Do Used Car Dealers Buy Vehicles (auto, mileage, sell, price)

[GMarcan920]

Do used car dealers buy vehicles from private sales? I'm going to be selling a 2003 Toyota Camry that has 52K miles on it. Rather than go through the hassle of a private sale, I wondered if it would be useful to contact used car dealerships in our area to see if they'd be interested in purchasing the car?

[00molavi]

Do you have carmax in your area. I have a few friends sell to them and they were happy. You will still not get full price but at least you don't have to deal with test drives and cashing suspicious checks. Otherwise in my experience the other dealers have been major low ballers.

[Jesse69]

I sold my 93 Mazda MX6 LS the first day I advertised it on Craigslist! You can probably sell it quick on Craigslist and get better $$ that way.

[ferretkona]

The used car dealership will likely only pay half of it's value.

[Itz]

There are some that will sell your car on consignment... ask around, however keep in mind the "dealer" WILL make a profit on your car.... thus they will pay you or give you less then the value of your vehicle... Same with the consignment issue... if they are only going to make a few hundred on the sale - then don';t expect them to put in a lot of effort in trying to sell it...

Some consignment places work out ok... just ask around..

[car54]

Yep, if you want to give it away...a dealer will take it.

A low mileage Toyota should sell in minutes on Craig's List, Auto Trader, etc.

[Narfcake]

Originally Posted by car54

A low mileage Toyota should sell in minutes on Craig's List, Auto Trader, etc.

A family friend could vouch this part. A few years ago, they listed a somewhat lower mileage '98 Camry on Craigslist. Priced it a measly $50 below KBB private party value. Sold it in 2 hours.

The paperwork was completed at the bank where the buyer had a cashier's check cut out by a teller right in front of him so there was no fishy business.

[GMarcan920]

Thank you all for the excellent information; I don't think I'll go the car dealer route. Will probably try carmax or auto trader; have to think about Craigslist.

[car54]

Originally Posted by GMarcan920

Thank you all for the excellent information; I don't think I'll go the car dealer route. Will probably try carmax or auto trader; have to think about Craigslist.

Ahem, Carmax IS a dealer...

[Narfcake]

Originally Posted by car54

Ahem, Carmax IS a dealer...

Albeit a friendlier one.

Back to the OP ... why be afraid of Craigslist? It's just a classified ad - no different than listing it in like a local newspaper, except you don't have to wait for your ad to appear.