Best way to sell a "fun" car?

[EEinNJ]

Through a combination of circumstances, I find myself a single guy with 3 cars. All paid for, all in good shape, newer and/or low miles. The "fun" car is a 2006 Miata, 2 seat convertible sports car, and I've decided to sell it. I checked Edmunds and Kelly to price it, took good pictures, etc. It's probably worth 10-12K, plus I have spare wheels & snows.

I tried an ebay classifieds, got one guy who seemed like he definitely wanted it- then he low-balled me by 20%. I tried Craigslist, got one fishy email response. Selling a car is a hassle, and I'm thinking maybe I should shop it to used car dealers, take the hit on price and get it over with.

Any other ideas?

[bjl584]

Autotrader.com. You will have to pay, but it's well worth it. You will get more serious buyers. You pay a flat rate and the car will be listed until it sells.

[MonkeyMama]

I sold a "fun car" on Craigslist. It was an older vehicle to be fair - but no dealer or prfessional auto buyer would offer me more than $1k. I sold it on Craigslist in a couple of days for $3k. One trick I did was to list for sale in multiple metropolitan areas - since I had access to more than one metro area. It sold in the city with higher cost of living, but I wanted to price more reasonably in case I could get a local sale.

Autotrader sounds like good middle ground.

It wouldn't hurt to get some trade-in/dealer type quotes, so you know the minimum that you are going to get. You can just call or e-mail for quotes. If they offer you $6k, and $12k asking price isn't working out, then maybe you should try to sell for $10k or $11k. If you can get a dealer to offer you $10k or $11k, there is much to be said for just erasing the hassle/scam factor and being done with it. But sometimes you just lose out on way too much to the dealer. I think it's hard to make a decision without knowing what the dealer is willing to give you.

[kork13]

For most cars anymore, there are online driver clubs, and on their websites there are often forums like this one. Find the "For Sale" section, and post details & photos of your car in there. People who appreciate that particular style of car will normally make you some pretty reasonable offers. Shoot, I almost bought my car this summer on one of those forums.

My other suggestion is to see if you have any friends (or friends of friends) who are looking for a car. People you know personally are more likely to be reasonable in a sale like that (at least in my experience).

[EEinNJ]

happy ending update

I stopped by a local dealership that frequently sells these kind of cars. The general manager is a sports car nut, and an old hand in the business. They bought the car from me for a very good trade-in price without any haggling or nonsense. I doubt I would have done better trying to sell it myself, and I'm relieved. It's nice when things work out!

[MonkeyMama]

Awesome!

Reminds me, I actually traded in my last car because the dealer offered more than I even expected to sell it for. I think both my experiences were two extremes. Honestly, you just never know - each car can be so different. Times are different, and on and on. Maybe this was a really good time to sell!