Is anybody else having trouble selling a Prius?

There are a lot of folks buying used Prius' here in San Diego but they are buying them from dealers for the most part. Carpool tags on those private seller cars are easily selling at or slightly above KBB. I chose to do the dealer thing because it was easier, I did not want to deal with people calling me and all that.
Buyers simply do not always see the same value as sellers do, plus they see all the flaws that the buyer does not.

 

so whats wrong with mine????

 

You're not getting enough exposure. Put it on eBay and also autotrader. With those two resources you should be able to sell it within two weeks. Your audience is limited as I am guessing you are in Central NY so the population centers aren't as large.

 

bedrocks8 comments seemed pretty reasonable to me, don't know why they made the hair on your back stand up?

 

Your car is worth exactly what someone will buy it for.
That amount can change from day to day and with each new group you market to (local paper, metro paper, auto-trader, etc).
We had three buyers from just our pool of friends and friends of friends last spring for a 2007 with about 26,000 miles on it. But that was before cash for clunkers.
While CfC was going on, used car sales (I am guessing) took quite a hit. Depending upon how many of the sales were 'borrowed' from future sales, any car sales, new or used may be depressed for a bit.
In a low selling market, the only way to sell is to lower your prices. If you don't want to sell, you can try expanding your market, or just tough it out and wait for the market to recover.

 

Waiting to SELL an unused car that is declining in value every month is almost never a good idea. Unless you think gas is going over $4 a gallon before next summer holding the car for higher value is not going to work. Gas prices will not go up much until next summer, almost a year from now.

Cash for clunkers may have devalued some cars but it also INCREASED the value of the under $5000 cars as it took hundreds of thousands of them off the road.

 

In my experience, book values are way too high. I generally expect $1000 - $2000 under book trade-in value. I recently considered trading my 2004 with 50K on a new 2010. They offered $8K; book was around $11.5K. Sometimes you can get lucky and get over trade-in book, but not often. Depending on mileage, $11K may not have been far off. To get a better value, take the car to some dealers and see what they will pay, cash. Then, set your sights about $1000-1500 over that.

 

I've never paid more than dealer trade in for a used car in my entire life...even in times when it was a seller's market.

KBB has never matched reality.

I'd say until you start below dealer tradein, you're not going to sell it ...... unless of course gas goes back up to $4 / gallon.

 

Condensing all of what has been said in this thread, we have these facts:

1) An item is only worth what someone will pay to buy it. Any other figure is only a paper value.

2) What someone will pay for an item will vary by person and circumstances.

3) An automobile does not gain value while waiting to be sold.

Applying these facts, we can draw several conclusions:

1) You can't force someone to pay more than they are willing. In an open market, the decision to purchase is one of free will, meaning buyers can walk if they want to.

2) What buyers are willing to pay is a bottom loaded distribution. If the price is low enough, almost every potential buyer will bite. At the high end, only one in a million will be willing to pay the premium (as an example).

3) Increasing the number of potential buyers increases the chances of a sale. If you double the number of potential buyers, the odds at the high end become two in a million. Increase the pool of buyers by 100,000 and high end odds become one in ten, which isn't so bad.

4) Time, while bad for the car, may allow for market conditions to change. It may also allow for a new pool of buyers, although this depends on the market.

So what can you do to sell your car:

1) If you want to sell it right now, sell it cheap.

2) Appeal to the largest possible market. EBay, AutoTrader, and local papers work well. Sometimes placing a car in a good physical location will do the trick. We have a spot just outside of our village where you can sell anything - just stick it out there with a sign on it and someone will bite. It's uncanny how much traffic goes by that spot.

3) Stay the course and hope for better market conditions or a lucky hit.

4) Consider a gimmick. Sometimes a funny or odd promotion can catch peoples' attention.

Tom

 

Well said!

 

OP, your price is either very, very high for your market or it's not as clean as you say it is. Here in Southern California I have seen 2006-2007 go for $16.5k-$18k range. all mileage around the 35-45k mark.

I don't see your price being unreasonable for my market but yours is obviously trending lower.

 

Personally, I've been quite surprised how much people have wanted for their Prius's of late. I have a 2008 Prius with low mileage ect that I purchased from a dealer for $16900 at the end of June. It doesn't have Nav or a backup camera or a smart key though but did come with a Vais Ipod connector which to me was a major thing and more important than a substandard GPS or a backup camera.

Not Ebay prices for a Prius seem to a good place to find what the price people actually want to pay. And Ebay will even link one up with credit, if one had at least mid level credit. And Ebay will also give a basic lemon type warranty too.

Ebay prices often are 10% to 20% less than see what I see for a Prius here as well as other online personal sales. And this difference increases for older Prius too. I've seen good 2004 and 2005 Pruis with under 100000 miles sell for $7500 to $8000 recently. And a 2008 Prius with under 25000 miles and with Nav and smart keys go for $15500 last week.

I'm going to buy an extended warranty for my Prius but not because I'm worried about problems but in 4 years when I plan to sell my Prius, this will add value beyond the cost for it's resale value. I based this on how well Prius with the warranty have sold.....





Steve

 

You left out the 'advertising' element of the equation. Let a million people see your sale item, and it's not the same as only showing it to a thousand people. Gotta have both marketing AND price.

 

It was #4 above:

Tom

 

...and the car will probably still remain unsold, but I wish you the very best of luck.

 

I don't know whether there is a duplicate thread, or what, but one of my responses seems to have disappeared. I then saw a post where the OP said he sold it. But I can't find that post either.

 

Until recently you were competing against a new one with the Cash for Clunkers rebate! As Tom says, it's about price. Your $14,500 was equivalent to asking for $19,000 when comparing your 2006 and its mileage to a brand new 2010 for about 3 grand more. That's not a winning proposition.

Now, that C4C is over, prices should readjust, but it won't be instantaneous. Finding folks with that sort of money is not easy in this economy with most potential buyers already counted out by large debt loads. And that sort of sale price means someone will have to arrange financing for nearly a new car sticker.

Price is set by timing and the market, not by a book. I doubt C4C was factored into any book prices.

The only other obvious things I can think of are: 1. Are you a smoker? 2. Is there pet hair or odor inside? In this market both would likely be fatal to a sale.

 

I was trying to sell my 2007 with 49,000 miles for 17K, and I realize I was asking too much for the market right now. I did get an offer to come look at it if I would sell it for 15K, but now, I have decided to be a two Prius family. May sell it when gas prices go high if the market for sellers improves.

 

C4C definitely took a bite out of the used car market.

I currently have a one owner, non-smoking, no accidents, 2003 loaded Accord coupe V-6 Navi in perfect condition with the extended Honda warranty good until 2/10/10. I have it priced at retail figuring to be able to come down a little. The only calls I get are from the asshats who want to guarantee me that they can sell it for more than my asking price if I pay them $500 or so to list it with their service. I hate those people and even state in the add unless you are a buyer, you are not welcome to call. Oh well.