Best way to sell cars remotely?

[Trifle]

Hello smart folks

Long story short, my elderly mother in law just decided to stop driving, and wants to sell the two cars she owns.  She is quite limited in terms of what she can do, mentally and physically, so she is asking us for help selling the vehicles.  She lives halfway across the country from us, in the upper midwest.  We could go there in person to try to help her sell them, but if we could "push the easy button" and help her remotely that would be better. 

I've only ever sold cars in person -- on Craigslist mostly.  I'm aware of the online buyers like CarMax, Carvana, CarGurus, etc. but I have no experience with those.

Is there one of those you like and would recommend?  Do you think we should we contact multiple places for quotes? 

If it matters, the two vehicles are a 2015 Honda Fit with 9,000 miles on it (!), and a 2012 Braun handicapped-converted side-entry Honda Odyssey with 36,000 miles on it.  (For the converted Odyssey, we've also considered reaching out to some handicapped van dealers to see what they will offer.  Based on some limited research I've done, I believe the main value is in the van itself, however).   

Thanks for your thoughts!



 

[Dictionary Time]

Our Experience: My daughter sold her car to Carmax and it was very easy and straight forward. I’m sure she may have gotten more in a private sale, but it was old, high miles, and starting to rack up problems. It wasn’t worth as much either, so a 10% cut wasn’t the end of the world. As a single 20 something female, she didn’t want to be out there meeting strangers for an extra few hundred.

Personally: My son just graduated college and is looking desperately for a car. I don’t know where your mil is, but I’m sending you a message on the fit. Maybe we will both get lucky?

[travel2020]

You can also look into tred.com. I’ve not sold through them but did buy a car through them and was happy with the overall process. They arranged to have their rep bring the car to a mutually convenient place so we didn’t have to deal with the buyer directly at all.

I think cravana picks up the car from your place after you agree to their offer so that would be another good option in your mother’s situation.

[chemistk]

Because she's so far away from you, and I assume from other family that could help, you're going to want to narrow your options as far as places to sell.

For the Fit (unless you happen to find a buyer here, ha!), I'd almost exclusively consider CarMax or Carvana (CarGurus is just another listing aggregator like Cars.com or Autotrader). While your MIL might only receive 80% of the return if it had been handled through Craiglist, it sounds like she's in no condition to field tire-kickers and fend off aggressive used car dealers. Carvana will buy the car on the spot, no questions, and pick it up for free. CarMax will probably net a little more $ but you'll have to arrange transportation to and from the facility.

You could probably serve as an intermediary between MIL and dealers and make a little more $ that way but it seems like it would be quite a bit of work for you and she'd have to do more of the legwork herself. Making the process as easy as her signing over the title and receiving a check would take a lot off the collective plates. 

As for the van, while I have no experience with that my gut tells me that it's probably more valuable as a mobility vehicle than to have someone buy it and retrofit it back to being a regular family hauler. The mileage is what's most appealing about that, at least if you punch it into KBB, but I feel like the cost to remove the ramp/lift/etc. is probably not worth the extra cash you'd make selling it as a standard Ody.

Have you reached out to the shop/manufacturer that did the conversion to see if they would buy it back or have information on vetted resellers? I'm sure there are plenty who deal with these things with as little headache, mostly because estates need to offload mobility vans rather quickly after their owners pass. If you haven't, I think it's worth calling around simply because each of these vans tends to be a custom transaction (matching your MIL with the right buyer).

[RWD]

Carvana, etc. will likely give pretty competitive quotes for a low mileage vehicle like the Fit. That will be by far the easiest way to sell. A specialty vehicle like the handicap-converted van might not be as easy though. Still worth getting some quotes though to establish a lower-bound.

[reeshau]

It's one thing to automate the sale.  But does MIL have her paperwork in order to make the sales?  She may need help with the DMV if either of those are not titled in her name, or lost.  And make sure they are shown clear of any loans that were on them.

It's an understatement to say it's a seller's market for cars right now.  Even with an intermediary taking the cut, you will do much better than 2 years ago, or 2 years from now.  Take the opportunity to sell at the peak, and don't worry so much about optimizing it,

I was shopping for a minivan last year, and saw plenty of handicap-accessible vans listed through regular dealers on autotrader.  I thinkmyou might be pleasantly surprised how easy even that is.

[Trifle]

Wow, thank you all so much for the replies!

@Dictionary Time -- sent you a PM.

@travel2020 -- thank you!  I had not heard of Tred and will check that out. 

@chemistk -- Thanks for the clarification on what CarGurus is!  Yes -- late last year we reached out to the shop that did the conversion on the van, and they were only offering a super lowball figure.  It's probably worth trying again with them, to see if they will come up.  Accessibility conversions are often so personal -- the exact features installed and so on -- that I think the shop figures on having to re-do it anyway . . .

@RWD -- a vote for Carvana -- thanks!

@reeshau -- Great point about the paperwork needing to be spic and span.  I don't know that MIL could get it all together on her own.  We may need to make a trip there just to help with that.  That is really good to know that even regular dealers are listing handicapped-accessible vans.  I don't see why not.  I think it would be fairly easy to re-convert the van (at least this one).     

[SquashingDebt]

We had an excellent experience with CarMax this fall.  No Carvana in our area though, so can't compare the two.

[Trifle]

We had an excellent experience with CarMax this fall.  No Carvana in our area though, so can't compare the two.

Thank you @SquashingDebt ! 

[Askel]

Another option, a buddy of mine runs a used car lot- he buys cars from private individuals all the time. 

I hesitate to suggest it, because a lot of used car dealers are complete slimeballs- but making a couple calls to local independent dealers might get you a premium over carmax or carvana. 

Worth floating it out there. They usually buy cars from auctions all the time with no test drives or inspections so should be comfortable making you an offer with only basic info and some photos.

[Trifle]

Thank you @Askel -- that's a good idea.  I've bought a couple cars from small local dealers before and am totally comfortable with it.