Features How do price your car to sell or trade?

Thanks guys for the imput. Going to drive it and and enjoy it and think about it.I seem to hit a subject that is a popular subject.For the record I had a price on the ad and decided to just have trade on it to see what response I would get.For those who think the car is worth $7500-that is your opinion which your entitled to but it will never see that person's garage. Again thanks. Exterminator

 

LOL Clunker....I've been watching that ad too. Hahaha....and I'm a CL junkie too.

 

Put a price on it and put it on RacingJunk. Have sold every car that I have posted there in the last 7 years.

 

When I see ads with no price it always looks to me like the person thinks his car is so damn desirable that folks are going to come see it and start a bidding war over the car. Placing an ad with no "starting" price is a waste of time for the owner as well as the potential buyer. Sorry, JMHO.

 

Ha! I feel like going to take a look at it just to get by arm bent behind my back and my face shoved up against the hood, "you're gonna buy this &@@£#¥ car or I'm gonna break your "@££€* arm you mother @@@¥££*% !!!!!".


My wife is always asking me:
"Are you going to look at that old car/motorcyle? I thought we were completely broke?"

I answer:
"I'm not interested in buying anything, I just enjoy the human drama on Craig's List...."

 

Agree with Mr. Bennett, fix the problems before you sell it. Top dollar cars don't need work. Some times that is hard to do on a car that you are not into any more but it makes sense, business wise.

 

This^^^^I'm not buying and selling your car/parts....If that's the only way you can get phone calls, you need to meet some friends....

 

Lots of good advice here.
I agree that a price should always be posted by the seller. Leaving out the price is like asking buyers to negotiate against themselves. It also opens to the door to a huge waste of time just trying to figure out if you're in the same ballpark, and makes me feel that the seller probably has unrealistic expectations.

 

Clunker, I get the same thing from my wife too.LOL.Bruce.

 

This is a key item that people forget. With most things in life, it's a buyers market, not a sellers market.

From this statement, along with @CowboyTed's synopsis of your ad below, it seems like you really don't care if you sell the car. You need to be honest with your intentions. If you are a motivated seller, there is a lot of advise in this thread about how to get your car sold. If you're not a motivated seller, then you really have no leg to stand on when complaining about non-motivated buyers.

I know what you're trying to show, but both of those ads say "Asking $14,000" in the text...

 

I laugh at these "I'm testing the water on selling my car" types....WTF? Sell it or keep it. If you can't decide on this, how do you ever figure out where to eat?

 

I've been trying to sell an ot project car and the other day I literally had a guy call me a--hole because I wouldn't take his offer of half the asking price, he hadn't even come and seen it yet. I don't get it, classified ads I expect low ballers but that was over the top.
I've personally have had by far the best luck with the auctions. If you really want to sell the car you have hundreds of READY TO BUY buyers right there and most the time they will bring top dollar that the car is worth. Think about it, lowball offers don't work in a room of other buyers wanting the car, that's how auctions work. Of course anyone that thinks their car is worth more then it really is then the auctions are a waste of time and money but so is any other way of selling. Very hard to sell any car for more then then it's worth.

 

Some cars sell better than others, that's just a fact. If that was a 40 Ford, it would have sold long ago. But that said, there is a market for any car, you just have to find it.

I just traded an OT 86 Corvette for a 88 Firebird Formula. Since we are having to raise our Grandson, the Corvette was no longer useful to us. I had it for sale for over a year at a reasonable price, less that what many comparable Vettes were selling for. I was willing to trade it for something with a back seat so we could all go together to cruises and such, and stated so in my ads. I wasn't picky, I was looking at anything, any model, any brand, from the late 30's to the mid 80's as long as it was a 2 door and was something in as good a shape as mine. Problem was, nobody wanted a C4 Corvette, not even cheap. Had a few calls, made a few calls, but every one of them backed out. Then this 88 Firebird popped up on Craigs list. It was probably not worth as much as my Vette, but it was in super condition, and most importantly, it has a back seat. Gave the guy a call, he told me to bring the Vette and we'd go from there. Ended up trading even. I got what I wanted, might have lost some on the deal, but to me, it was worth it. Now the wife has another car she can be proud of, and the Grandson can go with us without having to take two cars. Win win. If you want rid of it bad enough, trade it for something you want, or close to what you want. We had narrowed our choices to 2nd gen F bodies, specifically Trans Am's since we had one years ago. We found out real quick that the 2nd gens were almost as pricey as 1st gens, so we had to widen our search.

You'll have to throw a few bucks and some work into your car if you expect to get more out of it. If you won't or can't do that, expect to get less. It's a buyers market right now, cars that should be bringing top prices aren't, there are some deals out there if you can find them.

 

I buy and sell a few vehicles every year. I can tell you how NOT to sell a car. Don't start the add with " I don't have to sell "," just testing the waters" ,"Needs a few things but a solid car " ,"You can't build this car for what I'm asking ", " no tire kickers".Do take pictures of the car . Two shots of it in the back of the garage with crap piled on top of it ,taken with your cell phone in the middle of a dust storm is not going to help it sell. Do give all the info ,saying call for more info is stupid. Its a lot easier to post that it has a clear title once than to answer a dozen calls from people wanting to know. Don't use phrases like " partially restored", "the hard part has already been done"" Ready for paint" unless it is.If you can see the road thru the floorboard it doesn't have a "little rust". Just my opinion.I am frequently wrong.

 

I have about $21k in my Ford, mostly parts and machine shop costs for the engine work. Without paint and a better interior I see better cars out there selling for less. I did get an offer at $25k this past summer but declined since I was having too much fun driving it. Realistically the car might sell fast at $14k. Labor wise, between myself and those who helped I might have 1000 hours in it @ 10 hours a week average for 100 weeks. Not counting lunches on Saturdays I sprang for.

I always have an eye out for the next project and I tell people I'd jump at a fire-sale deal only. More cost effective for me to get an existing project and take it from there than to go back to square one.

 

I think Joe Cool said it really well re how not to sell a car.
Beyond that, that Plymouth has a VERY limited market.
Bear this in mind, price it and see what happens

 

It's all about having a car that a lot of people like and not over priced.. Some people have paid to much for parts and or work done and will never get their money back.. I know a lot of people that don't expect to get their money back and to me, that is the wrong way to do it.. Above all, describe the car fairly and include a price... Trades suck....

 

You know the old saying, there is an ass for every seat, you just have to match them up.

 

"How do you price your car to sale or trade"

Well, I usually think about what I would pay for the car if I were in the market to buy it. Then price it accordingly. If I am happy with that amount, I sell it for that. I usually don't try to hold out for the maximum possible if I am trying to unload one.

 

Every make, model and year has a value. Modification can raise or lower that, we hope we do them well enough to stay equal or above their basic value. The more popular cars are worth more not becuase they're rare, because they're well, popular. Still, look everywhere you can and find similar cars. Stock or rod, doesn't matter even though it's 2 different market segments, it's still a basic value. Try to find as many as you can, in excess of 10 if you're lucky or have something that's really hard to come by. If a year newer looks the same throw those into the mix as well. In my case the 46 and 47 models are identical. Add up all the asking prices you find and divide by your number, that's what it's worth. if you found 12 then all 12 prices together, divide by 12. A 41 Plymouth convertible is sure not 'A' list material, that's to mean it's no 32 Ford 5W coupe. Still they have a loyal following. It's not for me but I know or know of 5 different guys who love em and have built, bought or restored one so you don't have an orphan. When you do price it just be fair to you and the next owner. Don't be afraid of what's wrong, be sure to show what's right, consider the time and effort one would expend to "get there from here".

I under priced my Clipper at 1st. That made interested folk back away, as if it must have been plagued with issues unseen. I raised the price and got much more interest in it because I gave it a fair value vs a "bargain" price. And my asking prices are always negotiable. You can't ask more but you can always negotiate. Well, unless you're dick, and we've all met a few of those, yes?
So, research the average, price yours as to how high above or below the average it really is, be fair in the description, and don't be a dick. Where you market the car will carry it further too. Don't forget pages or sites dedicated to street rod guys beyond 'us'. There's over 300 million Americans, there has to be more than 1 (you) that wants a modernized 41 Plymouth conv. Where are they?

 

What I learned which I think someone had mentioned is (your car is what someone is willing to pay or trade for).Not what you think it's worth.Thank you everyone for your imput. Exterminator PS. I am keeping it.

 

Thanks for the report....

Have fun with your car, that's what they're for!

 

When you go to sell a car you MUST add in the selling price the original cost of the car + the parts you put in the car + the emotional
value and last but not least the cost of your labor per hour.

 

A guy I used to work for had a motto, "if it doesn't sell, raise the price". Seems so wrong but he was right in a lot of cases, and I still go by that sometimes. Say what you will but that guy knew how to sell shit.

 

Ha! If most of us took up that practice, we'd never sell any car that we poured our love into during the build. You simply cannot expect to be paid for your time when you are doing something for the enjoyment in the first place. Counting your hours is for time spent working. Don't ruin my enjoyment of my hobby by asking me to keep timesheets in the garage, too.

 

I will agree with raising the price, you'll appeal to a different market, some guys just won't look at a cheaply priced car, it doesn't show quality as far as they are concerned. We've all heard stories of the guy who bought a 32 for nothing, but those stories are rare, really, it doesn't matter in the hot rod world what name the exterior has on it, it matters the names and quality of the parts in it. If it's a 41 Chrysler built by one of the big names, it'll sell fast and probably set new trends, but if it's built by me or you, maybe not so much. Then, you gotta convince the buyer he's getting something special, in my case, I tell interested parties, "if you drive it, you'll likely buy it", having said that, it has to back up my claim.
Personally, I don't like selling cars, hate the shit that lowballers put you through, time wasters piss me off, as do garage tourers, all part of selling a hot rod, word of mouth is my best bet.

 

Figure out how much you spent on it and divide by 4 and unfortunately you'll be pretty close.

 

put it in the corner and cover it up, some day you'll wish you had it back, have sold many i wish i had back, now i just quit driving them...