Selling a car meant selling a car; listing it on CarGurus, Craigslist or other online platforms, receiving a dozen phone calls all from people you would never want to sell your car to in the first place, and spending your weekends in parking lots.

This is how it’s always been, and many people think that’s how it continues to be. But that’s not true. A lot has changed over the past few years and now there is a much easier way – with no stress involved.

Selling your car privately is the “normal” way to sell your car. After all, most people say you’ll receive a few more bucks for your car. However, selling a vehicle privately is time-consuming. You have to create an advertisement and hope someone responds.

You have people come check out your car but no interest, and after four weeks, you have someone who says they want it but then ghosts you with no reply to multiple follow-ups.

What People Don’t Know About Dealer Purchases

Additionally, what many people don’t know is that most dealerships do purchase vehicles apart from the trade-ins they purchase as bonuses when someone wants to buy a new vehicle. It’s not a secret coupon or promotion, but rather an integrative component of dealership operations; they need cars on their lots, so it’s a win-win.

It’s easier than one might think – bring the car in, let them check it out and then they tell you how much they’re going to offer you. If you accept, then they do the paperwork and pay you. No listings. No strangers. No haggling.

But of course, if one sells their car this way, they’re not going to get top dollar. Understandable. But the difference between selling privately and selling at a dealership is much smaller than it used to be – especially if one factors in time (which equals money) spent waiting for a sale and the inconsistency of having flaky prospective buyers not showing up after texting for a meeting.

The Real Time Comparison

Let’s not kid ourselves about how long selling a car privately takes. It might happen in a week (good for you), but average time is three to six weeks getting peoples’ schedules aligned, seeing if this one is interested, giving them your phone number so they can text you instead of using the CarGurus chat option to slow down the process.

Now compare that with going into a dealership and potentially selling the car there that same day. For those who are looking to sell my car quickly because they are moving or changing jobs or simply don’t want to deal with the hassle, it’s not worth a few hundred dollars’ difference but rather it’s far more important to save time.

Not to mention the overall mental space devoted while trying to sell your car privately. Did someone text? Should I drop my price? Was that weird text from Craigslist asking if my car was still available even legit?

What Happens

Most of the time, dealerships operate similarly in this regard. You call ahead (or fill out something online) about what you have to sell (what make, model, year, mileage) and they’ll give you an approximate quote over the phone to see if it’s worth bringing in.

Once there, they do their due diligence; what’s the condition? Is there damage? Are there mechanical issues? Does the odometer show what you told them? This only takes about 30 minutes and they aren’t equipped to find ways to lowball you; they need accurate information as well.

After the offering price is presented, people often assume there’s some kind of hardline negotiation; there isn’t. The dealership will explain how they got to their number relative to market value for what you’re offering them today and potential value when it comes time for them to resell.

You can either accept it, decline it, or sometimes there’s a bit of leeway if they feel something important was missed. If accepted, then paperwork begins, but for the most part, they handle the headaches of ownership registration details that often bog down private transactions.

The Documents Required

This sometimes poses an issue for people as it’s unclear what documentation is required but there is little documentation that is needed beyond basic information about ownership. You need vehicle registration papers (or title if you’re in a different state/country) so there’s proof of ownership.

Current registration is required because that means the vehicle was legally on the road and isn’t stolen and all regulations are met for viewing at this point in time.

Service records help if you’ve got them but are not required; if the dealership has any experience with vehicles of the same make/model/year/mileage/etc., then they’ll know whether or not you’re being honest. If you’ve got service records and it’s been a trustworthy vehicle by maintenance standards, it’ll improve your offered price but it’s not necessary.

Additionally, you’ll need photo ID and if the vehicle has outstanding costs associated with it (if you’re paying off loans), then they’ll need those percentages and numbers too – but again, most dealerships can negotiate through your lender if they’re using another dealership within their network.

When This Option Makes The Most Sense

Certain situations obviously lend themselves well with selling a car to a dealership such as when someone is moving and needs to sell my car before they leave town; it’s no contest. There’s also less integrity to selling a vehicle with damage – something that would probably turn off many private owners – while that’s nothing more than an inexpensive fix for a dealer’s service department.

High mileage vehicles (over 100,000-150,000 kilometers) also sell better to dealerships than private persons because private entities feel 150k km is too much even if the vehicle has been well maintained – dealers understand better relative value of life cycles as long as everything else checks out.

Also honest truth? It’s just easier for your time’s sake. Not everybody wants their driveway for a month like a used car lot. Sometimes it’s better just for your sanity.

The Security Factor

For buyers/sellers who want peace of mind, no one ever talks about the security situation which makes selling a vehicle to a dealership preferable. Selling privately means someone unknown is coming into your home (or you’re meeting up elsewhere which has its own concerns). You’re having bank transfers of 1000s of dollars which could be fraudulent (or legitimate).

Going through a dealer alleviates all that – it becomes professional like via ownership transfer at final registration through proper channels; payment is confirmed and even seamless alongside any obligations if there’s still any money owed with loan payments as discussions can happen simultaneously.

And finally, there’s absolutely no concern once ownership changes hands via paperwork. With private sales, buyers rarely register any changes of ownership right away (unless they’re required), but you don’t want to get stuck with parking tickets because the buyer drove off with your previous vehicle and decided they weren’t paying registration fees down the line.

The Summary

It’s safe to say that selling a car doesn’t have to be such an extensive production anymore; the old way definitely still works if someone wants every single dollar they can get – and has the time available for maximum investment – but dealerships offer fair value comparison relative convenience and reduced stress efforts that make it favorable in general.

It’s always worth getting a quote at least to see what you’d get; you can always get more privately – but realistically what would you get after time invested?

And at least if you have a number you could justify either taking less now or getting more from somewhere else as the ballpark minimum.

Selling your car has become easier; you just have to know all available options.