How to sell a 90's car?

[u/BreadmakingViking]

Hi everyone! I have a bit of a conundrum. I have my grandma's 96 Buick Park Avenue that I need to sell but I know if I give it to some place like carmax, they'll just auction it for scrap and give me *maybe* $100. On the other hand, it's not old enough or nice enough to be a 'classic' car, worthy of a showroom. I've gotten random people asking if I was interested in selling it over the years, but nothing serious. I guess my question boils down to if anyone knows companies in the North Atlanta, GA area that would like to use it as maybe set dressing or to fix up and transform into a themed car. It's held up remarkably well over the past 30 years but it’s definitely not without a few issues. Never been in any wrecks and has like, 169k miles? I've been told not to do private sales as a pure safety concern and I don't think a car this old is a good match for a new driver anyway. I still drive it around to the grocery once or twice a week to maintain the battery and it's a cushy ride, so someone will love it....I just don't know who. I'd like to get at least the average edmunds price out of it but idk what companies would even want that. I appreciate your advice!

[u/New_Inflation_8419]

I don’t think you will get more than 1k whichever angle you stying to spin it at.

[u/Upbeat-Armadillo1756 → u/[deleted]]

This is the answer OP.

Take it to carmax or donate it (not Kars4kids)

Carmax won't scrap it. They'll sell it at auction and someone will buy it.

[u/Twee4 → u/[deleted]]

Don’t take it to carmax. If it’s a running car post it to facebook as 2000 grandma passed. People like a car that runs and is being sold because someone stopped using it, not because they decided it was time to sell it. It mostly indicates nothing major is wrong. A good running can is worth more than carmax will give in this economy. Take whoever comes with cash.

[u/Twee4 → u/[deleted]]

Just depends on the value and dollar relationship for each person.

[u/BreadmakingViking → u/Twee4]

The issue with this is that I don't have fb, and I don't want to meet with random people. My safety is worth more than getting top dollar. I've sold a 14 year old crown vic to carmax before and they gave me $500 which was barely anything. Sentimentality aside, this body type is popular in some crowds and seeing it go for scrap seems wasteful. I was hoping someone knew of body shops or modders in the Atlanta area that could really give it a new life. Carmax is really a last ditch, I-don't-want-to-renew-the-insurance-on-it-in-July option

[u/funky_oldpiss_bum → u/BreadmakingViking]

I'm trying to sell a 1990s Camry with a clean title that I've owned since new, it has cosmetic issues on the exterior but still runs great and just passed smog with flying colors. Interior is complete and in great condition with nothing broken or missing, no holes or tears in the seats. 218k miles for $2200 and it looks like it's not happening anywhere close to this price.

Here's the main issue: unless it's some super rare collector's item or something worth restoring, the demographic that buys cars this old with this many miles buys them not because they WANT to, but because they HAVE to.

Buyers in this price range are not going to have good jobs and stable incomes, and you're going to deal with pretty much nothing but riff-raff. Good luck with the test drive, because people at this level of poverty will often have no valid driver's license or insurance because those are things they can't afford.

For me, there's very little room to drop on the price before I just donate the car because $800-$1200 is not worth the risk, liability, or potential headache for me. If you sell it super cheap then you attract the flippers who will refuse to go to the DMV and transfer title to their name, so you still have this car running around out there with an open title and with your name on it for who knows how long.

[u/Twee4 → u/BreadmakingViking]

It just depends on how much a few thousand dollars matter and if you know anybody younger that sells online. It can really be easy to get not top dollar $1500-2000 is low for a good running car. But sure carmax can take it for a few hundred if you can’t be bothered.

[u/BreadmakingViking → u/Twee4]

A few k would be ideal. I'm not going to be fussed about getting the best private sale price, I just want a company that will actually supe it up and pay me a reasonable amount for it

[u/Twee4 → u/BreadmakingViking]

there isn't gonna be a company. you will have to put in the effort to sell for a few k. I think not a ton of work, or you can sell to a company for $300-500

[u/BreadmakingViking → u/Twee4]

That's why I was hoping someone knew companies here, vs being all pessimistic about selling to the lowest bidder (carmax)

[u/IronSlanginRed → u/BreadmakingViking]

On a car worth a couple grand retail, it's not pessimism, its market dynamics. A dealer has to pay overhead and a significant chunk of thats vehicles profit will just be that. No dealer can buy a car for $1500, clean it up, sell it for $2000, and actually make money at the end of the day.

Carmax and stuff really just wants brand identity and for you to think of them when you do buy a car so they will buy anything. Even if they give you $20 they're losing money on the deal once they sell it at auction. On some older stuff like that, they're basically gifting whatever they give you plus the cost of transport and auction fees.

So, either you can sell it privately for a couple grand. Which you've stated you're not willing to do. You can drive it around to the local pot lots and see what the highest offer is. Or you can sell it to carmax, they pick it up, and you pocket a few hundred bucks.

[u/Square-Wild → u/BreadmakingViking]

This is just a math problem. As a ballpark, the spread between what a dealer will pay you and what they will ask for it is around $3k-$4k on the low end.

Something this old is nearly impossible to finance and doesn't make sense on a franchise lot, so it's gonna auction to Tres Amigos. So that adds another transaction and some fees.

Realistically, this may sell for $4500 retail. That doesn't leave room to pay you more than $1000 for it, and maybe much less.

Private party, if you put it on Craigslist for $2200, you might have 40 calls your first day. There's nothing out there that runs with a clean title for under $3k.

As for your safety, I guess that's just a decision you need to make. I don't think selling cars privately is that big a deal, but I'm also a giant and pretty dumb.

[u/Dovah1356 → u/BreadmakingViking]

You almost certainly won’t get anything more than maybe a few hundred dollars from any dealer or company. Your best bet if you aren’t willing to use something like Craigslist or Facebook will be to either take that couple hundred bucks or trying to sell it to a friend you know.

[u/BillfredL]

My Facebook news feed has floated up some dealers who specialize in Grandma-spec 90s/early-2000s sedans in the past. Get a few good pics, get the VIN, and see what they think. Simultaneously, I'd run the vehicle through Carvana and Carmax's offer systems. One of those three is going to be your expedient way to sell it.

(I do know one dealer over in Hiram who specializes in much later models, but if this thing is dripping in regular service records he might be interested in taking a swing.)

[u/BreadmakingViking → u/BillfredL]

I mean, I get the oil changed regularly, had the engine worked on in March, so she purrs. It's by no means perfect but I trust it to doodle around doing errands. When pollen season passes and I give her a bath and wax, it catches eyes. I tried one of those 'instant online offer' sites and it couldn't even find the VIN bc it was presumably too old

[u/jb08045 → u/BreadmakingViking]

One thing u canb try is a buy here pay here lot, generally you dont trade cars to these dealers but they buy older cars from auctiin to sell to credit criminals and kids for few thousand bucks

they might be willing a give u like 2k to cut out the middle man. it seems good condition of these late 90s models are being listed for 5k on bhph lots

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Thanks for posting, /u/BreadmakingViking! This comment is a copy of your post so readers can see the original text if your post is edited or removed. This comment is NOT accusing you of anything.

Hi everyone! I have a bit of a conundrum. I have my grandma's 96 Buick Park Avenue that I need to sell but I know if I give it to some place like carmax, they'll just auction it for scrap and give me *maybe* $100. On the other hand, it's not old enough or nice enough to be a 'classic' car, worthy of a showroom. I've gotten random people asking if I was interested in selling it over the years, but nothing serious. I guess my question boils down to if anyone knows companies in the North Atlanta, GA area that would like to use it as maybe set dressing or to fix up and transform into a themed car. It's held up remarkably well over the past 30 years but it’s definitely not without a few issues. Never been in any wrecks and has like, 169k miles? I've been told not to do private sales as a pure safety concern and I don't think a car this old is a good match for a new driver anyway. I still drive it around to the grocery once or twice a week to maintain the battery and it's a cushy ride, so someone will love it....I just don't know who. I'd like to get at least the average edmunds price out of it but idk what companies would even want that. I appreciate your advice!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.