# Selling your high mileage car



## Rampage (8 mo ago)

Just curious how you guys go about selling your retired cars when the time comes. An online ad, sign in the window?


----------



## Agnostic (2 mo ago)

Family and friends


----------



## Agnostic (2 mo ago)

What is the rolling pile of crap that you want to sell?


----------



## Rampage (8 mo ago)

Agnostic said:


> What is the rolling pile of crap that you want to sell?


Just curious as to what people here do. I have nothing to sell. When I do sell, I sell privately.


----------



## Atom guy (Jul 27, 2016)

I wouldn't have dared sell my retired Cruze to another human. I shopped it around and ended up selling it to my local Chevy dealer. Now they can deal with the customer coming back complaining about it.


----------



## sumidaj (Nov 2, 2020)

I drive things till they die / have absolutely no value...like zero, not running, non salvageable etc... 


I then strip what I can then just push it into a lake


----------



## Rampage (8 mo ago)

Atom guy said:


> I wouldn't have dared sell my retired Cruze to another human. I shopped it around and ended up selling it to my local Chevy dealer. Now they can deal with the customer coming back complaining about it.


They won’t resell it. It’s going to auction house, assuming it’s as beat as it sounds.


----------



## Atom guy (Jul 27, 2016)

Rampage said:


> They won’t resell it. It’s going to auction house, assuming it’s as beat as it sounds.


It's on the lot for sale right now. As a high mileage car that is physically in very good condition, they will end up trying to get a customer to bite on it, then put it through the shop to see if the repairs are cheap enough to make the deal make sense. What they don't know is that the car has had unfixable gremlins the whole time I owned it that are not readily apparent. So if they sell it, the customer is for sure going to start bringing it back. It sure looks great inside and out, though. Impossibly good considering it spent 200k being used as an Uber.


----------



## Rampage (8 mo ago)

Atom guy said:


> It's on the lot for sale right now. As a high mileage car that is physically in very good condition, they will end up trying to get a customer to bite on it, then put it through the shop to see if the repairs are cheap enough to make the deal make sense. What they don't know is that the car has had unfixable gremlins the whole time I owned it that are not readily apparent. So if they sell it, the customer is for sure going to start bringing it back. It sure looks great inside and out, though. Impossibly good considering it spent 200k being used as an Uber.


Wow. That’s surprising.


----------



## Atom guy (Jul 27, 2016)

Rampage said:


> Wow. That’s surprising.


I sold cars for 8 years. If we ever got a high mileage trade in that was unusually clean, we'd try to retail it. But we wouldn't do any work on it unless we got a deal on it, then we'd just cancel the deal if the repairs cost too much.


----------



## sumidaj (Nov 2, 2020)

Rampage said:


> Wow. That’s surprising.



Agreed, Ive never seen a car on a lot (around my area) with more than 120K miles... Most send it to auction and dont want to deal with it.... 


In fact, if the car is too old they;ll auction it off too..... I had to fight to buy my older car from them.. it was a trade in and they didn;t want to sell it to me becuase it was old.... they were going to auction it but i said "I want it as is, and have cash" 


even then they still preferred to send it to auction rather han sell it to me and made sure I sign an "as is no warranty implied" paper....and kept repeating it..... they did however throw on some new tires and a few new parts which was sur[prising....


----------



## Illini (Mar 14, 2019)

Craigslist.
I've sold numerous cars through them over the years.


----------



## Rampage (8 mo ago)

Illini said:


> Craigslist.
> I've sold numerous cars through them over the years.


Me too. Someone with a like 600,000 mile car was talking about getting a new one. I think it might have been @Heisenburger I was wondering about how you would dump a car like that. Maybe there is a market for the parts.


----------



## Ribak (Jun 30, 2017)

Rampage said:


> Just curious how you guys go about selling your retired cars when the time comes. An online ad, sign in the window?


I have been doing this for only 5.75 years. I traded in my first vehicle for a new one at the auto dealership. The previous vehicle had 250k miles with no mechanical issues (still in great shape both exterior and interior).....I just did not want to drive pax with that much mileage on the car. Got $7.5k for the trade-in.


----------



## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

of the last 3 vehicles I sold...
Used to be in amature racing in my youngin days. No street racing, legal amature racing. I had an 02 dodge neon.

Sold it to a fellow racing enthusiast. He just wanted the motor but I made him take the entire car off my hands. I had upgraded the heck out of it and put a turbo charger, racing brakes, etc etc (you name it I probobly upgraded it) I honestly wanted out of racing. 99% sure he parted out the racing parts and sent the unibody and scraps of the interior to the scrap yard.

The bluebook value on the car had nothing on the racing parts It had in it, even used.


Then there was my Toyota Sienna van, The toyota dealership gave me a repair estimate and I decided not to get it repaired, then they gave me a trade in value and I passed, then they gave me a buy out value (less than the trade in)...



They quoted me over $3,000 for a new transmission and I didn't want to do the work on it at that point. They offered me $1,500 trade in and I wasn't interested in even replacing it. The "cash" offer they gave me was $500, they werent interested in haggling and i'm 99% sure it got sold at auction to get parted out. Getting it towed elsewhere to get another quote probobly would have cut large amounts of the value off the car.


I traded my 2004 f150 in for a 2020 F250 (gas version) I honestly forgot how much I got for it but the trade in was my down payment.


----------



## Jumpin Jim (Mar 4, 2018)

Atom guy said:


> …What they don't know is that the car has had unfixable gremlins the whole time I owned it that are not readily apparent. So if they sell it, the customer is for sure going to start bringing it back. It sure looks great inside and out, though…


Sounds like 90% of all used cars on the lot for sale.


----------



## Atavar (Aug 11, 2018)

Rampage said:


> Me too. Someone with a like 600,000 mile car was talking about getting a new one. I think it might have been @Heisenburger I was wondering about how you would dump a car like that. Maybe there is a market for the parts.


Just drive it till the odo rolls over. Lol


----------



## Heisenburger (Sep 19, 2016)

Craiglist ad for months 1-2
Autotrader ad for month 2
Window sign only if I feel like the hassle of parking it in a suitable high traffic area


----------



## Heisenburger (Sep 19, 2016)

Jumpin Jim said:


> Sounds like 90% of all used cars on the lot for sale.


Yeah a whole lotta lipstick on a whole lotta pigs on dealer lots these days. I've seen so much trash for obscene asking prices. The preying upon ignorance is huge.


----------



## 25rides7daysaweek (Nov 20, 2017)

I dont often sell a high mileage pile of crap car
But when I do 
It's to a non english speaking scummy uber driver


----------



## Rampage (8 mo ago)

Heisenburger said:


> Craiglist ad for months 1-2
> Autotrader ad for month 2
> Window sign only if I feel like the hassle of parking it in a suitable high traffic area


Do you market it as a beater for sale? People must look at the mileage and be in disbelief.


----------



## UbaBrah (Oct 25, 2019)

I've sold a bunch of cars on Craigslist, but also via Facebook marketplace. The trick is to pretty up the vehicle, even if it's older and a little crummy. New wipers, floor mats, detail it myself in and out, black trim polish on plastic, sand and polish the headlights. Then take a lot of good photos. I've had cars that I've owned for a year plus and sold them for about the same as what I paid. 

Craigslist you are prone to getting the annoying but obvious text scams. FB marketplace is a lot of tire kickers who want to message and lowball you all day but don't actually show up. As long as you know to kind of nip that in the bud and stay patient you should get a bite.


----------



## Heisenburger (Sep 19, 2016)

Rampage said:


> Do you market it as a beater for sale? People must look at the mileage and be in disbelief.


No, most shoppers in the 15 year old pedestrian car model market simply don't care. Their concerns end with passed last emissions test and does it start up and move without stalling within several blocks. People don't even check for corrosion around here.


----------



## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

By the time I'm finished with them there's usually something seriously wrong with them and they are beat to hell, bald tires, ... No way would I give them to family or friends, don't want to do that to them so I typically sell them to carmax or one of these online places. The used car market is still a little whack right now but I have also used clunkers as trade ins, a few hundred bucks and no hassle. I'm not a huge fan of selling them myself, used to do that but I don't want to deal with the hassles of randos.


----------



## applesauce (Mar 8, 2016)

Rampage said:


> Wow. That’s surprising.


The used car market is wild right now. New cars are cheaper than newish used vehicles.


----------



## Rampage (8 mo ago)

applesauce said:


> The used car market is wild right now. New cars are cheaper than newish used vehicles.


Yep. Wild indeed.


----------



## New2This (Dec 27, 2015)

Full insurance coverage.

It was "stolen" and recovered but burned out.











Where's my money Jake from State Farm?


----------



## elelegido (Sep 24, 2014)

Atom guy said:


> Cruze


Now _that's_ a mistake you'd only make once.


----------



## Atom guy (Jul 27, 2016)

elelegido said:


> Now _that's_ a mistake you'd only make once.


Yes. If you just looked at it inside and out, you'd never know it did 200k of hard miles. But my wallet sure knows it did.


----------



## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

Rampage said:


> Just curious how you guys go about selling your retired cars when the time comes. An online ad, sign in the window?


Something to think about. If the car was used for business you might be surprised to learn about depreciation recapture come tax time.

With the amount of mileage written off over the years using the standard mileage deduction you could have fully depreciated the car or even more than the car was worth.

When you sell it the IRS will want to recapture the depreciated value of the sell price. Depending on the circumstances, this could mean a little or a lot to your taxes.

PRO TIP: Give the car away to your spouse, or relative etc.etc. as a GIFT. (Depreciation recapture goes away). Once THEY title it in their name and if THEY sell it….🤷‍♂️.


----------



## Lets_Eat (Oct 11, 2016)

New2This said:


> Full insurance coverage.
> 
> It was "stolen" and recovered but burned out.
> 
> ...


Please DM if interested in low mileage vehicles from South East (rust free) will come with 4 month full coverage warranty. Large inventory, assorted make and models. Pls contact only when you have cash money.


----------

