Author Topic: what to do with a car that is not selling  (Read 10120 times)

doneby35

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what to do with a car that is not selling
« on: November 22, 2016, 06:37:59 PM »
I have a beautiful Ford Focus ST that I've been trying to sell with ads on Craigslist and cars.com for a month now and I've only gotten one call and then it fell through. The car is worth $19,000 which could be a reason why not a lot of people are hitting me up for it.

I took it to the dealer and they offered $14,500 because according to them there's a recall on it, and they don't have the fix yet so it would have to go through an auction, therefore the very low offer. Sooo I walked out.

What do guys think I can do with it for it not to just sit in my garage with no purpose? I thought about Uber but I'm not sure it's worth it. Any ideas?

GetItRight

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #1 on: November 22, 2016, 06:42:04 PM »
If there is no interest at $19k, it's not worth $19k. Lower the price until it sells. Sounds like it's worth somewhere between $14.5k and $19k. A car that truly isn't selling would be something with a value around the scrap value, in which case you would take it to a scrap yard and get a couple hundred bucks.

bobechs

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2016, 08:00:30 PM »
The car is "worth" $19,000 according to....  you?

Since it appears most of the world you inhabit evidently does not know that fact as well as you do, until someone comes along that a) agrees with you, b) has $19,000 to spend and c) wants to spend it on your car you are kind of stuck.

Maybe burn it for the insurance money.
« Last Edit: November 22, 2016, 08:02:26 PM by bobechs »

doneby35

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #3 on: November 22, 2016, 08:33:24 PM »
Not according to me, according to kbb and edmunds and all the other ads for the same car that I see posted online. I guess I'll lower the price some more *sigh*

Another Reader

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #4 on: November 22, 2016, 09:14:12 PM »
Do you have a Carmax in your area?  Take it there and get their offer.  They will likely be higher than the Ford dealer and lower than what you could get selling it yourself.  List it again at a price between the Carmax offer and what KBB et al say it is worth.

doneby35

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #5 on: November 22, 2016, 09:29:57 PM »
oh i didn't even think of that, i'll try it and see what they offer. Thanks for that suggestion.

ObviouslyNotAGolfer

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #6 on: November 22, 2016, 09:32:37 PM »
Part it out and crush it! Take the money you get and put it toward an old well-maintained, low mileage Volvo 240 or 740 (turbo maybe) sedan or wagon. Take care of it and it will run forever.

doneby35

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #7 on: November 22, 2016, 09:47:54 PM »
hah i'm not sure that anyone has ever crushed a year 2015 vehicle with 5000 miles on it and sold the parts.

mustachepungoeshere

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #8 on: November 22, 2016, 10:19:46 PM »
Agree with the above.

Also, objectively assess your photos.

If they're crap, re-do them. Inside and out, hi-res, multiple angles, and good, even lighting.

People like to see what they're buying.

driftwood

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #9 on: November 23, 2016, 02:33:52 AM »
+1 on photos.

Take the photos/post them in an order that makes sense.  It should be a virtual walk-around of your car, with additional engine/interior/trunk/tire shots.  In the internet age people will do most of their evaluating based on what they see on the ad before ever coming to see the car. I also take specific photos of any damage/dings/scratches. Using this approach my cars have always been pretty much sold pending a test drive. When people show up to look at the car they aren't ever surprised - it looks the same as it did in the pictures, it's clean (which can translate to the buyer thinking you took good care of the car), and they've already considered any of the negatives because they were in the ad up front.

The unfortunate part about the price is it is only worth what you can find someone to pay for it.  With a price that high ($19k) most people will be looking at a loan, so you get that added into the buyer's effort level.  Once you're in loan territory you're competing with dealerships too... If I'm getting a $19k loan why not get a $35k loan and get this shinier bigger better thingy, especially because if I buy this weekend I get a 60" flatscreen TV?!

2Birds1Stone

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #10 on: November 23, 2016, 03:44:47 AM »
just my $.02 on price.

Edmunds, KBB, NADA are usually way overestimating the value of vehicles.

Dealers use something called Galves, which is the price the car would fetch at auction, sight unseen.

Also, don't go by ads, that is what people/dealers are listing vehicles for, not what they are actually selling for.

Monkey Uncle

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #11 on: November 23, 2016, 04:39:51 AM »
just my $.02 on price.

Edmunds, KBB, NADA are usually way overestimating the value of vehicles.

Dealers use something called Galves, which is the price the car would fetch at auction, sight unseen.

Also, don't go by ads, that is what people/dealers are listing vehicles for, not what they are actually selling for.

Accuracy of online estimators can vary quite a bit depending on location, type of vehicle, age and condition, etc.  Right now I'm trying to find an old, cheap truck on craigslist, and I'm finding that most of them are priced considerably higher than where KBB and NADA say they should be based on age, mileage, and condition.  The sellers aren't willing to back off much, and the trucks are selling to other people who are willing to pay more than I am, so I'm pretty sure they're actually going for more than the KBB/NADA values.  And I'm finding that Edmunds is totally worthless - they value the trucks at about half of the asking price.

But to get back to the OP's question: two posters above have already provided the answers. (1) If it isn't selling, you're asking too much, and (2) you're going to have trouble selling a car at that price to a private party buyer because of the need for financing.  They aren't going to be able to get a bank loan at anywhere near the interest rate that they could get on a dealer-financed vehicle.  You may have to swallow your pride and sell it to Carmax.
« Last Edit: November 23, 2016, 04:43:11 AM by Monkey Uncle »

ShoulderThingThatGoesUp

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #12 on: November 23, 2016, 05:07:20 AM »
Can you take it to Ford and get them to fix the recall, or is it like that door latch recall on my C-Max Energi where the parts to fix it don't exist yet?

Linea_Norway

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #13 on: November 23, 2016, 05:41:09 AM »
When we sold our Subaru Legacy 7 years ago, we looked at prices in adds for similar cars and we decided to price it slightly higher than the similar cars. This was because our car had some more equipment, all official services and new summer and winter tires. No one was interested. Only after we put down the price to the same level as the other Subaru Legacies, our car became attractive, because I was slightly better than the similar cars.
Earlier we once sold a car to the company where we bought the newer car. But then you get even less for it. Selling privately is more profitable.

Lesson learned: used cars are worth less than you would think.

fuzzed

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #14 on: November 23, 2016, 05:50:25 AM »
Take the money you get and put it toward an old well-maintained, low mileage Volvo 240 or 740 (turbo maybe) sedan or wagon.

this plus the Lebowski reference... I like your style!

rothwem

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #15 on: November 23, 2016, 07:24:56 AM »
Cars over ~$6,000 or so are hard to sell on craigslist since craigslist caters to impulse buyers.  People rarely have $19,000 in cash just chillin' in a bank account ready to buy something shiny, so you can't really grab those people with a (relatively) expensive car. 

I'd echo the Carmax suggestion though, the car you've got is exactly what Carmax looks for--relatively new, low miles, etc.  I tried to get Carmax to buy my 114,000 mile BMW and the results were not nearly as good--NADA retail of $17k, Carmax offer was $11k. 

I'd also try Cars.com and Autotrader.com.  If you can borrow a friend's nice camera, I'd say to go for it, the clearer the pictures the better and sometimes an iPhone doesn't do too well. 

Uturn

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #16 on: November 23, 2016, 07:36:03 AM »
Craigslist seems to work best for < $10k vehicles.  I had an 09 Ram last year that I listed for $10.5k with no hits, dropped to $10k with not hits.  Dropped again to $9500, got a few calls and sold in a week.  About 3 months ago, I listed an 08 Ram for $12k, 11k, 10k, no hits at all. 

MsPeacock

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #17 on: November 23, 2016, 08:02:22 AM »
I had a good experience off loading my clown car to CarMax. I didn't even bother w/ craigslist because the car was worth about 38k and I figured it would be impossible to find a private party buyer. Additionally, because the car was a clown car (in other words "super nice" ) and spotlessly clean I think CarMax saw it as a car they could turn over pretty easily, which made them offer me a good price for it (basically KBB).

For CarMax - you can make an appointment online. Be sure to completely clean your car - take out everything personal. Either detail it yourself or take it to a carwash that also does the interior and make sure it is as clean as possible. If you have key fobs for the car, bring them both with you to show that you have them. Their offer is good for 7 days - you don't have to decide on the spot.

There are a few other used car chains that do the same thing. If there are more companies in your area I'd recommend shopping it around to see what offers you get.

Fishindude

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #18 on: November 23, 2016, 08:22:35 AM »
Consider putting it in an auction if you want to sell it fast.

doneby35

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #19 on: November 23, 2016, 08:58:46 AM »
Thanks everyone, I'm going to be taking it to CarMax and see what happens.

Paul der Krake

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #20 on: November 23, 2016, 09:05:01 AM »
Accuracy of online estimators can vary quite a bit depending on location, type of vehicle, age and condition, etc.  Right now I'm trying to find an old, cheap truck on craigslist, and I'm finding that most of them are priced considerably higher than where KBB and NADA say they should be based on age, mileage, and condition.  The sellers aren't willing to back off much, and the trucks are selling to other people who are willing to pay more than I am, so I'm pretty sure they're actually going for more than the KBB/NADA values.  And I'm finding that Edmunds is totally worthless - they value the trucks at about half of the asking price.
This has been my experience too in the low end of the market. The kind of cars I was targeting were supposed to sell in the $2000-2500 range, but it just didn't happen. I'm sure if you had the patience of a saint you could find an old widow selling her late husband's 1998 camry for what KBB says she should, but everyone else lists 1-2k above and don't budge much.

Tester

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #21 on: November 23, 2016, 09:54:40 AM »
Beepi?
You could try them too.

doneby35

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #22 on: November 23, 2016, 11:02:05 AM »
Yeah thanks for that suggestion, looks like they will offer me somewhat the same price that carmax will, the only difference is Beepi will sell your car in 30 days, carmax buys it from you immediately.

marielle

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #23 on: November 23, 2016, 12:43:09 PM »
Try other dealerships. My boyfriend just sold a similar car, but 2014 ST with like 28k miles. Same problem with recalls. He got an offer for 15k at Carmax a couple months ago, then 14k a month later because of recalls. Ended up settling for $14500 at a Toyota dealership to clear the loan. Go to the biggest dealership in your area, or even drive a little further. In the meantime, try unconventional ways of selling the car. Like putting a for sale sign in the windows, posting on Facebook sale groups in your area, stuff like that. The car is also pretty popular with autocross groups, see if you can find anyone interested there.

Sibley

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #24 on: November 23, 2016, 07:15:00 PM »
I have a beautiful Ford Focus ST that I've been trying to sell with ads on Craigslist and cars.com for a month now and I've only gotten one call and then it fell through. The car is worth $19,000 which could be a reason why not a lot of people are hitting me up for it.

I took it to the dealer and they offered $14,500 because according to them there's a recall on it, and they don't have the fix yet so it would have to go through an auction, therefore the very low offer. Sooo I walked out.

What do guys think I can do with it for it not to just sit in my garage with no purpose? I thought about Uber but I'm not sure it's worth it. Any ideas?

Yes, there is a recall out, relating to the door latches. They are severely behind on getting the parts, so yeah. You're stuck on that.

Also, the 2012-2015 Focuses have well documented problems with the transmission. I have a 2014 with problems and am PISSED (plus multiple oil leaks - thank goodness for warranties). I would not buy a Focus right now for any price. If people know about that, they may not want the hassle.

Good luck with CarMax.

doneby35

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #25 on: November 23, 2016, 09:38:14 PM »
I think the transmission problems are only related to the regular Focus and the automatic transmission, not the ST which is only manual. But Carmax offered me 16,000, i was hoping for 17,500 so i didn't take it, i was thinking i can wait a little longer for someone to reach out to me on craigslist or cars.com.

Metric Mouse

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #26 on: November 24, 2016, 07:48:34 AM »
I'd wait. I've sold stuff (never use Craigslist, but a similar, much better regional site) and sometimes thing sit and then all of a sudden I'll get three or four bites and get rid of it quick.  Here's to hoping, anyway!

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #27 on: November 24, 2016, 08:12:34 AM »
Thanks everyone, I'm going to be taking it to CarMax and see what happens.
  I went to Carmax once.  They made me an offer of 50% of what I sold it for to a private party a couple weeks later.

Another Reader

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #28 on: November 24, 2016, 10:27:51 AM »
I think the transmission problems are only related to the regular Focus and the automatic transmission, not the ST which is only manual. But Carmax offered me 16,000, i was hoping for 17,500 so i didn't take it, i was thinking i can wait a little longer for someone to reach out to me on craigslist or cars.com.

If you will take $17,500, drop the price to $17,900.  Try that for a couple of weeks and see what happens.  If no one bites, consider dropping the price again and then, if there is no interest, taking the $16,000.

kudy

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #29 on: November 24, 2016, 10:59:09 AM »
When I sold my old car, I dropped the price $500 every week or two, until I found a buyer. As others have mentioned, it was hard to sell, because it was in the $15k range, and a lot of used buyers on craigslist aren't looking at cars in that price range. I think I had it listed for 4 months before I found a buyer.

The buyer I found arranged financing through his bank, but a lot of people don't even know you can finance a car purchase outside of a dealership - maybe put some info on financing in your ad?

doneby35

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #30 on: November 24, 2016, 07:13:45 PM »
I actually tried beepi.com and they offer 16,700 and then I found carvana.com which is offering 17,100. Very close!

Monkey Uncle

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #31 on: November 25, 2016, 04:48:42 AM »
I think the transmission problems are only related to the regular Focus and the automatic transmission, not the ST which is only manual. But Carmax offered me 16,000, i was hoping for 17,500 so i didn't take it, i was thinking i can wait a little longer for someone to reach out to me on craigslist or cars.com.

You are remembering to renew the CL ad every few days to bump it back up to the top, right?  Lots of people don't remove their ads once their car sells, so if your ad is languishing near the bottom of the listings, buyers may assume you've already sold it.

doneby35

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #32 on: November 25, 2016, 03:14:39 PM »
Just sold it to a dealer for 18,000 son!!! once step closer to FIRE!

iluvzbeach

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #33 on: November 25, 2016, 04:40:27 PM »
Congrats on the sale!  I was just getting ready to suggest trying a dealer outside of Carmax.  Twice in the past year I've had experience with the sale of a vehicle to a dealer and in both instances their offer was $1,000 - $1,500 more than Carmax. Again, congrats and nice job on sticking to your guns on the price you felt was fair.

Monkey Uncle

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #34 on: November 26, 2016, 03:36:10 AM »
Well done!

Can you share any details about the dealer and the deal you struck with him/her?  I'm surprised that a dealer would pay that much for something that isn't being traded in for a new car.

doneby35

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #35 on: November 26, 2016, 10:18:16 AM »
Sure thing, a little back story. I had a lien on my car through Ford Credit since I purchased with a loan, 0% interest, but still, not so mustachian of me at that time... so I didn't have access to the title and neither did the lienholder, and apparently in arizona, the title is electronic and there's no paper copy anywhere until the loan is paid off, which added more difficulty to the process of selling it to a private party along with the fact that not a lot of people have 20k in cash to spend on a car.

After a full month, I only had one deal that almost worked with someone wanting to buy it, but their credit union wouldn't give them the money since nobody has access to the title, so it fell through.
I brought the price down a little bit, still no hits, kept renewing the ad both on craigslist and cars.com.

I was getting pissed because I didn't want to sell at a big loss. I tried carmax, they offered 16,000 for some unknown reason even though the car can sell for $20,000 since it's in mint condition with 4500 miles on it. They pissed me off even more.
Then I tried this beepi.com website, initially the offer was 16,700, then it turned to 13,000. Hell to the nah son!
Then I tried carvana.com, which required me to drive to their local facility to get an evaluation and gave me an estimate of 16,500. I started thinking that the car is not really worth much, but that just didn't make sense.

Finally, and this is something that I thought would give me the lowest offer (I was wrong), cars.com has this instant cash offer feature where it partners with dealerships that are looking for certain cars and they would send you an offer for your car in an hour or so after you fill out some information on its condition along with some pictures and vehicle info. I received 3-4 offers, one of them being 18,000 from a smaller car dealer in Phoenix, I called them just to make sure they weren't going to change the offer on me once I got there and they told me as long as the car is in perfect condition then the offer stands.
I drove there, it was the best car selling experience, they inspected and purchased it from me, i was out of there in 1 hour, no one tried to sell me anything or convince me to trade it in.

Dicey

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #36 on: November 26, 2016, 02:06:34 PM »
Hooray! Thanks for the update. I think the system is rigged to make it harder for the little guy. Glad you found a workaround.

Monkey Uncle

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #37 on: November 27, 2016, 04:36:41 AM »
Awesome.  I'll have to remember cars.com.

Metric Mouse

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #38 on: November 28, 2016, 02:15:04 AM »
Nice! Congrats. A lot of work to get rid of a car, but sounds like you finally got a price you're happy with.

chasesfish

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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #39 on: November 28, 2016, 05:09:05 AM »
Sure thing, a little back story. I had a lien on my car through Ford Credit since I purchased with a loan, 0% interest, but still, not so mustachian of me at that time... so I didn't have access to the title and neither did the lienholder, and apparently in arizona, the title is electronic and there's no paper copy anywhere until the loan is paid off, which added more difficulty to the process of selling it to a private party along with the fact that not a lot of people have 20k in cash to spend on a car.

After a full month, I only had one deal that almost worked with someone wanting to buy it, but their credit union wouldn't give them the money since nobody has access to the title, so it fell through.
I brought the price down a little bit, still no hits, kept renewing the ad both on craigslist and cars.com.

I was getting pissed because I didn't want to sell at a big loss. I tried carmax, they offered 16,000 for some unknown reason even though the car can sell for $20,000 since it's in mint condition with 4500 miles on it. They pissed me off even more.
Then I tried this beepi.com website, initially the offer was 16,700, then it turned to 13,000. Hell to the nah son!
Then I tried carvana.com, which required me to drive to their local facility to get an evaluation and gave me an estimate of 16,500. I started thinking that the car is not really worth much, but that just didn't make sense.

Finally, and this is something that I thought would give me the lowest offer (I was wrong), cars.com has this instant cash offer feature where it partners with dealerships that are looking for certain cars and they would send you an offer for your car in an hour or so after you fill out some information on its condition along with some pictures and vehicle info. I received 3-4 offers, one of them being 18,000 from a smaller car dealer in Phoenix, I called them just to make sure they weren't going to change the offer on me once I got there and they told me as long as the car is in perfect condition then the offer stands.
I drove there, it was the best car selling experience, they inspected and purchased it from me, i was out of there in 1 hour, no one tried to sell me anything or convince me to trade it in.

This is an awesome story, congratulations!

I saw this thread late, but have helped a couple of co-workers with the same issue.  Freedom of information is awesome when it comes to the car market.  It used to be that a car dealer made all their money on a used car trade in, getting it at a 10-30% discount to its auction value.  Now you can shop your car against multiple dealers (thank you CarMax for starting the "cash offer" for trade) or if you live in a big city, there are intermediary/entrepreneurs who will pay you 2-3% below auction value and use their dealership license to immediately flip the car.


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Re: what to do with a car that is not selling
« Reply #40 on: November 28, 2016, 11:43:57 AM »
Have you used KBB or some other market tool to determine real condition and real value, then printed the data sheets and taped them to your back window?

Not everyone reads craigslist.  You have to market your wares.  Expand your advertising.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!