSmart]

find the value of the vehicle, then find your pay off amount.

Start from there.

 

[LeeRevell]

Once you know the amount to sell for, advertise it in Craigslist or Ebaymotors. Or your local mullet wrapper.

 

[TucsonAZ]

Give some more info, what kinda car, what do you owe, what are you working with? A trade may work best, lots of people are willing to swap a van for a car as that's often times why they're selling in the first place. That would be the ideal situation and be the option that went most in your favor.

 

[freerangetortoise]

I'm in a similar situation right now. I'm upside down on my newer Dodge Ram 1500 but I just picked up a uglier but beefier Chevy 2500HD for dirt cheap from a private sale. So my dilemma now is how do I get ride of the Dodge? OR, do I sell the Chevy for a profit and put the money towards paying off the Dodge?

The problem with Kelly Blue Book is that they aren't the ones doing the buying. It'd be different if KBB came up with values for vehicles and stuck their necks out there and actually bought the cars. That isn't the case. Instead, you have KBB telling the world what any given vehicle is worth while letting someone else do all the buying. And what happens is there's a huge discrepancy between what the seller (you) is expecting their vehicle is worth (because KBB said so!) and what the buyer (the dealership, etc.) is willing to pay for it - which results in unnecessary frustration.  

I'm not sure which part of the country you're in but there are Carmax dealerships everywhere. If you don't know what they're about, check them out HERE.

Basically, they're a no-haggle type of place. They sell used cars where the price on the sticker is what you pay (minus taxes and registration I would imagine). And they also buy cars with the same concept - no haggling and no pressure to buy one of their cars. It's definitely worth looking into.

If they want to give you more for your car than what you owe, then they'll cut you a check right then and there for the difference as well as contact the lender you're using for the rest of the paperwork and what not. If they offer you less than what you owe, and should you choose to accept the offer, you have to pay Carmax the difference and you can walk away from the car clean. If you can't decide what to do, they'll just appraise your car and the quote is good for 7 days so you have some time to think about it.

Of course, they're a dealership and they're going to give you less than what you could get on the street - they need to make their money too. Go in knowing that, whether you go to Carmax or any other dealership. If you decide you want to sell it yourself, know that it's going to be hard to sell a car without the title in hand.

Sorry for the rambling. Hopefully it made some sense. Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

 

[SoulRaven]

I think Craigslist is a far better choice for determining the value of a vehicle in any given area. You can get both what the dealers and private parties are charging.