Selling a car on Craigslist

[space-time]

a colleague of mine is moving abroad and still has one car for sale, started asking $4100 two weeks ago and now he is down to $2500. when time is running out, your options are limited.

[C(-)ris]

space-time wrote:
a colleague of mine is moving abroad and still has one car for sale, started asking $4100 two weeks ago and now he is down to $2500. when time is running out, your options are limited.

Does he live in the middle of nowhere? If you are in an urban area and that car was actually worth the $4100 in the first place it would be long gone at $2500.

Item 10: Price your car fairly, and correctly. If you didn't get a sale in the first 2 weeks your price was WAY to high.

[Psurfer]

C(-)ris' list is generally good advice for selling anything on CL.

I would add that in my CL selling experience (not selling cars though, those buyers may be a different breed), allowing potential buyers a little more elbow room in terms of meeting time & place (esp if they're driving in from a long distance), has often paid off.
And a high % of the eventual buyers also began (or at least tried to begin) their bargaining w/me before seeing the item. So I don't write them off, either.

[C(-)ris]

Psurfer wrote:
C(-)ris' list is generally good advice for selling anything on CL.

I would add that in my CL selling experience (not selling cars though, those buyers may be a different breed), allowing potential buyers a little more elbow room in terms of meeting time & place (esp if they're driving in from a long distance), has often paid off.
And a high % of the eventual buyers also began (or at least tried to begin) their bargaining w/me before seeing the item. So I don't write them off, either.

I have done the same for goods that have a fixed value and either work or they don't such as electronics or household goods.

However, there is no point in talking price on a car you have never seen. There are far too many variables to have any idea what you are willing to pay for something without seeing it. For the seller, if you get talked down before they even see the car, you are going to get talked down even more once they find any little thing wrong.

[Speedy]

List everything that is wrong with the car so the buyer doesn't come back and burn your house down.

Short story. I sold a car to young woman via Craigslist. Her father, an electrician, came with to inspect the car. Deal made. About a week later he sees me in a big box store and chases me down. I figure the engine hatched or something. But it turns out she got t-boned and the car was totaled. No injury to the daughter nor his granddaughter. And her car didn't have collision and the person who hit her and was at fault had no insurance at all. So my house was safe.

[sunfalcon]

No different than selling on auto-trader or back in the days of actually listing your vehicle in the newspaper. I've bought and sold a lot of cars on craigslist over the years and have never had a problem. I keep their keys/license when they take my car. I've bought and sold cars from $2,000 - $11,000 in value. Yes, meet at the bank for the money portion - especially if it's for a lot. Good luck!