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Selling cars on craigslist.com and trading in

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by ggood, May 30, 2006.

  1. ggood

    ggood Senior Member

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    This may not be news to some people, but I'm thrilled to discover it's possible to combine a private sale with a trade in! :lol:

    I started a thread a while back regarding selling cars on EBAY. Among the alternative suggestions were autotrader.com and craigslist.com. I decided to try craigslist.com because it was free and easy and didn't invade my privacy. I had 4 inquiries in about a week, and will now be making a quick sale of my 2004 Prius at a price $2,200 higher than the trade in amount I was offered. Kudos to Mystery Squid for the craigslist suggestion!

    In that same thread, Miss Taz reminded everyone that in a lot of states (including Florida and Texas), the value of your trade-in reduces the value of the new car for purposes of the motor vehicle sales tax. In my case, that effectively added $1,200 to the trade-in value.

    Since I still had a note on the Prius with Toyota Financial, I asked my Camry saleman if the dealer could handle the payoff and issuance of title, to avoid transaction delays from making the payoff payment and waiting for clear title in the mail. For a $300 fee (plus a $50 documentation fee - ie, for collecting the tags and paperwork from the DMV), not only will my Camry dealer expedite the Prius sale, and the title and license, but they will treat the Prius as a trade-in, trade-out, so that I also get the benefit of the sales tax reduction on my higher Prius sales price. Oh, what a feeling! :D

    The dealer wins by taking additional fees. I win by getting more profit and the sales tax reduction. Buyer wins by getting a faster, easier transaction in which all the paperwork and collection of tags, etc. is done for him (I'm paying all the extra fees). This is GREAT! B)
     
    #1 ggood, May 30, 2006
  2. paco-shalom

    paco-shalom Veteran Prius Owner

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ggood @ May 30 2006, 01:33 AM) [snapback]262641[/snapback]</div>
    I agree that Craigslist.org makes it easy. I sold my 1996 Volvo 850 for 2X what the Toyota dealer offered me for a trade. It only took 1 day to find a buyer, and the transactions was complete just a couple days later. It could not have been easier (unless the dealer had offered enough for the trade).
     
    #2 paco-shalom, May 30, 2006
  3. bedrock8x

    bedrock8x Senior Member

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    I am confused how can the value of the private sale becomes a trade in deduction on you new car purchase price. Sounds a little shady to me.
     
    #3 bedrock8x, Mar 27, 2010
  4. 2k1Toaster

    2k1Toaster Brand New Prius Batteries

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    So basically you "traded in" your car to your dealer, who pays it off, then "sells" it to the owner you found immeadietly? In the proccess, the trade in value takes off your sales tax, which offsets the additional dealer fees correct?

    This is a pretty good deal! Good job, I wouldn't have even thought about that.
     
    #4 2k1Toaster, Mar 29, 2010
  5. exbauer

    exbauer Active Member

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    I have thought about that. But, many times dealers don't want to do that or they don't understand what you want to do. Just tell them they will make some money and get a sale. That is all they need to know.
     
    #5 exbauer, Apr 1, 2010
  6. sktn77a

    sktn77a Member

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    The missing item is the sales tax on the car that the dealer "sells" to your buyer.

    Not sure how this is working either..........
     
    #6 sktn77a, Apr 2, 2010
  7. Pippicidal

    Pippicidal New Member

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    Hi Ggood.

    I'm looking to buy a Toyota that has been financed by Toyota Financial. I'm looking for a way to expedite the title release as I plan to take this vehicle out of the country asap. I'm in Houston. Can you tell which dealer helped you out? Any contact info?

    Thanks very much,

    Pippicidal
     
    #7 Pippicidal, Jan 2, 2011
  8. jmooney

    jmooney New Member

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    If you sell a vehicle and show proof to the dmv, you can deduct the price you sold your old car for from the new vehicle costs to lower your sales tax bill
     
    #8 jmooney, Jan 2, 2011
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