The Complete Self

Do you have a car that is becoming a burden to pay for every month?  Do you have a car and would like to cash it out to pay off high-interest unsecured debt like credit cards, personal loans or student loans?  If it is not generating money for you (e.g. you have a taxi business) and you have outstanding debt, selling the car you have and RIGHT-SIZING to a cheaper car may be a good option for you.

When I was fresh out of college, I was in big-time debt.  This debt was considered bad debt or unsecured debt because it wasn’t secured by property of value.  My bad credit was evenly distributed among seven different creditors.  I was a slow payer and had several accounts that were 2 to 3 months past-due.

One day my girlfriend (and now wife) Fiona and I were looking at cars.  I had an older Isuzu Trooper and I was getting about 11 miles to the gallon.  I was driving a lot because of my network marketing business and that gas was getting expensive for me.  A salesman came out and showed me a car that I thought would make me look successful.  It had 80,000 miles on it and was overpriced.

I have to say that I came out of the dealership paying more than full sticker price.  The salesman was good.  I don’t mean that they were a good person, because I believe his motivation was not to help me, rather it was to make a big sale to a naive kid. The car was stickered at $8,000 and I ended up paying over $9,000.  That does not include what I ended up paying when you include three years of payments at 15.9% interest!

I drove out of there with a car that I couldn’t afford and shouldn’t afford.  I was a victim of predatory lending.  I had terrible, terrible credit and I paid dearly for it.  After everything was said and done, I agreed to pay full price and added on all of the extra extended warranties and insurances.

When I say I was a victim; that is only due to my naivety brought on by my greed to have what I shouldn’t have.  We all get caught up in it at one time in our lives. Save yourself some grief and let my lesson here be your lesson.

I sold the car with 120,000 miles on it three years after I drove off the lot.  I still owed $1,500 more than I could get for it – so I paid the additional $1,500 when I sold it and got out from under that loan.  I learned a huge lesson and since then, I have purchased every car super-cheap, drove them for a few months to a few years and sold them for close to the same price as I bought them.  Most of them I actually sell them for more than I bought them for.

Do you have a car that you cannot afford or you want to get out of? If you paid too much for your car OR you want to cash out, here is a winning strategy I have used to sell over 7 of my own cars.

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Several months ago I purchased a 2005 Sion XB.  I loved the little thing.  I paid for it with cash (as I do for every vehicle I have owned since my first), but after a few months of driving it, I figured that I needed that money to invest in my business growth.

I sold the Scion and bought a 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan.  This is an interesting story.  I have a lot of interesting stories about the dozen cars I’ve owned in the last few years.  Almost every car I have ever owned I have sold for more than I purchased it – even after putting on a few thousand miles.

Here is how the deals went down:

I found the XB at the lowest price on Cars.com. The vehicle was located at Wilde Toyota in Milwaukee and was by far the best price. I talked down the sales person a little over the phone and went into buy it.  I bought the car for $8,560.  The sticker and retail prices on the paperwork said $13,000. I paid the tax title and license and moved on the $8,560 and moved on.

Four months and four thousand miles later, I decided that I wanted to sell the XB so I could cash out for my business. I placed ads on craigslist.org and cars.com for $9,500 or best offer. The Kelly Blue Book www.kbb.com value was listed as $11,000.  I was sure to include that in my ads and descriptions.  If it works to your favor, be sure to include it.

Two weeks later, I found a buyer who offered $9,000 cash.  I was happy and accepted the offer.  I still had the marketing papers for the car that had the $13,000 price that they knocked down to $11,500 – so the buyer was very glad to get the car far below the Blue Book value.

From there I started looking for a vehicle.  My budget was $2,000.  I finally settled on a minivan for $1,500.  It had a little rust and a huge dent in the tailgate, but it ran smooth and the interior was very clean.  After all of the taxes, I was able to put over $6,000 into my business and towards any debt.

The whole reason I tell you this is that you can downsize your car.  I cashed out of my car and put that money into an investment that puts money into my pocket instead of one that takes money out of my pocket.  Sure, the XB was paid for in cash, but even with a financed car, you can get out of it and be done with the monthly payment of $250 – $450 a month.  How long would it take you at $250 per month SAVED to pay off the difference that you owe on your car loan?  A nicer car also has higher insurance costs.  I’m not going to go into all of that detail here, I just want you to understand that your financed car is a liability to you and not an asset – until you cash it out.

LEARN MY SELLING PROCESS

1. I first have the car detailed inside and out. I always have the car hand waxed too. This all cost $116.  I can’t tell you how important an interior and exterior detail with hand waxing is worth. A hundred dollars will get you at the very least 200% return on that $100 investment.
2. Next, I take the newly detailed car down to a park where all of the greenery is and snap photos with my digital camera
3. I put signage on the car, post photos and ads online and on weekends park the car at high traffic parking lots.  Below I will go into each of these steps further.

How To Take Photos

• set the camera image capture size to 800×600 for web optimization
• Take all photos horizontally. They will always show better online than if you mix horizontal and vertical photos together
• Take about 20 photos of the vehicle making sure to get:
  • Engine (only if it is clean)
  • Front
    • Back about 6 feet from the car at headlight level
  • Down the length of the car from each side, from front and back
  • Car with all doors open
  • Car with trunk open
  • Dash
  • Instrument cluster
  • Tire
  • From Drivers view of the dash (this places the buyer behind the wheel before it is even theirs
    • You may need to take it from the back seat and tip the drives seat back to get into the right position
  • Front corner – drivers side
    • I like to take it from a low angle to make the car seem bigger and tougher
  • Any damages
    • Don’t let them be surprised by anything when they test drive it
  • Interior with seats down (if applicable)

When Taking Photos

• Be sure that you turn the flash off for as many photos as you can.  Shooting right before dusk is the best time of day. Filmmakers refer to this as the golden hour.
• Turn on the headlights and fog lights of the car while taking photos. Be sure the car is running so the dash is lit up and not dull and lifeless.
• Take off any bumper stickers or any other personalization.
• Have the wheels shiny and clean.
• Address any non-functioning items – either have them fixed or address them in the vehicle description.

Writing The Right Vehicle Description

It is imperative that you market the best features of your vehicle in the description as well and any issues that it may have. Market the car you own, not what you hope it will be when people test drive it.  I have test driven some cars that are not what they were advertised as.  Here are eight areas that I cover in every online ad.

1. Headline
   What are shoppers looking for?  Here is what I used for a van I sold a while back.
   1998 Dodge Grand Caravan SE FLEX FUEL – LOADED – Trailer Hitch – VAN – $2050
   Some people will search under price, others under van, while others will look for Grand Caravan or Flex Fuel.  Try to get each of those areas covered.  My next step would have been to list it for $1997 firm.  That way I would have reached a market that search solely for cars under $2,000.
2. Narrative
   Open with a narrative about the car.  This is all about establishing your credibility and personality of you as well as the car. Have fun with it.  Talk about the main features and why you like the car.  Tell them as you would tell a friend.  Be truthful.  If you are selling the car because it gets 16 miles to the gallon; tell them that you are downsizing your car.  Make sure this is what you would say to a close friend or neighbor who is interested in buying the car from you. End again with the asking price.  You don’t have to say or best offer (o.b.o.).  If the vehicle isn’t exactly in their budget or not exactly what they want, they may offer less than you ask.
   List selling features.  Begin with main features. Is it a flex fuel vehicle, have a trailer hitch, extra-low miles, GPS, sun roof, 39 MPG, fireplace, (okay not fireplace). Be sure to also include if the Title is Clear or Salvage and if it is a non-smoker’s vehicle.
3. Drive Train
   This would include the number of engine’s cylinders (3,4,6,8, etc), the size of the engine (2.0 Liter, 3.3 Liter, etc.) automatic or manual transmission, miles, types of fuel, MPG.  Only list MPG if it is a good thing.  If it is important to the buyer they will ask. When they do, give them a truthful average. You can say, my best has been 19 miles to the gallon.
4. Exterior Features
   Here is where you list features like roof rack, bicycle rack, trailer hitch (give rating for tow capacity and tongue weight), heated mirrors, rear window wiper, etc.
5. Interior Features
   List heated seats, moon roof, 6-CD changer, auto-dimming rear view mirror, driver and passenger power seats, tan leather interior, etc.
6. Flaws
   Here you list what may be wrong with the vehicle.  Things like 2” long rip in the driver’s seat, dent the size of a baseball in tailgate, No steering wheel, etc.  Don’t let the prospective buyer be surprised by the ripped-up leather interior or the missing headlight. I’ve been on the receiving-end of this and I can assure you I felt that I couldn’t trust the seller and I just wasted my and my wife’s time looking at it.
7. Contact
   Here is where you place your contact info.  Free listing sites are know to be plagued by robots that crawl the web looking for information such as phone number or email addresses.  They are going to first go for the low hanging fruit; e.g. those who use the standard format for phone number and email address.

   Email: don’t write bob@abdjehjwl.com on your craigslist.org ad – rather write as:

   email me at: bob (at) abdjehjwl (dot) com

   You are much more likely to be spammed by robots that look for the standard email format as first listed here.  If you are putting your ad up on a paid site, you should fine my writing your email address as you normally would.

   Phone number: for craigslist.org write as: Phone: 608 5 5 5  1234

   Otherwise, print your phone number as you normally would. Always, always, always include your area code on every ad or sign.  People may be calling you from out of state.  I have done this several times and phone numbers without area codes can be quite frustrating.

   This is not however, the time to play hard to get.  Make it easy for people to contact you about your car. List the cell phone number of the person who can actually answer questions about the car and always take that phone with you.

   I’ve received calls about the car while driving it – from someone who just saw me driving around town.  They wanted to see it, so I pulled over at a public parking lot and they took a look at it.

8. Guidelines For Buyers
   Almost every car I have sold I get a couple emails from people who want me to give them the car or can only pay half of what I ask.  I’ve had several sob stories that turned out to be false.  I always write something like, no lowballers or give-aways please. Most people who respond to your ad are going to be sincere, but there are many times spammers and scammers.

   When advertising online, say that the Vehicle Identification Number is available upon request.  Let them do a CarFax check www.carfax.com

Where To Advertise

• www.craigslist.org Load four of your best photos.  Use craigslist for cars under $5,000 and/or for the first 10 days of selling. My experience is that cars under $2,500 sell the fastest.

• Place for sale signs in your car in the back two passenger windows and the rear window (be sure not to block drivers view.  (Safest if signs placed when not driving).
  • My signs usually simply say FOR SALE (608) 555-1234 as big as I can print on an 8.5” x 11” sheet of paper.  I print horizontally so I can fit larger fonts and more text in 2 lines.
  • Additionally, print out a data sheet like the ad you write for craigslist.org or if cars.com is used, include that too. Place it on the dash easily enough to read it through the windshield for those who stop to look at your car.  Use white paper, bright yellow or pink.

• Park near the entrance of parking lots and walk further to work or the store.

• Park in the street whenever appropriate. Place signs in the windows.  Back window side windows and windshield.

• Weekend parking.  Where do the people go that like this type of car?  Home Depot, Staples, Costco, Target, etc.  Saturday morning take two cars to the store. Park in full view of the hundreds of cars that enter the parking lot.  Be sure to do this right.
  • Wal-Mart signs in our area say, no selling cars in the lot – go somewhere else.

• If you are parking at a strip mall, park away from or between two or more stores – don’t take up their prime parking or you will get towed.

• Pick up the car before the store closes Saturday night.  Do it again Sunday.  I have found this strategy to be highly effective. I usually sell the car within 2 weekends doing this.

• Park trucks and SUVs at a home improvement store. Park your minivan at the Toys R Us or Baby’s R Us, Target, Home Depot. Park compact, fuel efficient cars at organic food markets.  Just think about where you go to see this type of car the most.

If the above doesn’t work for you try a broader audience.  I’ve flown to Huston to buy the car I was looking for.  People will travel for the right car – go national with a national listing site. I do not recommend eBay for selling your vehicle.  I do suggest looking at eBay for cars to buy though.

• www.cars.com – get a package around $55 – It includes a guarantee it will sell and includes a valuable carfax that you can make available to interested buyers.  Use the front driver’s side low picture for the car’s profile image.  Make sure the lights are on in the photo.  Another one that has worked well for me is the shot head-on from the front of the car with the headlights shining into the camera.  Do what you can to stand out here. Be creative.  If you can place text onto a photo with a Photoshop-like program, use text that says something like, BELOW MARKET VALUE, LOW MILES, ONE OWNER, SUPER CLEAN, 35 MPG!, etc.

In general, have lots of good photos, put every little piece of information about the vehicle on your ad and make sure the car is clean and gassed up when you show it.

You are an unknown to the buyer.  Do whatever you can to help them feel comfortable with you and your car.  On the test drive, make sure that you point out the flaws before they do.  You don’t want them coming back to you or calling you after the sale because you hid them.  Be honest and be creative with your marketing.

Best of luck!

Matthew