After 4.5 yrs and 95k miles, I have to part ways with my beloved 2010 Volvo C30 to make way for an expanding family.

I'm planning to list the car locally on Craigslist, but am wondering what other sites/resources people recommend for marketing a used Volvo to a broader audience. Ebay? Cars.com?

The car is in very good condition, 100% dealer maintenanced, and always parked in a garage.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!
-Soon-to-be Mom in central Iowa

 

You are on the right track. Obviously craigslist is free vs the other choices costing you listing fees and in the case of ebay a selling commission.

I have always had very good luck with craigslist, but you have to know that either your item has to be hard to find or priced competitively, so just keep that in mind. To get a starting point use autotrader.com and get their instant cash offer or if you have a CarMax close by they also give guaranteed buy figures. On the autotrader thing be totally honest about the condition. Obviously the miles are high for a 2010, but once you get "wholesale" numbers from autotrader or CarMax you should be able to get at least $1000 more and maybe $1500-2000. Also, get it professionally detailed. The couple hundred you spend to do that will easily be returned in a higher sale price. Good luck!

 

Thanks for the tips, prkface!

I've already gotten quotes from CarMax and my local Volvo dealer, so I feel like I have a good baseline.

Fingers crossed,
-eqwferreira

 

Out of curiosity, what did they come up with and how close to each other were they?

Also, I forgot to ask if Iowa is a state that credits you the trade in value concerning sales tax on the new vehicle purchase. In Indiana if you buy a $20,000 car (new or used) and you get $10,000 for your trade you pay sales tax on the $10,000 difference. In Ohio that applies only if you are buying a new car, so you pay sales tax on the entire amount of a used car purchase and this issue does not come into play. The reason this matters to you is you can inadvertently cost yourself money if you don't know this. Say the dealer offered you $10,000 in trade and you sold the car for $10,500 to a private party, you are $500 ahead, right? But if your sales tax rate is 7% then you traded a $700 tax advantage for a $500 higher price for your car and effectively cost yourself $200 plus the work of selling it yourself. Hope that makes sense. Just something to be aware of.

 

Iowa does let you deduct the sales tax on a trade, so I lost several hundred there. But the Subaru dealer (where I bought my mom-mobile) only offered me $8k on the trade. Carmax also offered $8k. Both would have taken the car to auction. Volvo offered $9k, as they'd sell it themselves. I was hoping for closer to $10k on the trade, as she's worth $11k+. I took pictures today and will post her on Craigslist this weekend. Fingers crossed!

Thanks again,
-eqwferreira

 

Pretty typical with the dealers offering $3K less than what they could sell it for, and the Volvo dealer being a grand more. By the time they perform an inspection and any repairs necessary to make it sellable, plus do a detail on it, pay a sales commission, carry the inventory costs, etc., they aren't being unreasonable, but that difference is still better in your pocket as long as you don't mind the work it takes. I stand by my tip to get it professionally detailed. You will easily recoup the cost and it shows prospective buyers that you really took good care of the car. Good luck!

 

CL is the only game in town these days, flakes and all. The Auto Trader is dead, pretty much all else is by dealers for dealers.