Skip to main content

How to sell a car

Selling your car privately is more of a hassle than trading it in, but it’s the best way to end the transaction with more cash in your pocket. It’s not as daunting as it seems, either. You don’t need to be an experienced sales professional or a car expert to find a new home for your vehicle. There are basic guidelines to follow, and we’ve listed them all here.

We know what we’re talking about: Your author has bought and sold over 40 cars and worked at dealerships.

Recommended Videos

Getting started

Step 1: Verify the car’s make and model as well as its model year. The easiest way to do this is to find your vehicle identification number (VIN), which is generally located where the dashboard meets the windshield on the driver’s side (if it is not there, open the driver’s door and inspect the area where the door latches when closed). After you’ve found the number, use one of the many free VIN decoders on the internet to see what it corresponds to.

How to sell a car VIN number windshield
VIN number Image used with permission by copyright holder

Step 2: Look up your car’s market value using guides like Kelly Blue Book and the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA). Log on to either site, select your vehicle, choose its condition, report its current mileage, list its main options, and let the guides do their work. When they’re done, they’ll give you a ballpark suggestion.

Next, visit popular classifieds websites (like Craigslist) and look for vehicles similar to yours listed in your area. Compare the asking price to the book value, and you’ll have a decent idea of what your car is worth.

Step 3: Gather any and all documents a potential buyer can use to piece together the car’s history. This includes maintenance records, invoices for parts you’ve installed yourself, and the original window sticker if you still have it.

Step 4: Take lots of pictures. If there’s road rash on the hood because you’ve driven 15,000 miles annually for the past three years, photograph it. If you take such good care of your 20-year-old car that it looks like it was built yesterday, photograph it. Is there a rip in the driver’s seat? Photograph it. The better the photos, the more likely you are to sell your car. You want to convince buyers yours is the one they want, so don’t forget to wash and detail it before the photoshoot. No potential buyer wants to look at a dirty car. Even if it’s a beater, try to clean it up.

Step 5: Figure out where you’d like to sell your car. You’ll normally have better luck listing it online than parking it on the side of the road with a “for sale” sign on the windshield, though that could work, too, depending on where you live. Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace are great starting points because they get a huge amount of traffic and let you upload several photos. Local online classifieds (if applicable) should be on your radar as well.

Writing your ad

Step 6: Your ad needs to be as concise as possible. Clearly list the year, make, model, mileage, and the overall condition. Mention noteworthy options, and be upfront about significant mechanical and cosmetic issues. Don’t try to match the word count of Homer’s The Odyssey; you’re not writing a novel. And, for the love of English grammar, don’t write the entire ad in capital letters.

Here’s an example:

“Hi, I’m selling my 2007 Subaru Outback 2.5. It’s silver with a black interior. It has a clean title, about 119,000 miles, and an automatic transmission. I have all of the service records since new; recent work includes an oil change and new front brake pads. There’s a dent on the hood but it’s in great shape otherwise. Features include leather, rubber floor mats, and a CD player. I’m asking $6,500 or best offer; no trades, please. Email is the best way to reach me.”

Quick, simple, detailed, and polite. Someone looking for an Outback will know enough about what you’re selling to decide whether making an appointment to look at it is worth their time (and yours). Single-sentence listings (e.g., “HI I’M SELLING AN OUTBACK CALL ME!!!! :D”) will get you absolutely nowhere.

Step 7: In our experience, it’s wise to insist on speaking via email first and to only give your phone number to buyers who are genuinely interested. Your mileage may vary. Either way, when setting up an appointment, keep in mind you have absolutely no idea who you’re dealing with. Agree to meet somewhere public and well lit. The local coffee shop, for example. Avoid giving strangers your address, welcoming them to your house, and showing them what else is in your garage. Of course, if you’re selling a car that’s sinking in your backyard, you may not have a choice.

Don’t freak out if the buyer requests a test drive; you would, too, wouldn’t you? Toss the person the keys and hop in next to them. Or, if you’d rather not, ask that they leave you the keys to their own car (or something else that’s valuable) while they’re out and about. As always, use common sense: If a 16-year-old wants to take your 707-horsepower Dodge Challenger Hellcat for a spin, it’s a good idea to suggest they come back with an adult. If you’re selling a stick to someone who can’t drive one, ask that they come back with a friend who can shift gears.

During the sale

Step 8: Haggling is human nature. Going back to our imaginary $6,500 Outback, don’t get offended if someone offers you $6,300. Whether you accept that offer is up to you. If you want it gone as soon as possible, take a $200 hit and call it a day. If you’ve got time and 18 other emails about the car lurking in your inbox, odds are you can sell it for your asking price. Alternatively, you can try to split the difference and make a counteroffer at $6,400.

Don’t feel pressured into accepting a ridiculous low-ball offer. If someone pitches you $2,500, say goodbye and go home. Remember that the car is yours until you sign over the title; how much you sell it for is your decision.

Selling your car for cash is preferable because it’s straightforward, especially if you’re dealing with a relatively low sum. There are other payment options you can explore if needed, like a banker’s check, a United States Postal Service-sanctioned money order, or even Paypal. Never accept a personal check under any circumstance, and don’t fall for the “my second-cousin in Zimbabwe will pay you via Western Union next week” scam.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Step 9: Make sure the paperwork is in order. In most states, selling a car requires filling out several fields on the back of the title, like the car’s price, the date of the sale, and the new owner’s personal information. If you still owe money on it, you may need to pay the bank before the title gets released. Some states require a bill of sale, too.

Never hand over the keys and/or the title before getting paid; that’s begging for trouble. If the buyer didn’t bring cash or doesn’t have enough to cover the purchase price, ask that they come back when they’ve got it and keep the car, its keys, and its title until then.

Also, it’s a good idea to keep a scan or a photograph of the signed title for your own records.

Ronan Glon
Ronan Glon is an American automotive and tech journalist based in southern France. As a long-time contributor to Digital…
Topics
Zoox recalls robotaxis after Las Vegas crash, citing software fix
zoox recall crash 1739252352 robotaxi side profile in dark mode

Amazon's self-driving vehicle unit, Zoox, has issued a voluntary safety recall after one of its autonomous vehicles was involved in a minor collision in Las Vegas. The incident, which occurred in April 2025, led the company to investigate and identify a software issue affecting how the robotaxi anticipates another vehicle’s path.
The recall, affecting 270 Zoox-built vehicles, was formally filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Zoox said the issue has already been addressed through a software update that was remotely deployed to its fleet.
Zoox’s robotaxis, which operate without driving controls like a steering wheel or pedals, are part of Amazon’s entry into the autonomous driving space. According to Zoox’s safety recall report, the vehicle failed to yield to oncoming traffic while making an unprotected left turn, leading to a low-speed collision with a regular passenger car. While damage was minor, the event raised flags about the system’s behavior in complex urban scenarios.
Establishing safety and reliability remain key factors in the deployment of the relatively new autonomous ride-hailing technology. Alphabet-owned Waymo continues to lead the sector in both safety and operational scale, with services active in multiple cities including Phoenix and San Francisco. But GM’s Cruise and Ford/VW-backed Argo AI were forced to abandon operations over the past few years.
Tesla is also expected to enter the robotaxi race with the launch of its own service in June 2025, leveraging its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software. While FSD has faced heavy regulatory scrutiny through last year, safety regulations are expected to loosen under the Trump administration.
Zoox, which Amazon acquired in 2020, says it issued the recall voluntarily as part of its commitment to safety. “It’s essential that we remain transparent about our processes and the collective decisions we make,” the company said in a statement.

Read more
Waymo lays groundwork for robotaxi revolution
A Waymo car production line.

In recent years, Waymo has been edging toward its long-held goal of revolutionizing urban transportation by deploying a fully autonomous, scalable, and sustainable ride-hailing service. 

The Alphabet-owned company has just taken another step in that direction with the opening of a new vehicle factory in Metro Phoenix, Arizona, in partnership with automaker Magna.

Read more
Waymo and Toyota explore personally owned self-driving cars
Front three quarter view of the 2023 Toyota bZ4X.

Waymo and Toyota have announced they’re exploring a strategic collaboration—and one of the most exciting possibilities on the table is bringing fully-automated driving technology to personally owned vehicles.
Alphabet-owned Waymo has made its name with its robotaxi service, the only one currently operating in the U.S. Its vehicles, including Jaguars and Hyundai Ioniq 5s, have logged tens of millions of autonomous miles on the streets of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin.
But shifting to personally owned self-driving cars is a much more complex challenge.
While safety regulations are expected to loosen under the Trump administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has so far taken a cautious approach to the deployment of fully autonomous vehicles. General Motors-backed Cruise robotaxi was forced to suspend operations in 2023 following a fatal collision.
While the partnership with Toyota is still in the early stages, Waymo says it will initially study how to merge its autonomous systems with the Japanese automaker’s consumer vehicle platforms.
In a recent call with analysts, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai signaled that Waymo is seriously considering expanding beyond ride-hailing fleets and into personal ownership. While nothing is confirmed, the partnership with Toyota adds credibility—and manufacturing muscle—to that vision.
Toyota brings decades of safety innovation to the table, including its widely adopted Toyota Safety Sense technology. Through its software division, Woven by Toyota, the company is also pushing into next-generation vehicle platforms. With Waymo, Toyota is now also looking at how automation can evolve beyond assisted driving and into full autonomy for individual drivers.
This move also turns up the heat on Tesla, which has long promised fully self-driving vehicles for consumers. While Tesla continues to refine its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software, it remains supervised and hasn’t yet delivered on full autonomy. CEO Elon Musk is promising to launch some of its first robotaxis in Austin in June.
When it comes to self-driving cars, Waymo and Tesla are taking very different roads. Tesla aims to deliver affordability and scale with its camera, AI-based software. Waymo, by contrast, uses a more expensive technology relying on pre-mapped roads, sensors, cameras, radar and lidar (a laser-light radar), that regulators have been quicker to trust.

Read more