Am I being foolish? (car selling content)

(Note 1: this will probably be a tl;dr post. You also may find it whiny.)

(Note 2: as no one from this forum would travel to Vegas to buy a car, I'm laying my cards on the table. But this isn't an ad - that's already in Open Classifieds.)

It makes me happy to spend about 10 cents per mile on car depreciation. If I buy a $3000 car, drive it 20k, and can sell it for a grand, I feel like I've gotten my money's worth.

In 2009, I bought my '05 Scion xB. It had 22k on the odo, and cost me $11,700 all in.

Now it has 92k. At 10 cents/mile. I want to get $4700 for it. That jibes fairly well with estimates from Edmunds and KBB for a private party sale.

Two weeks ago, I posted it on CL at $6500. I know that's high, but why not shoot for the moon and give myself lots of negotiating room? I got no realistic bites.

Last week, I changed the posting to $6000. Still no bites.

In another week, I will renew the posting and lower the price to $5500. Maybe I'll get bites at that price and maybe I won't, but if I post it much lower than $5500, I don't have a lot of negotiating room to get the $4700 I really want.

Six months ago, CarMax appraised it at $4k. They might give $3800 now. Online appraisal tools put the trade-in value at $3300-3800.

There's a dealer that has a couple Certified Toyotas that I will probably wind up looking at, and picking one to buy. Early email discussions tell me they really don't want my car at all in trade in. I respect them for their honesty. They don't want a 10-year-old car on the lot, and they basically admitted they will lowball me and wholesale it. (I find that honesty awfully refreshing in a car dealer. They're 150 miles away, but that honesty will likely earn them my business.)

So the question becomes... Am I being foolishly stubborn in "requiring" $4700 for my Scion? Should I just take what I can get and move on? Should I just keep driving it, even though I'm kind of over it and it will probably cost me some $$$ over the next year or two in repairs?

Okay, I've pontificated and whined long enough. What say the hive mind?

How long can you afford to sit on it?

Appleseed wrote: How long can you afford to sit on it?

Financially? Essentially forever, or until it becomes too repair needy.

Psychologically? I'm over it and want it sold yesterday.

Hence the wishy-washy post.

If you don't want it anymore sell it. If you don't want less than 4700 don't take less. I'd advertise it at 5k, that still leaves you 300 negotiating room. But I've never bought a car for less than it's advertised price ether, I'm not much of a haggler. It's worth what you're asking or it isn't. I don't like to play games. 4700 sounds reasonable to me depending on condition.

Want to trade for 2011 Husky TXC 449 dirt bike? It comes with supermoto wheels! Yes I am serious, I would even be willing to give you some money on it but I can't come to Vegas with the bike.

singleslammer wrote: Want to trade for 2011 Husky TXC 449 dirt bike? It comes with supermoto wheels! Yes I am serious, I would even be willing to give you some money on it but I can't come to Vegas with the bike.

Interesting offer, but I have no use whatsoever for a dirt bike.

I agree with Nick. If you want $4700, then advertise for $5000.

I'm not sure what options you have, but I'm betting you get $4500. I've noticed a weird trend with cars over $3000 that seems to indicate that after that point, the actual purchase prices fall in $500 increments.

I bought an 05 xB for my wife with nice aftermarket 17s and 64k from a dealer for $7500. I don't think $4700 is too much off the mark, but starting at $6500 is why you got no responses. (depending on where you are, anyway). Those things are all over the place for $3000 and people are generally not afraid of mileage because, well, 1NZ-FE engines like to last forever.

I guess what I'm saying is; the market for these is generally younger. If they have a choice between yours at an advertised $6k or one with 150k miles for $3000, you aren't even on their radar.

I agree. Since you're not in a pinch to get rid of it, put it up for $5k and wait. For a long time. Maybe months. Someone will call and offer you $4500 at which point you can say that $4700 is the lowest you can go.

I say wait and sit on it for another 3-5 years. I think that there's a slim chance that as the boxes (1st Gen xb and cubes) disappear that you might see a small bump in price for them, nothing major but 10-20% higher then what they go for now.

If carmax offered 3800, typical CL buyer is going to offer $750 and a sob story about needing to get legless grandma to doctor appointments.

How about ebay?

If you're over it, want it gone and feel like you've gotten your money out of it.

Price it to sell.

$3500 and get it out of your life.

With cars, parts, etc, I've always done that.

I'm selling it because I want it gone, so I'm willing to price it pretty aggressively so it's gone in short order vs talking/haggling with multiple people for days and days.

z31maniac wrote: If you're over it, want it gone and feel like you've gotten your money out of it. Price it to sell. $3500 and get it out of your life.

I'm not far away from doing that, but if all I'm gonna get is $3500, might as well just take it to CarMax and avoid all hassles.

What's your holding costs? IE insurance, etc.? That's a tough price bracket to play in sometimes as the typical buyers will not have a huge pool of savings and it may be too little of a cost to have financed. So you look at teen's first cars or the bargain hunters.

The other thing to look at is if there is a sales tax advantage on a trade in and what that is. I know you don't get charged sales tax on the trade-in amount here in Texas.

EvanR wrote:

z31maniac wrote: If you're over it, want it gone and feel like you've gotten your money out of it. Price it to sell. $3500 and get it out of your life.

I'm not far away from doing that, but if all I'm gonna get is $3500, might as well just take it to CarMax and avoid all hassles.

I'd do that and wash your hand clean of it and move on.

I'd hate to say it but I think take it to Carmax and see if they will maybe give you between $3500-$4k for it and move on is your best shot.

I am going through something similar, and finally came to the conclusion that it has been a good car and I just need to get rid of it. For whatever reason, there are a lot of cars for sale right now and with scrap prices so low the price of our used cars has gone down. I don't understand it. To me, a running problem-free car should have a minimum value. It seems like that value is currently based on scrap. Maybe low interest rates and crazy lease deals play in too.

In my case I am selling a Saab 9-5 with 155k. I'd say interior is a 6, body is a 6, and mechanically its an 8. I think it gets some extra love this time of year for having snow tires and heated seats. I've gotten 3 bites in 3 weeks. One lowball, one that just wanted the VIN for a CarFax and finally today a serious and excited buyer. Tonight's lady was looking for the exact car: Saab, black, ready for winter.

You need to either wait for the excited buyer, cut your losses, or both. I don't have time on my side, so I am doing both (provided she goes through with the deal we agreed on tomorrow)

Well, I went back to CarMax. Six months ago, they offered $4000. Now it's $3000. No thanks.

You've got your rock bottom price, then.