A painless way to sell a car

As a segue to Friday’s mishaps as experienced by Charlie and his wife, let me bring some better news. 

Just before he knew the exact date of his Tesla delivery, Charlie brought his old (2012) Subaru Outback with reasonable mileage (83,000) for an oil change at the dealership that originally sold him the car. 

While he was waiting for his vehicle to be ready, he asked for an appraisal and the staff was delighted to get one for him. Charlie thought that it might worth $7 to $8,000 at the very best, and was pleasantly surprised when the appraiser came back with a price of $9,500! 

As the new car’s delivery date got closer, he began to explore all of his options. He could sell the automobile himself, but wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of seeing a multitude of people coming to his home to test drive it and try to beat him on price. 

Charlie first contacted CarMax, a used vehicle retail chain of 225 locations in the US, operating both a sales and financing division. As he contacted CarMax over the internet, Charlie answered the questions he was asked about his car, its condition and mileage, and was given an offer of $12,800, a whopping 35% over Subaru’s!

He also checked with CarVana, a similar outfit, slightly different in the way it operates that offered him even more: $13,416! However, since CarVana doesn’t have a fixed place of business, come to pick up or deliver cars and doesn’t quite enjoy the same reputation as CarMax, he went with the latter. 

After he agreed to the offer, Charlie received an email on his smartphone, got the car out of the garage, snapped about 10 shot of the vehicle from all angles, including exterior, inside the hood, trunk, interior, dashboard and the agreed upon priced was confirmed at once. 

He only had to bring the car to the facility with all the required paperwork ready (keys, title and registration). He parked the car to be inspected, stayed for around 30 minutes in the waiting area before he was called to sign a few papers, was given the agreed upon amount and was on his way! 

Simple, easy and fast. Charlie said he’d never sell another car any other way but with CarMax!