Where do people sell used cars these days?

My used Audi is worth about 16k. That’s the cheapest used one I could find around. Caravan and vroom offered 10k. I posted it on autotrader and offer up for 12900. Haven’t had any offers.

You’re looking at it from the wrong perspective. The cheapest of your car used is worth 16k at retail. If you’re looking to sell to a dealer then you’re just going to get wholesale.

Your best bet is to sell private party. Based on those numbers, maybe 13k to 14k is reasonable.

If you haven’t had any offers then your price is too high and your car is not worth what you would like to think

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It’s “worth” what someone will pay you for it

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That 16k is a guide…that’s not truly what your car is worth. Your car is worth what someone is willing to pay for it, which may be substantially lower than 16k.

You’ll always get more selling private, but bear in mind when you sell to a dealer you save some hassle, get loyalty on another Audi and in many states, save on sales tax since the sale price is reduced by the trade in value

What are you tryin to do now? Lease a new Audi? Buy a new car? Or just offload this car?

That’s the asking price. The actual transaction price is likely one to a few thousand less.

10k sounds about right.
$16k - 30% = that helps Carvana etc cover their expenses and have some room for profit.

That’s the cheapest I’ve seen from a private seller. Not retail.

I don’t think I agree with getting “thousands” less. Maybe A thousand.

Generally, the lowest price you find on online car shopping with used cars is the rock bottom price for that particular market. You might be able to talk the lowest price dealer down another 500 or even 1k, but definitely not thousands. Those days of talking down thousands on a used cars sticker price are long over. The internet has pretty much killed that.

If you want examples… trends I’ve noticed dealers are doing with used car pricing… some dealers will mark down their cars 2k or 3k under what they expect to get for the car and in the fine print of the ad will say “used car price is inclusive of 3k down payment and dealer financing” or they’ll significantly mark up the price of the car on the dealer lot, but when you look at their listing on cars.com, that same car will be 5k less.

Now if you can walk into a dealer and negotiate thousands off the cheapest car listing in a given market; then good for you, but I wouldn’t consider that expected behavior from dealers.

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I can get loyalty regardless if I sell it or trade it in.

Let me clarify the question. Where do people successfully sell their cars privately these days? Use to be autotrader was the king of private sells.

Pricing is probably as important or maybe even more so than where to place the ads.

So what are the details on this secret Audi

2013 Audi A6 fully loaded premium plus. 80k miles.

So you probably know this but I’ll just say that “it depends”.

Maybe they have 3 of those models and want a better mix…
Maybe the car has sat on the lot for 3 months…
Maybe the used car manager needs to show his manager some volume…
Maybe the car is scheduled to go back to auction next Wednesday…
Maybe they sized you up and will take a mini on the car rather than let you walk…

I have bought used cars for way way less (ie thousands and thosands less) than they asked. In fact unless they give me a super-compelling reason I’ll most certainly pass.

  • You get what you negotiate

Well, I’m glad you e managed to find several vehicles that you’ve wanted and the stars aligned in the right conditions for you to get thousands less.

You can apply the same train of thought to someone looking to buy OPs A6 and they’ll offer him 9, 8, or 7k for it hoping to get those conditions met so benefit them.

Used cars are different from new car purchases… the manufacturer does not offer incentives on used cars and there’s no dealer cash or quotas to sell used cars. The dealer is on their own to take that loss at thousands under internet list price.

I’ve noticed the same these days as @StingerTT said.
Car has very low price only to have added “certification fee” for an car already advertised as certified or $2k bonus fees applied on site to the advertised price.
Just read reviews on CarGurus.

I’ve learned a new term “pre-certified” - car advertised as Volvo certified for which you need to pay separate certification fee to have CPO by Volvo:)

Now it will be pre-owned pre-certified CPO car:)

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Without a super-compelling price I would pass on that car. Lots of fish in the sea

To someone buying private party I would suggest that they find someone who just wants to be done with it all and is read to make a super-compelling deal.

That is the dream… isn’t it? To just buy a car at a super compelling price with no negotiation, no hassle, no trouble? Be done with it, get exactly what you want and pay below market for it.

I guess real world and for most shoppers, things aren’t always so agreeable.