Selling privately - the different options

[Thisnthat]

All states are different on how a new vehicle is taxed. In several states, a private sale of a vehicle can be used to offset the sales tax liability. In my state, a sale of a vehicle 60 days prior or 45 days after the new vehicle purchase is allowed to be treated as if it was traded in. I've read that there are even some states where the sales tax is calculated off the full price of the new vehicle even if a trade in occurs.

Picked up my new 3500 over the weekend. Had a 2016 3500 with 75k on it - below were the offers I received.

Dealer trade in value on 12/1 guaranteed for 60 days was $39k ( I would've had to get an updated estimate as the truck didn't arrive within 60 days).
The first week of December I took it to a local dealer and they offered $42k (just testing the waters) - Ram had two significant price increases between these estimates and when my truck was built

Last week I listed it on Autotrader - priced at $46k which earned a "low price" as it was below the average private party value.

Carvana offered $36k
Vroom offered $39k
Carmax offered $42k - two weeks prior their automated system had come back with $44k - closest carmax is over 3 hours away or I'd had pursued this a little more
KBB instant cash offer was $42.5k - had two dealers that this apparently applied to - one sent a couple automated emails - was surprised no one reached out personally
Contacted a couple bigger dealers via their websites and received offers of $41.5k and $43.5k - the $41.5k offer was funny because they had a banner saying they'd give $1k more than the price generated - their system was operated by KBB - so they just offered me $1k less than what the actual KBB instant cash offer generated
All of the above took about 15 mins to obtain...

Then I listed on Facebook - first in about 3-4 large groups I'm a member of and then added it to marketplace (never listed on my personal page)

Autotrader was a complete waste of $49 - had about 15 spammers contact me and only one real person who thought I was a dealer.

In three days on Facebook, I received probably 20+ different messages with a wide range of offers - the most popular one was $40k cash - about 5 of the people were only looking for the Aisin, and then I had several independent used car dealers - several from 5-6+ hours away. Had offers of $44k and $44.2k

Ended up selling to one of the larger independent used car dealers (only an hour away) for $44.7k - they saw it on FB marketplace - initially offered $43k

If I had another week or so I might have tried Carmigo

I also wasn't trying to get the most out of it - my goal was $45k - ended up selling it for the average trade-in value using "very good" as the condition on KBB

Facebook just sped up the process as the morning I sold it I was planning on taking the truck to the dealers I had contacted via their website (along with a few others) and was planning on taking the best offer that day


If I had to do it over again - I'd probably been a little more persistent with the dealer on timing and started the selling process a week or so earlier - I knew the truck was built but I had been hearing all sorts of stories about long delays - truck show up less than 20 days after it was built

 

[mkmsr]

Good info.
My new truck is built and in route and I'm trying to figure out if I should sell now or wait to make sure it shows up in one piece. I'd hate for something to happen and I don't have a way to pull the camper.

I will most likely do the KBB instant offer and hit a few dealerships locally taking the best deal. Selling private will test my patience as people usually just want to kick tires and have no money.
Best part is my KBB trade in value is more than I paid 4 years ago.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

 

[orlando bull]

Thanks for the info. I am in the same boat. I need to research the trade sales tax thing here in Florida. I am not sure how that works with a private sale. Will definitely try the KBB offer and others as it gets closer. My order just went in on Friday and the sales tax savings should amount to ~$3,700. So, my thinking is that I would have to get that much more than my trade value to make it worth it. Dealer is offering $63-64k on my 2019, but not a guaranteed amount depending on when my new truck comes in. My KBB trade value is $68-70k, not sure how that equates to their instant offer deal though.

In any event, I doubt that I would do the private party thing, but if a dealer/KBB/Carvana/Carmax/Vroom can go up to $68+, I would jump on that when I know my truck is coming in. Wife and I can work with 1 car for a week or so.

 

[Texasram1]

This is great info. Thanks for sharing.

I got a trade-in quote from MD for my loaded 2018 limited with 37.7k miles. 37k, which is pretty low, and even with the ~2500 in tax savings the overall deal was still on the low end.

Got quotes from carmax, vroom and carvana. All were 39 +/- a few hundred, but no sales tax break.

Listed on Autotrader for a “low price” and got two bot inquiries.

Local dealerships (chevy and Ram) offered the same as the online shops. 39.

So no matter which way I go, it seems I will get well below kbb for a low miles, well maintained rig. At least if I trade in at MD i wont need to pay for a rental car while I wait for delivery and to drive to LA to get my new truck.

 

[Basser53]

Guarantee of trade in value is the new thing around here.. I only shopped 2 dealers and both offered it.. there's alot of competition for around here for employee purchases.. i would need to ask 5k more from a private party then what the dealer is offering that would put me close to the original sticker price....not worth the hassle for me.. plus i get to dive my truck while i wait..
The trdein offer was more then caravans $58k and kbb $69k.. dealers was 71k.. I didn't put in much time with this..

 

[SuperTroopr]

Just a heads up to anyone in the PA/MD/DE area. I just sold my truck in my signature (11,804 miles) to Fitzgerald Auto group in Maryland for $78.5k. I had it listed private sale for $80. KBB instant was $74.5, local dealer offered $76.5.

They didn't even try to get me down in price when I brought it in, which was surprising. If I wasn't get a used cheap car from them until my new truck comes, I would've been in and out in a hour or so. Anyone in that area may want to give them a call (Curt is the used car manager) and see what they'd offer.

 

[buzzuti]

Similar experience...

AutoTrader, CarGurus, both a joke. Spam and or Scam messages galore.
I believe I only have like 3 real people hits in a month period.
(was selling a 2021 Built to Serve w/ 2" level and Fuel wheels 295/60/r20, I thought it would be like a high value target but no)

However, several dealers contacted me looking to purchase through posts on the above mentioned sites.
Ultimately, one did come to me with the right number and it was as painless as simply dropping it off.

One item for consideration, if one still owes on their truck, sell to a dealer is a good option as they handle title transfers etc.
They make it really easy.

 

[Thisnthat]

My advice would be to find the largest/most reputable independent used car dealer that specializes in your truck and approach them with it. The typical new car dealer may be a player, but the guy that only sells premium used cars is in a crunch for affordable inventory right now because that's his only source of inventory - the other dealers have (albeit limited) new inventory to help them out. The dealer I sold mine to probably won't mark it up much, he'll of course try and make as much as possible off of it - but he'll probably make more off financing it for the next guy.

 

[Texasram1]

I ended up selling my truck to givemethevin.com. They were the only outfit willing to negotiate.

I still sold it cheap, but got 4500 over the dealer trade. After the loss of their tax savings I still made 2500 over the dealer amount. Good enough I guess. But now I need the new truck to show up!

 

[Ajbjorkman]

All states are different on how a new vehicle is taxed. In several states, a private sale of a vehicle can be used to offset the sales tax liability. In my state, a sale of a vehicle 60 days prior or 45 days after the new vehicle purchase is allowed to be treated as if it was traded in. I've read that there are even some states where the sales tax is calculated off the full price of the new vehicle even if a trade in occurs.

Picked up my new 3500 over the weekend. Had a 2016 3500 with 75k on it - below were the offers I received.

Dealer trade in value on 12/1 guaranteed for 60 days was $39k ( I would've had to get an updated estimate as the truck didn't arrive within 60 days).
The first week of December I took it to a local dealer and they offered $42k (just testing the waters) - Ram had two significant price increases between these estimates and when my truck was built

Last week I listed it on Autotrader - priced at $46k which earned a "low price" as it was below the average private party value.

Carvana offered $36k
Vroom offered $39k
Carmax offered $42k - two weeks prior their automated system had come back with $44k - closest carmax is over 3 hours away or I'd had pursued this a little more
KBB instant cash offer was $42.5k - had two dealers that this apparently applied to - one sent a couple automated emails - was surprised no one reached out personally
Contacted a couple bigger dealers via their websites and received offers of $41.5k and $43.5k - the $41.5k offer was funny because they had a banner saying they'd give $1k more than the price generated - their system was operated by KBB - so they just offered me $1k less than what the actual KBB instant cash offer generated
All of the above took about 15 mins to obtain...

Then I listed on Facebook - first in about 3-4 large groups I'm a member of and then added it to marketplace (never listed on my personal page)

Autotrader was a complete waste of $49 - had about 15 spammers contact me and only one real person who thought I was a dealer.

In three days on Facebook, I received probably 20+ different messages with a wide range of offers - the most popular one was $40k cash - about 5 of the people were only looking for the Aisin, and then I had several independent used car dealers - several from 5-6+ hours away. Had offers of $44k and $44.2k

Ended up selling to one of the larger independent used car dealers (only an hour away) for $44.7k - they saw it on FB marketplace - initially offered $43k

If I had another week or so I might have tried Carmigo

I also wasn't trying to get the most out of it - my goal was $45k - ended up selling it for the average trade-in value using "very good" as the condition on KBB

Facebook just sped up the process as the morning I sold it I was planning on taking the truck to the dealers I had contacted via their website (along with a few others) and was planning on taking the best offer that day


If I had to do it over again - I'd probably been a little more persistent with the dealer on timing and started the selling process a week or so earlier - I knew the truck was built but I had been hearing all sorts of stories about long delays - truck show up less than 20 days after it was built

After seeing your post, I tried as well this week and had similar results. My trade is a '17 GMC Sierra SLT 6.2 loaded up 95k miles. Carvana lowest at 24.5, Vroom at 26.7, and Carmax at 31.6. In October I had a local trade at $35k but passed on it cause we couldn't agree on the overall package. My buddy who buys and sells cars all the time thought I could get up to $40k private at the time. I'm curious if the market has calmed down since October.