Putting a Price On your Car

There are two basic components of determining the asking price of your used car. First, you need to know its true wholesale value in your market and the going retail dealership price of cars similar to yours. Second, you need to be aware that, like most of us, the person who buys your car wants to think he or she has gotten a deal. What you've got to do, then, is price your car so that your prospective buyer is motivated to close before someone else comes along and beats them to it.
We'll deal with each of these components separately.

Determining the Wholesale Price
Your first task is to find out what your car is worth at wholesale in your area. Yes, you can look at the car books, but in truth, it's the local market and not the books that ultimately determine worth. For example, we've seen many examples where a car is given one price in the national price books, but actually commands more in a specific market. There are any number of reasons for these variations. However, keep in mind that "Why?" is not as important as "How much?" Here are the steps that we suggest you take.

Step 1. Sell Your Car-But Not Really
Have your car detailed-cleaned up inside and out-so that it creates a positive first impression. Take it to three different used-car lots, tell them you want to sell it and that you're looking for a fair price.

When the used-car appraisers give you a price, you can assume that in most cases they are quoting you a figure that will be from 10 to 20 percent below the price that they believe the car will bring at auction. We had one used-car dealer tell us that if a car has an auction or true wholesale value of $12,000, he will always quote a figure 20 percent below. If the customer balks or suggests that he or she is going to get other bids, he'll begin to come up in hopes of closing the deal and dissuading the seller from visiting a competitive lot. If the used car is really in good shape-and understand that used-car lots are always i11 the market for cream puffs-they may even quote you a price above the wholesale figure, knowing that they can still put a good markup on the car and sell it retail.