How to Make Money Selling Cars to Carmax
Selling a car or even a number of cars can be a decent way to make a little extra cash without having to overextend yourself. But selling a car can take a great deal of effort on your part. There is the interaction with buyers, and since dealerships will rarely buy a car from you unless you buy one from them, you are likely going to be dealing with weary buyers who will seek to haggle over the price. CarMax, however, is a company that deals in buying and selling cars, and the buying and selling aspects are separate from one another. Therefore it is possible to sell a car to CarMax quickly and easily and still get a fair price for it.
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Things You'll Need
- Car title or pay-off information
- Valid registration
- Valid photo ID
- Keys and remote
Instructions
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Understand how CarMax buys cars. CarMax will buy any car regardless of its age, mileage, or condition, according to the company's website, and in order to have the car appraised you won't even need to set up an appointment. Just bring it in and in 30 minutes you should have an appraisal with a written offer that doesn't change. Compared to the time it may take to sell a car directly to an individual buyer, 30 minutes is nothing.
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Locate your suppliers. You can try leafing through the classifieds in your local newspaper or attend auctions (which are also advertised in newspapers). Getting cars from auctions is frequently more worthwhile than going directly to an individual car owner, as the owner is often looking to get as much money as possible while the people auctioning off a car have no say aside from the opening bid and increments in how much they can take home.
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Assess the value of the car you are about to purchase. You don't want to pay more than it's worth, and remember that CarMax will not give you the full value of the car. (The company needs to make money, too.) A good way to find out a car's value is to consult a Kelley Blue Book or view its online resource at kbb.com.
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Clean your new used car, inside and out. The shinier it is, the more CarMax will give you. The company probably won't give you a huge amount for having it clean, but appraisals are based on the car's current condition. Remove any aftermarket modifications if necessary. If you have added on larger-than-required tires, unique paint jobs with designs, custom seats, rear spoilers, or an other non-generic features, these will need to be toned down or removed. Not everyone has the same sense of style and may not want to purchase a neon green Honda with spinning rims.
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Go down to CarMax and have the car appraised. Locations can be found by typing in your state or zip code at carmax.com. Make sure to bring the car's title or pay-off information, valid registration, remote, and keys, as well as a valid photo ID. After the appraisal you should get a written offer that is valid for seven days. Compare your CarMax offer with the amount you paid for your car and the amount it is currently worth. A good way to find out if you have received a worthwhile CarMax offer is to compare the written CarMax offer alongside the original amount you paid for the car. Add up the general amount that was spent on maintenance and repairs and total this with the paid price. That is the amount you are seeking to recoup, at best. The closer the CarMax offer is to your "recoup price" as opposed to the car's worth, the better the offer is. Then decide if you want to accept the offer. If possible, try not to accept offers for lower than what your car is actually worth.
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Tips & Warnings
NADA Used Car Guides can also be used to determine vehicle value.
Edmunds.com offers a free online lookup tool to search for the value of your vehicle.
Because CarMax sells cars at their current condition at auctions and not at retail, the values will typically be lower than the value listed in the Kelly Blue Book Used Car Guide.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit car image by Muhammad Umair Tahir from Fotolia.com
