Where to Sell Old Cars: The Best Places Online and Offline

All car owners go through the car lifecycle with their vehicles. The day comes where they need to sell their car in order to buy a new one.Maybe your family is growing and you now need to purchase a vehicle that can fit all of the kids and your spouse inside. Perhaps your old car needs some major repairs and it makes more sense to place that money towards a new car instead.

Whatever the case might be, you’ll want to make sure you’re using a trusted car selling outlet. Here’s where to sell old cars and get the money that you need towards a future purchase.

1. eBay Motors

If you’re looking for a great place to sell a used car, why not use an outlet with a brand name people are familiar with. Selling your vehicle on eBay means that you have access to over 160 million people.
You won’t be charged to place your car in its listings, so if it doesn’t end up working out over time, you can take it down at no charge. When sold, eBay takes a small percentage of the sale, so be sure to factor that into your selling price.
Those of you that enjoy the sport of haggling will love the “make an offer” button you can put on the listing page.
If you have a car near the end of its life, you might find the auction feature especially helpful. People can bid on your car and you’ll be closer to getting the ideal price that you wanted. You can also set a minimum price.
Better yet, you can be confident in the entire transaction, which can all be completed on the site itself.

2. Cars.com

If the URL doesn’t automatically draw millions of people to it, their listings variety and trustworthiness certainly will.
Cars.com has been a car listings powerhouse for many years and caters to both the seller and the buyer equally. You can list it for free or pay to have it posted more prominently.
If time isn’t on your side during this selling process, the website offers the ability to sell it to a car dealer. The trade-off is that you may not sell it for as high a price in order to get it to move quicker, so weigh that out carefully.
One thing you should consider with Cars.com is the lack of exclusivity. Its reputation for having thousands, if not millions of car listings might be your downfall.
For example, it might be difficult to make your Silver 2011 Ford Fusion stand out from all the others that are posted. You’ll have to go to extreme lengths, such as professional pictures and a competitive price to draw buyers to it.

3. Craigslist

Yet another example of where you can capitalize from a web address that everyone is at least vaguely familiar with.
While it’s true this site certainly has it’s backlash with previous scam purchasers, you can avoid that by being precautionary.
For example, some scammers have been known to call the seller and say they’ll pay at full price after the seller ships it to them. You can probably guess as to how the rest of that story goes… the scammer receives the car and never pays the seller.
The site is entirely free to list on, so you aren’t paying for the access that it grants you.
Placing more details on the car will help you sell the car faster and closer to the price that you were hoping for. Prepare your car for sale, take some great photos, be sure to include a description or two and watch Craigslist work its magic.
From there, you can gather interest, schedule test drives in safe locations, and get a fair price for your old set of wheels.

4. Carmax

Sellers and buyers both love Carmax because of the no-haggle environment that it offers, while also granting them a fair price.
In fact, for those of you interested in a trade-in for your car, Carmax can be a tremendous option for you as well.
The process is simple, one of their experts will take a look at your car and come up with a fair price for your car. If you accept, you can either walk out with a check in your hand or with a new car. Either way, it’s a win for you!
You as the seller get the luxury of ridding yourself of the paperwork burden that most sellers have to deal with. Carmax takes that off your hands, so you have one less thing to worry about.

5. CarGurus

Maybe you’re looking for an outlet that has all the features and tools you might find beneficial as you try to sell the car.
If so, CarGurus is probably your best option. It has resources such as the price analysis of your car and trade-in estimates that you can use to gauge your selling price.
By placing the car on this site, you’ll have access to over 19 million interested buyers looking for their next car each month.
If you want a site where you can be hands-on with the selling process and wind up with cash, CarGurus is an incredible option!

Where to Sell Old Cars: Try Different Options!

While all of these outlets are great answers for where to sell old cars, you won’t just want to use one.
List your car on 2 to 3 of them for the highest likelihood of offers on your car and getting the price that you want for it.
Be sure to read our other articles that pertain to both this topic and other topics that are just like it.