This article will go over what you need to do to get ready to sell your vehicle online as well as some of the best places to post your car ads. With these good tips, I hope you’ll sell your car quickly and for a great price!

Get Ready to Sell Your Car Online

There are a LOT of places to sell your car, truck (vehicle) online… yeah, a LOT! Some give you free ads while others have you pay. Sometimes it’s a one time fee and sometimes the ad only shows for a week or a month. Before you start placing ads, you’re going to want to get some thing ready.

Your used car ad should be informative and tell someone all they need to know – or almost all (we’ll get to that in a minute). Here are the pieces of information you’re going to want to get together for your ads:

• Year, make and model of the vehicle
• VIN number (it’s ok to publish this online)
• Mileage
• Condition
• Price
• Color (exterior and interior)
• Transmission type (automatic, manual, paddle shift, etc.)
• Features:
  • Air conditioning?
  • Radio/CD/MP3?
  • Sunroof?
  • Power windows?
  • Remote entry?
  • Cruise control?
  • Rear defroster?
  • Automatic climate control?
  • (any other features)
• Tire condition
• Your contact information
• Photos of your vehicle

I like to also have a couple sentences explaining why I’m selling it. People are going to want to know.

Point out any work you’ve done lately. Things that are the most important are tires and brakes. Explain when they were replaced last.

You can decide to say a lot or a little, it’s up to you. If people feel like they know everything, then they might not call you. If you happen to leave some important information out of your ad, then they might definitely have a reason to call you… and if you’re good on the phone, you can work your sales magic and try to have them take a test drive or come see the car.

Put all this information into a Word document or somewhere it’s easy for you to keep track of. Put all the pictures you have into a folder where you can find it. Also, when you place ads, be consistent with your ads. Don’t have different mileage values on different ads. I usually pad the mileage by 500 miles or so if I’m still driving the car around.

A Website for Your Car?

What I like to do is create a small website for the car I’m selling. I got this idea a long time ago when I knew a guy with a Porsche 911 Twin Turbo who wanted to put his $120k car in magazines to sell it. He figured he needed a website, so I made one for him.

The big benefit is that you can put all the information about your car on that website and then just direct everyone there. Some online ads only allow a certain amount of images or text, so you can just give out your car’s domain name so that people can see more. It works.

I created two websites for the cars I sold last year:

• MR2ForSale.com
• RSXForSale.com

These websites helped a lot. The guy that bought the MR2 liked the video a lot and he said that helped since he was in another state. The RSX website has nice design and a good amount of pictures.

Where to Place Used Car Ads Online

Once you have all your information together, you can easily place ads – you’ll just copy and paste, basically. Like I said, there are a number of places to place ads. I had my best luck on Craig’s List and on eBay.

Do You Have a Specialty Car or Collector Vehicle?

For the cars I was selling, I kind of had small audiences. There aren’t a lot of people interested in 1988 Toyota MR2s today (although everyone loved that car and I got thumbs up all the time with it). If you happen to have a vehicle with a very specific/targeted audience, then make sure you go where that audience is. Find online forums and websites dedicated just for those cars – yes, they’re out there.

Post ads on those website and the ones I list below.

For Everyone Else…

First, the easy, no-brainer is Craig’s List in your area. The best days to post on Craig’s List are Sundays, Mondays and Saturdays. Fridays aren’t actually that good of a day. Post your auto ad on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Don’t post every day.

In some places, there are state laws where car dealers can’t sell cars on Sundays. That’s good for you because they’re closed and you’re available. Make sure you post ads that show up on Sundays.

Second, I had really good luck on eBay. Even if you don’t want to put your car up on an auction, maybe try it. You’re able to take down your ad 24 hours before the scheduled end of the auction without having to sell it to someone. You just pay for the ad. I ran my MR2 twice on there. The first time, I had a buyer and took the ad down. He came by and then passed on the car. I posted it again and then took it down 24 hours before it ended because I didn’t think the bids were high enough. I then got about 5-6 emails of people wondering if I had sold it. They had been watching and wanted it. I then talked with them and sold it to one of those people. Selling a car on eBay is a great way to get some interest in your vehicle.

Other good places to sell your car online:

• Autotrader.com – this is the king. They do a good amount of advertising, so buyers think of this website.
• AOL Autos – they seem to get good website traffic and I believe they syndicate your ad to other websites. They offer a free listing.
• Yahoo! Autos – another place where there are a lot of potential car buyers.
• Cars.com – they do a little advertising, too.
• CarsOnlineFree.com - I don’t know much about this one but they say it’s free.

If you pay for ads, those advertising costs are going to dig into your profit, so don’t go nuts. Try a couple and see how it goes.

Managing Phone Calls and Emails

Once you get people contacting you, make sure you get back to them as soon as you can. They could be looking at a number of cars and you want to have them look at your car before they choose a different car from a different seller. Make sure you’re not doing something like planning a trip out of town or something – be available to respond and be available for people to come by and see the vehicle.

Conclusion

Get all your information together and place good ads. Point out the great things about your car. Mention what you like about it. Be a salesperson in your ads. Be creative, too! Make your ad fun and memorable but not too crazy, of course or you’ll scare people off.

Post ads when you’ll be available. Field calls and emails as quickly as you can. Sound happy on the phone when talking to people. I hate contacting people who sound like they’re depressed or their cat just died or something. Be upbeat and enthusiastic and people will want to come by to see the car.

I’ve covered a good amount of things in this article but if you have more ideas, please leave them in the comments below. Please also share this great article with your friends and bookmark it!

Below are helpful tips on how to sell your car yourself for the most cash.

Selling Your Vehicle

You shouldn’t make your car look like something you’ve gotten tired of, something you are just too eager to let go. Even if that is the case, the impression you should give when selling your car is that of someone who is so much attached to it, and who values it very much. This kind of attitude will make potential buyers think that you’ve always taken great care of your car, even if it has suffered some few accidents, poor maintenance and numerous dents.

1. Make Your Car Look Great

Think about your car like a bride being led away to her bridal home. She must be well coiffed, embroidered with pearls, and made to reveal the best of her beauty. You should not bring your car to the market in bad shape, looking dirty and with noticeable scratches and dents. This should not surprise you; people will want to buy clean and attractive cars. You’ll not get much for your car if it looks like something picked from the junkyard.

Always remember how you felt the very moment you made up your mind to buy the car you are about to sell and work hard to create that feeling in your prospective buyers by cleaning your car, replacing old parts, and improving the paint. In short, make it shiny.

2. Think like a Car Dealer: Detail and Service Your Car

Car dealers can make the most of old cars that look useless and completely worn out. The secret to their success is common knowledge today: they have cars detailed. Spending $100 bucks to service your car will bring great rewards when you finally sell it.

Car detailers improve the paint, remove scratches, shampoo carpets, remove grease from the engine and replace floor mats. With the proper detailing, you can make your car look brand new and attractive.

Some repairs you’ll need to do to improve the overall rating of your car will include changing tires, fixing the locks that do not work well and fixing dents.

3. Prepare the Necessary Paperwork for Your Car

This may not seem very necessary, but it can be one of the major elements to think about when selling a car. By presenting maintenance papers, you’ll put the buyer’s mind at ease.

After polishing up your car, and getting it ready for the market, you should, like a valiant soldier showing off his brass buttons on an army uniform, prepare to present good papers.

Buyers will also trust you more when they see your CARFAX Vehicle History Report and service records.

4. Be Smart About the Entire Transaction

Where you sell your car can determine how much you get for it. Before deciding where to sell the car, it is important to work out its real value.

You may have done a lot of research on car sales and have greatly improved the condition of your car, but buyers will have done their research,too. Buyers have an idea of the market price of cars like yours. By being realistic, you’ll come off more convincing, whether you’re selling to a dealer or to an individual. Make sure you give a reasonable price for your car.

Consider the advantages and disadvantages of selling your car in a dealer trade-in and decide accordingly; the price will certainly be lower than what you can get if you sell the car to an individual.

5. Advertise Your Car

After improving the condition and general appearance of your car, you should get the best advertising for it. The Internet offers free avenues for advertising and you can reach out to a good number of interested buyers. Get the best photos of your car and create free ads on sites like Craig’s List. Post photos on your Facebook profile and announce on social media platforms that you’re selling your car. This way, you’ll reach out to many potential buyers.

If you use a good advertising strategy, you’ll definitely receive many calls, which gives you the opportunity to take the highest bid for the car.

Conclusion

Some people may feel rushed to sell their car and lose out on hundreds of dollars that they could have received if they would have taken some time to get the car ready to sell. Spending a couple weeknights improving your car will fetch you more for it when you post it on Craig’s List Saturday morning.

We hope this article provided you with some good tips to get you the most cash for your car. If we missed something, please leave a comment for us. Please also share this article and pass it on to others.