Author Topic: What am I doing wrong?  (Read 8978 times)

Maigahane

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What am I doing wrong?
« on: August 13, 2013, 11:52:24 AM »
I'm trying to sell my '03 Taurus. It's been up on craigslist for 2 weeks now and I have not gotten one response on it. I have it listed for a few hundred more than I expect to get but I didn't think I had it so over priced to keep people from even lowballing me. Here's the add:

http://omaha.craigslist.org/cto/3971611794.html

Do you see anything glaring to keep people from putting an offer on it?

TinyLightsBelow

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Re: What am I doing wrong?
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2013, 12:33:18 PM »
I'm no expert on car prices so I may be incorrectly estimating what people would see as a good price, but the last car my household purchased was a 2001 car of similar make with only 140k miles, for $2100. Prices may be different where you are (I'm in Florida) but I'd say the fact that it has 200k miles on it would make it difficult for me to pay $2400 unless it was a really great car in other respects.

Another Reader

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Re: What am I doing wrong?
« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2013, 12:39:45 PM »
Price fixes everything....

What does KBB say it's worth?  Can you get something better for $2,400 on Craigslist there?

Maigahane

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Re: What am I doing wrong?
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2013, 12:52:21 PM »
A quick search on Craigslist shows 5 2003 Taurus's for sale in my area for $1800 (this one has been rear ended and there's plastic over the trunk to keep it from leaking) to $3k (mine being the second lowest). "Nearby Areas" has 12 from $1500 to $5600, 4 of them lower priced than mine. I would have started lower but I looked at this before I posted and thought $2400 seemed reasonable based on them.
KBB is .....lower than when I looked a few weeks ago. $2,152 for Good condition, $1,652 for Fair. I hate calling it fair because I know the engine and tranny are solid but due to the cosmetic damage I tried putting it between Good and Fair. I will probably lower the price.
But I sold my motorcycle a few weeks ago that KBB said should be $1300-2000 for $2250. I had it listed at $2500 and immediately someone offered me $1800 and pointed out blue book so I figured that would happen with the car but I've gotten nothing.
Is there any wording in the description that is a red flag to anyone?

Maigahane

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Re: What am I doing wrong?
« Reply #4 on: August 13, 2013, 12:57:18 PM »
I just lowered it to $2100 (from $2400)

Eric

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Re: What am I doing wrong?
« Reply #5 on: August 13, 2013, 01:02:01 PM »
Your ad looks good, lots of detail, pics, and descriptions.

I just pulled up Autotrader with a Nebraska zip code.  I'm seeing Taurus's between '01 and '05 with under 150K miles for about $2K or less.  And these don't have dents.  I'd say you need to cut your price, maybe by a lot.

Forcus

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Re: What am I doing wrong?
« Reply #6 on: August 13, 2013, 02:43:22 PM »
Maybe they all read your threads on here :)

But really I think around $1600 will get it sold quicker.

Maigahane

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Re: What am I doing wrong?
« Reply #7 on: August 13, 2013, 02:54:04 PM »
Maybe they all read your threads on here :)

But really I think around $1600 will get it sold quicker.
Lol! That is closer to what I was originally thinking but when I saw what they were listed for on craigslist I think I just got my hopes up :( There's also some sentimental value of the fact that we got this the day we got married and have put 180k miles on it which makes it hard to let go for some stupid reason considering I never really liked the damn thing (I always just wanted a small, hatchback, high mpg, manual)

slowth

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Re: What am I doing wrong?
« Reply #8 on: August 13, 2013, 09:29:20 PM »
Post pictures of the engine bay and undercarriage, and at least two pictures of interior (front and back).
« Last Edit: August 13, 2013, 09:33:53 PM by slowth »

worms

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Re: What am I doing wrong?
« Reply #9 on: August 14, 2013, 04:10:58 AM »
I am sure you already have this covered but It is always worth double-checking that the vehicle is listed on the correct list...

If I go on my 'local' Craigslist for cars in Glasgow, Scotland, more than half the adverts are for cars in various other Glasgow's across the US and I would hazard a guess that the sellers are sitting wondering about the lack of offers!

Forcus

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Re: What am I doing wrong?
« Reply #10 on: August 14, 2013, 09:24:19 AM »
I am sure you already have this covered but It is always worth double-checking that the vehicle is listed on the correct list...

If I go on my 'local' Craigslist for cars in Glasgow, Scotland, more than half the adverts are for cars in various other Glasgow's across the US and I would hazard a guess that the sellers are sitting wondering about the lack of offers!

Ditto that. More than a few times I see ads in the Peoria, IL CL for Peoria, AZ. The grass-less yards, lack of trees, and lizards give it away.

iwanttobelive

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Re: What am I doing wrong?
« Reply #11 on: August 14, 2013, 09:48:39 AM »
It looks clean from the photos. I think when you get to 200K miles, that just scares a lot of buyers away. I think that gets close to $1000 car territory. You could try lowering the price and see what response you get. You could try reposting the ad to make sure it stays fresh in craigslist searches.

Rebecca Stapler

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Re: What am I doing wrong?
« Reply #12 on: August 14, 2013, 09:53:57 AM »
Does your CL get a lot of activity in the car-buying scene? I once tried to sell a car via CL, and after posting it for 1 week with only 2 bites, I realized that another site was more active in that area (I forget which site, or else I'd give you the link). Once I listed it there, I had much more luck.

Matte

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Re: What am I doing wrong?
« Reply #13 on: August 14, 2013, 10:12:14 AM »
Try pop those dents out! You can make them look a lot better, use a fist and knock around the dent in the high areas.  I worked at a car lot and did it all the time.  You may be able to get at the bumper from underneath.  Popping out dents to make it presentable is not that hard, the metal wants to go back to its original shape. These dents often go right out.  I would keep the details down in the add, make it shorter.  You can tell them the bad stuff and why it's not such a big deal on the phone or in person, it's better then in text as you can explain it to them and answer their questions on the spot.

Think of the Craigslist add like a resume, its purpose is to get you the interview, calls, lookers.  You do the selling on the phone or in person

Maigahane

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Re: What am I doing wrong?
« Reply #14 on: August 14, 2013, 10:31:18 AM »
Try pop those dents out! You can make them look a lot better, use a fist and knock around the dent in the high areas.  I worked at a car lot and did it all the time.  You may be able to get at the bumper from underneath.  Popping out dents to make it presentable is not that hard, the metal wants to go back to its original shape. These dents often go right out.  I would keep the details down in the add, make it shorter.  You can tell them the bad stuff and why it's not such a big deal on the phone or in person, it's better then in text as you can explain it to them and answer their questions on the spot.

Think of the Craigslist add like a resume, its purpose is to get you the interview, calls, lookers.  You do the selling on the phone or in person
The front fender is more of a crunch then a dent.....it's not going back. And we have TRIED to get the back bumper to pop back out (and had many friends try for us) and it's just at a bad angle. The bumper needs taken off to do it and I have no idea how to do that. I put info about them in the description since they're very obvious and wanted to let people know that they don't actually affect the car.

And yes, it is definitely in the right CL. It's hard to mess up Omaha :D There are TONS of listings in there but I don't know how much actual buying happens. I do go in every few days and bump it up so it doesn't get completely burried.

I'm gonna go down another couple hundred here in a day or two :(

Eric

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Re: What am I doing wrong?
« Reply #15 on: August 14, 2013, 10:38:22 AM »
I would keep the details down in the add, make it shorter.  You can tell them the bad stuff and why it's not such a big deal on the phone or in person, it's better then in text as you can explain it to them and answer their questions on the spot.

Think of the Craigslist add like a resume, its purpose is to get you the interview, calls, lookers.  You do the selling on the phone or in person

I thought the ad was pretty succinct.  It all fits on one page, and the details given are important details that I would look for.  Telling how the car was maintained and work that's been done is good. And how the dents occurred and that there is no mechanical problem with them is important stuff too.  There was only about one sentence of "fluff", in my opinion ("I just had a friend say it's the smoothest driving car with that many miles on it he's ever driven."), and even that isn't too bad.

Spudd

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Re: What am I doing wrong?
« Reply #16 on: August 14, 2013, 02:36:24 PM »
I would suggest taking the exterior pictures again on a sunny day. The rain on the car makes the finish look cloudy.