More Car Sellers Are Doing It For Themselves
Accept A Depressing Trade-In Offer VS. Selling The Car Yourself
Increasingly, consumers are taking advantage of a growing online market to sell their cars themselves rather than accepting a depressing trade-in offer from a dealer. The trend gained momentum last year as consumers found car dealers especially stingy with their trade-in offers because they were struggling to resell the fuel-thirsty SUVs, pickups and large sedans that consumers were dumping as gas prices soared. By the end of the year private-party sales represented 34% of the used-car market, up from 18% a year earlier, according to a report by CNW Marketing Research Inc. Power to the people!!
While the abrupt shift to DIY sales may have been motivated by a desire to get more money for a used car, the transactions were made simpler by the emergence of a slew of increasingly well-oiled online vehicle bazaars. Classified ads Web site Craigslist saw its monthly car sales listings climb to 1 million last month from 400,000 in February 2006, said president and CEO Jim Buckmaster. The growth comes at the expense of traditional dealers, but independent, non-franchised dealers have been hit especially hard. Trust is the critical issue, and eBay aims to foster it through the site’s feedback rating system. EBay also pledges to protect buyers from outright fraud, offering $20,000 of protection for any misrepresentation of vehicles. The CarFax system of car history reports also helps by offering buyers third-party verification of a car’s condition. All of this makes online used car buying and selling easier and safer than ever. But the underlying motivation remains getting the best deal.
