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You are in the market to purchase a new vehicle. Your first thought is to trade in your existing one at the dealership. If you do not have any time and you are very comfortable loosing a couple of thousand dollars, go ahead and trade in your existing vehicle at the dealership. If you trade in at the dealership, you don’t have to pay a portion of the sales tax, equivalent to the trade-in value of your old vehicle, on your new vehicle. For a $2,000 trade-in, that may be as high as $160 at 8% sales tax rate. But the same $2,000 trade-in vehicle can be sold at $3,000 to a private party if you put some efforts. And that can be a nice chunk of money for a few hours of works.

If you have read so far, you must be interested in getting that extra $1,000. Go ahead start your research for the fair market value of your vehicle using edmunds.com. Enter all your available vehicle features and mileage to obtain an accurate number. Take a printout of the page. Now you have all the details of your vehicle at your finger tips and the estimated market value the sellers in your region are willing to pay from a private party sale.

Call your local news paper and purchase a classified ads in automotive section for one week starting from a Sunday. Some local papers will extend your ad for an additional week for a nominal charge or for no cost if the vehicle is not sold in one week. Give details like make, model, year, mileage, engine cylinder size, etc. Also check out the online vehicle selling sites like motor zoo.com and vehicle.com. Get the title of your vehicle and keep it in a place you can access it quickly if a prospective purchaser wants to purchase the vehicle immediately.

Take your vehicle to the nearest vehicle wash and give it a through cleaning, both interior and exterior. Remove every thing from the trunk, back seats, and floor. The vehicle should only have floor mats on the floor. Trunk should be completely empty. Secure the spare tire and the jack appropriately. Vacuum the trunk. Use a spot remover to remove spots from seats and trunk vehiclepet if it is possible. Don’t spend money fixing the vehicle for any mechanical and electrical repairs, unless it is very minor like replacing the fuse or a bulb etc.. Be honest to the purchaser if you have any mechanical or electrical problems with your vehicle. Take the vehicle to a quick oil change place for oil change and topping of other fluids. Most quick oil places will also fill up your anti-no costze, transmission fluids, power steering fluid if you go for their 20, 21 or whatever point inspection. They will also inflate your tires pressure to the recommended level.

When prospective purchasers call you, answer all questions they might have about your vehicle. Answer them honestly because you want to turn an appointment into a sale. Make appointment at a specific time. don’t be vague like “come after work”, because your “after work” and the purchaser’s “after work” may not be the same. Ask the purchaser to come during the day and not at night. This may be a problem during the week-days in Winter months when days are shorter but in the Summer it should not be a problem. You can also schedule your appointment during the week-ends in the Winter months. Get the cell phone number of the prospective purchaser if it is possible. However, don’t get upset if the prospective purchaser does not show up or shows up late. Remember that a prospective purchaser is your customer and “customer is always right.”

Before the purchaser takes the vehicle for a test drive, check his/her driver’s license. You should accorporation the purchaser during the test drive and direct the purchaser to roads you are familiar with. Don’t allow him/her to take the vehicle wherever he/she wants. During price negotiation, don’t be extremely rigid in your price. Depending on the resale value of your vehicle, you should be able to accept a couple of hundred dollars less than your advertised price. Take only cash; do not take checks or registered checks.

If you receive any inquires from prospective purchasers to your online advertisement, be very cautious. There are lots of scams going on online. If the online purchaser proposes to send you a registered check for more than what you are asking for and tells you to send the difference to a shipping corporation, than you know it is definitely a scam. The check is forged and they will take your money and run. Have fun with your extra money.