A million-dollar question: how to sell your car fast? Selling a car online is not as simple as listing it on Craigslist or eBay. You have to take into consideration that you are going to be dealing with people who are not always trustworthy. The main issue is that there are many scams that can happen when selling your car online. Selling a car online is a great way to get cash for your vehicle. But it’s not always easy. Here are four common issues people have when trying to sell their cars online, and how to solve them:
- You can’t find the right buyer
The first step in selling your car online is finding the right buyer. There are a lot of options for listing your vehicle on websites like Craigslist, eBay Motors, AutoTrader.com and others. The problem is that once you’ve found a buyer and agreed on a price, it’s difficult to trust that person enough to let him drive away with your car without any money in hand.
Sellers can use PayPal or wire transfer services like Western Union or MoneyGram to get paid immediately on eBay Motors listings, but those options aren’t available on other sites. To get around this problem, sellers often agree to meet buyers at an established location such as a bank or police station so they can exchange keys and payment quickly before driving away with the vehicle.
- Seller Scams Buyer
This happens when a seller has misrepresented their vehicle in order to sell it for more money than it’s worth. This can include anything from hiding damage or defects, to adding aftermarket parts or accessories.
- Buyer Scams Seller
This issue is when the buyer takes payment from the seller, but then never sends payment after receiving the title and/or keys to the vehicle. Or worse yet, sends fake money orders or cashier’s checks in order to avoid detection by banks and law enforcement agencies tracking counterfeit checks and money orders.
- Don’t trust your buyer until they pay
If you don’t follow up with buyers, they can disappear and never come back to pick up their car. That’s why it’s important to set up a contract with a buyer before they pick up the car. If they don’t sign that contract, there’s nothing stopping them from disappearing and not coming back.
- Don’t accept cash in hand
You might think that cash is king when selling cars online, but it’s actually one of the biggest reasons why people have problems when selling cars online. Cash transactions are difficult to trace since they don’t require any type of identification or paperwork at all. The only way for law enforcement officials to track down someone who paid in cash would be if they had video surveillance footage at the time of payment — which isn’t always possible or even realistic for small businesses like car dealerships or private sellers like yourself who want to sell their own cars without going through an expensive dealership process first.