How to determine the price of a used vehicle?

[Minimalist]

I am selling a 2008 vehicle next month. I've some idea of the market asking prices through Kijiji. Is this the way to determine vehicle value or do I use a "Black Book" or whatever colour they are calling it these days?

Have not sold a car in twenty years.

[B16EJ8]

use VMR Canada or Canadian black book for a starting point

[jacky4566]

Whats the vehicle? We could probably help you come up with a good starting point.

[Minimalist]

Originally posted by jacky4566
Whats the vehicle? We could probably help you come up with a good starting point.

2008 Smart Car, Passion, all options, about 66,000 km. Senior owned.

[carson blocks]

Blackbooks are fine, but in reality your competition is on Kijiji. Your buyers are on Kijiji and how your car compares to the others will determine whether you get calls and solid inquiries, or end up sitting on the car and/or only get timewasters (lowballs, trades for sleds and other bullshit).

Look at what other smart cars are for sale, figure out where yours sits on the list (is it the best, the worst, average) and use that to figure out where your car should be pricewise. Find the closest comparable car and price it just under that, unless there is an obvious reason that makes your car a better choice (ie. half the mileage of the next closest car) or an obvious detractor that you need to knock some value off for (buyers really do care about that dent/rust/crack/stain).

When you're done, look objectively at your listing and put yourself in the shoes of the buyer. Ask yourself honestly, "would I buy or call on this car, or one of the others?" to reality-check yourself. If yours is an obvious screaming deal compared to the others, you're too low. If there are equal or better cars for less money, you're too high.

The final step is to confirm your pricing by the interest you're getting. If you're getting inundated with calls from serious buyers wanting to see it immediately, you're a little on the low side. Don't be a dirtball and try to up the price or play games, simply be firm on your price when people come to see it. Conversely, if your phone is dead, you're priced too high and/or your ad sucks. Drop the price on the car, or be more willing to flex on the price when that one guy finally does show up to see it.

Edit: Just read you hadn't sold a car in 20 years, here's some advice.

- Your ad needs to contain every piece of info a buyer would want. Condition, trim, options, mileage, etc. If you're getting calls and emails asking the same legit questions about the car, it's probably info you should have in the ad in the first place and you're turning buyers away.

- Good pictures (and lots of them) will attract buyers, and will stop you from getting 100 emails saying "send moar pics plz". Interior, exterior, engine bay, any damage etc. Save everyone some time and get this right the first time.

- You mentioned you're older and not experienced with selling cars, so I'll mention not to pull the "no emails" crap some older folks do. It's all too easy to move on to the next car.

- If you don't want trades, clearly state "no trades" in the ad. There are people who just troll Kijiji trying to unload their snowmobile or busted project and will email absolutely everyone hoping someone will swap junk. This will get rid of most of them.

- Maybe post your ad here for critique and get some solid advice if there's something you missed. Post the link you get searching for your car, not the one you get when you finish posting the ad. That's called an editable link and will allow someone the ability to change / vandalize your ad.

[revelations]

Originally posted by Minimalist
2008 Smart Car, Passion, all options, about 66,000 km. Senior owned.

Based on that, I would post it at 8000$ (high end) and see how many offers/hits you get. If nothing after a month, then drop.

BTW "senior" or "lady" owned means 0 to the average buyer.

[beyond_ban]

Originally posted by revelations



BTW "senior" or "lady" owned means 0 to the average buyer.

In some cases, it may very well hurt the resale.

[RealJimmyJames]

Top tip about pricing a vehicle, if you aren't getting showings, you hae it priced too high, no matter what the other kijiji listings or the black books say.

[Rocket1k78]

Originally posted by carson blocks
Blackbooks are fine, but in reality your competition is on Kijiji. Your buyers are on Kijiji and how your car compares to the others will determine whether you get calls and solid inquiries, or end up sitting on the car and/or only get timewasters (lowballs, trades for sleds and other bullshit).

kijiji is more important than the book values imo.

[Darkane]

Originally posted by beyond_ban


In some cases, it may very well hurt the resale.

Very true. I tend to avoid lady driven or "highway kms".

If it's truly highway ask them how many times they've changed the brakes. That's always good for a laugh.

[Minimalist]

Really appreciate all the excellent advice, plenty I had not thought about before.

I need to make clear, I am not the senior, my parents owned the car and were unable to sell in Saskatchewan last summer. I am a web designer, so getting the Kijiji and AutoTrader advert details right will be no problem. carson blocks really did a superb job in covering the bases.

Will need to detail the vehicle and take at least 100 photos as outlined in a book on car photography I have somewhere. I'll set it all up on a website, link in the adverts.

Might need a bit of paint on the rear area, looks like it was rubbing on the trailer tailgate for a few hundred miles on the way to Arizona. A body shop visit is in order.

[Minimalist]

Originally posted by beyond_ban


In some cases, it may very well hurt the resale.

I thought about that, in this case, it means MB maintained and not abused in the least. Shit, they paid $60 for front wiper blades from MB.

Just to avoid confusion, I'll keep it out of the listing.

Appreciate the heads up guys.

[carson blocks]

Originally posted by Minimalist


Will need to detail the vehicle and take at least 100 photos as outlined in a book on car photography I have somewhere. I'll set it all up on a website, link in the adverts.

Sounds like overkill in my opinion. It's a 8 year old Smart Car, not a specialty exotic. A dozen (or how ever many they let you have) good clear photos on Kijiji is more than adequate. Don't bother with Auto Trader or any of the others, you'll get nothing but spam calls from guys offering to list the car for you for a fee.

[KPHMPH]

I have a 2011 Smart Passion, have had it on kijiji for god damn a year now at $7000, not one bite and mine is in near perfect condition.

The market for these cars are slim to none and only specialty buyers want these. Your best best is to low ball it at 3-5000 just to get rid of it quickly.

[Cos]

.

[JohnnyHockey]

Niche car, very bad market in Calgary, KPHMPH's post is the best advice especially seeing the other 2008s on Kijiji right now. People aren't buying niche cars unless they're close to what a dealer would give, and from my experience dealers areoffering below the wholesale value given in those usual guides, so I'd say a good starting point is asking a dealer how much they would give first then price accordingly. ..the others on Kijiji right now are 5500-6500.

[zhao]

Originally posted by Darkane


If it's truly highway ask them how many times they've changed the brakes. That's always good for a laugh.

Nice, that's how I judge it too. And it's actually solid proof if you have experience with brake wear times.

My wife's 5 series we bought with 59000km and the rear pads were extremely low. From that I know it was all city KM, potentially driven by an idiot.

[M.alex]

i would price it on the lower end of what you see, "lose" a thousand bucks and move on.

Every time i've sold a vehicle on kijiji/beyond/autotrader it has been the most painful experience ever with people wasting my time. I used to think I was being super smart and getting the best deal, but then when I realized how much time I was wasting to make, maybe, $1,000, it was like

[danno]

Originally posted by M.alex
i would price it on the lower end of what you see, "lose" a thousand bucks and move on.

Every time i've sold a vehicle on kijiji/beyond/autotrader it has been the most painful experience ever with people wasting my time. I used to think I was being super smart and getting the best deal, but then when I realized how much time I was wasting to make, maybe, $1,000, it was like

Thats the truth. I hate wasteing time selling cars. And haggling over $1k.

[JohnnyHockey]

In regards to highway km, I will almost always move on if they put in their ad "all highway km", you can tell they're bullshitting right there because you can't have ALL highway km unless you're some kind of delivery person where you go from one warehouse to the next warehouse in the next city, I'm more likely to respond to someone who says MOSTLY highway and then goes to explain it, like they live in south Calgary and work in Airdrie or something...you notice almost every single high km car ad where the seller is from the Northeast, it will say "all highway"...