Private Car Selling

[Shredder83]

Hello,

need your input on the validity of this idea...
Problem: People take a huge loss ($2k avg) on trading their cars in to the dealerhip vs selling them themselves.
Solution: Comprehensive toolset that will allow folks to do all of the work themselves SAFELY, selling their car themselves and saving $2k on average.
Validation: does this idea have merit in your opinion? Do people in America generally want to save the hassle and would rather lose $2,000 than do the work themselves?

Your input would be greatly appreciated!
Much thanks.

Tomasz

 

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[Vitom]

Hello,

need your input on the validity of this idea...
Problem: People take a huge loss ($2k avg) on trading their cars in to the dealerhip vs selling them themselves.
Solution: Comprehensive toolset that will allow folks to do all of the work themselves SAFELY, selling their car themselves and saving $2k on average.
Validation: does this idea have merit in your opinion? Do people in America generally want to save the hassle and would rather lose $2,000 than do the work themselves?

Your input would be greatly appreciated!
Much thanks.

Tomasz

Alright Sir, Lets break it down a little:

Problem: A comprehensive tool set? So how are you going to keep accurate accountability? What if people loose or steal your tools? This is a common problem in Auto-hobby shops on military bases.

Unfortunately, most people are too lazy to work on their own cars. Its not the lack of tools that is stoping them, it is the lack of skills or motivation to get off Netflix.

The majority of the world is full of sidewalkers and slow-laners.

Solutions: I cant think of one solution for this... Snap-on offers a really smart toolbox that tracks every tool, and verbally keeps accountability for you, and can only be accessed with an ID card... problem is, its $50,000 plus.

- Vito M.

 

[Shredder83]

Alright Sir, Lets break it down a little:

Problem: A comprehensive tool set? So how are you going to keep accurate accountability? What if people loose or steal your tools? This is a common problem in Auto-hobby shops on military bases.

Unfortunately, most people are too lazy to work on their own cars. Its not the lack of tools that is stoping them, it is the lack of skills or motivation to get off Netflix.

The majority of the world is full of sidewalkers and slow-laners.

Solutions: I cant think of one solution for this... Snap-on offers a really smart toolbox that tracks every tool, and verbally keeps accountability for you, and can only be accessed with an ID card... problem is, its $50,000 plus.

- Vito M.

Firstly, thank you very much for your input! I should've done a lot better job about what I meant by using the word "toolset". So, I'm talking about fastlane/ scale-able type of tools... digital tools.

What this would do, is take a potential car seller through the process of car selling step by step and offer support when needed. The idea is to solve the problem of people losing $2k on average when trading in their car to the dealers vs selling it themselves.

Hope this clarifies things a bit. ;-)

Thanks again!

Tomasz

 

[JDx]

Hi Tomasz,

I can see where you're going with this.
The logic behind trading in your car at a dealership for a relative low sum, compared to selling it yourself, is the selling part is often an issue.
You have to realize that when you want to sell your car, there is no guarantee that you will actually sell it. Or for what price. You'll have to deal with people bidding on your car, coming to your house to check the car out, go along with them on test drives, deal with negotiations, etc. Not everybody has time for this, or wants strangers showing up at their house.
Also, if you do decide to purchase a new car and sell your old car yourself, you'll be dealing with double the costs; insurance, taxes, etc. You'll have an extra car registered to your name, which you don't even use anymore.
Trade in your car, you'll get instant money back for it and the only thing you have to do is grab those old Backstreet Boys CDs from your dash and drive off in your new ride.

This is also what I usually tell my customers; if you check the web for the value of your car, you can never get that amount when trading it in.
When we trade your car in, we have costs to have it cleaned and polished, checked, and stalled. Don't forget advertisement costs.
And then, at the end of the line, we have to make a profit (I have to eat too, you know ). Which explains the given value being 1000-2000 below the estimated selling price.

The only time you will get a lot of money back for your own car is when you trade it in at an official dealership; their selling price is also a lot higher (= bigger margins).

I don't really see offering people a set of tools or a platform to make this easier or more profitable; the concept of selling your own car remains the same. Even if you don't have to actually modify or maintain anything on your car.

 

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[Shredder83]

Hi Tomasz,

I can see where you're going with this.
The logic behind trading in your car at a dealership for a relative low sum, compared to selling it yourself, is the selling part is often an issue.
You have to realize that when you want to sell your car, there is no guarantee that you will actually sell it. Or for what price. You'll have to deal with people bidding on your car, coming to your house to check the car out, go along with them on test drives, deal with negotiations, etc. Not everybody has time for this, or wants strangers showing up at their house.
Also, if you do decide to purchase a new car and sell your old car yourself, you'll be dealing with double the costs; insurance, taxes, etc. You'll have an extra car registered to your name, which you don't even use anymore.
Trade in your car, you'll get instant money back for it and the only thing you have to do is grab those old Backstreet Boys CDs from your dash and drive off in your new ride.

This is also what I usually tell my customers; if you check the web for the value of your car, you can never get that amount when trading it in.
When we trade your car in, we have costs to have it cleaned and polished, checked, and stalled. Don't forget advertisement costs.
And then, at the end of the line, we have to make a profit (I have to eat too, you know ). Which explains the given value being 1000-2000 below the estimated selling price.

The only time you will get a lot of money back for your own car is when you trade it in at an official dealership; their selling price is also a lot higher (= bigger margins).

I don't really see offering people a set of tools or a platform to make this easier or more profitable; the concept of selling your own car remains the same. Even if you don't have to actually modify or maintain anything on your car.

Thanks for your reply! You basically explained how it works right now in more detail, which I appreciate. So the goal here is to take away or significantly simplify all of those issues you listed and make the process safer, better, faster and more profitable for the seller. IF something like that existed, would it be a popular tool for people trying to sell their car? Can be also used by folks who don't necessarily want to trade in their car for something else but simply sell a vehicle and keep more of the money. Carmax (US car conglomerate) make an absolute killing buying cars from customers without pressuring them to buy one of its own.

And I 100% agree with you! You and the other car dealers will absolutely hate this as it's taking away a big chunk of money away from you. IMO used car industry in the US is ripe for disruption.

Thank you.

Tomasz