I have had the privilege of working with a number of people during my years in the car business – from those I met valeting during my college days to those I worked with more recently while working for the largest used car retailer in the country. Our latest selling story was a result of a friend that I used to sell cars with for years in Naperville.

Jeff reached out in January inquiring about selling his 2012 Toyota Camry SE that he had purchased in the summer of 2020 to begin earning some money in the rideshare industry. I knew that he had been doing it and was impressed by the fact that it was not uncommon to make upwards of $50 an hour during his time in the game.

It was an honor that he trusted Carma Services with consulting on the sale of his vehicle, and I was excited to be able to see how we could add value to his selling process. At the same time, there were a number of concerns related to his transaction, and I wanted to fully disclose my limitations before partnering with him on this sale.

The biggest concern I had was that this car, unlike all other Carma sales to date, had a lien. This meant that the bank was holding the title until the outstanding balance on the loan had been paid in full. This would complicate matters, because most people are going to want to receive a title upon handing over several thousand dollars in cash.

Another complication was that his car had sustained significant damage during his rideshare activities and although the company offered insurance, the deductible was $2500 making it more than the cost of fixing the back door ($1800). Ultimately, the driver’s side door was now inoperable and he was considering investing thousands to get it fixed up before putting it on the market. I explained that he could simply sell it “as-is” and avoid the hassle of having it repaired and waiting even longer to sell it. After all, the used car market has been sizzling hot for many months and eventually it is going to come back to reality. I did not want him to miss his chance to cash out at a higher price.

During our first car sale conversation, I urged him to take it to our former employer for a quick evaluation. He knew well that during CarMax’s appraisal process they would not only provide him the vehicle’s current condition inside and out, but make him a written offer good for 7-days. I reminded him to ask for the vehicle history report so that we could save the thirty or so dollars to pull one ourselves. This is always a great selling point, especially when it shows that the vehicle is relatively clean from major occurrences of any kind, such as failed emissions test, odometer rollback, or exposure to flood damage.

He agreed that was a good place to start his selling story and I waited for him to get back to me.

After taking his car to CarMax and spending about 20 minutes while they checked out his Camry, Jeff received some very valuable information. They inspected what they saw visually and provided him with a report of their findings, in writing, along with an offer to buy his car for $5000 in the form of a bank draft.

This number was close to what I had expected, but Jeff labeled them as “dreamkillers” upon receiving the news, as he had expected $6000. I think this was him being a goofball (as he so often is), but he really did now face a predicament based on what he still owed on the vehicle and the amount that I told him we could reasonably expect to get in the private market. In the car business, we refer to this kind of situation as being “upside down,” and it is commonplace when purchasing a car at a retail establishment such as CarMax, then selling the vehicle during the first half of the loan payments. Fortunately, Jeff had some cash stashed away for this very purpose, but he understandably wanted to preserve as much of that as possible by getting more for his car.

Jeff knew that the Carma Services model works to generally unlock value in the range of $1500-2000 over the dealer’s 7-day offer, but did not know if he could yet justify selling the car. I explained to him that I respected holding off and I would be here to help in any way he thought appropriate when the time was right. I also let him know that besides the moderate body damage, the lack of a title would be an area that could pose an issue. I admitted that my expertise was limited in the process of paying off a car loan and receiving the title as I have avoided financing vehicles personally.

I let him know that as soon as he was ready, he could contact me and I would be happy to – at the very least – put up an ad and see what sort of responses we received. Since he had the luxury of time, we could even ask more than we might expect to get and see what happens.

He thanked me for my time and let me know that he would reach out should things change on his end.

A month passed. In March, Jeff reached out to let me know that he was ready to sell his Camry with Carma Services. At this point, we needed to figure out how Carma Services could best add value to his process. Since Carma has 3 offers (Buy it Now, Full Service, and A la Carte) to help sell used cars for more than the dealer’s offer, we needed to see which appealed most to Jeff. Everyone has different levels of comfort when it comes to the risks associated with selling independently, and Jeff said he did not have many concerns.

Because Jeff was unavailable during the week until the late afternoon, I offered to show his car at my house if he wanted it off of his property and did not want to meet with random people during his downtime. He said that since he, too, had sold cars for years, he did not mind conducting showings if I could set them up and prescreen the buyers. This was great news, since Jeff lives nearly a half hour away it would not be ideal to meet buyers myself in his area, as sometimes they “no show” or otherwise do not value others’ time. He was even comfortable allowing people to visit him at his home, which some people refuse to do as a safety precaution.

With Jeff handling the test drives, that allowed us to focus on getting his ad created. We were able to do that within 24 hours after deciding to move forward. Jeff sent some pictures and I got to work composing his ad and putting it on both Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace right away. This is what I sent Jeff to see what he thought of the messaging:

I am helping a friend sell his 2012 Toyota Camry SE with 147k. Purchased from CarMax in 2020, it was used to ride share for the past couple of years. Unfortunately, during that time it did sustain some body damage, as seen in the pictures. Otherwise, it’s in great mechanical condition and the interior is still in good shape overall.  We recently had the car appraised at CarMax, and their offer was below what we are willing to sell for at this time. We are committed to getting closer to the private party value of $8000 (according to KBB.com in “fair” condition). There is a loan outstanding through CarMax Auto Finance.

We would prefer to sell the car “as-is,” so if you are okay with either fixing the damage or accepting it as part of a used car history, then please consider this option as a great car for the money! As part of a Carma Services sale, a portion of this sale will go to benefit a local nonprofit serving developmentally delayed adults in our area. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to come take a look at the vehicle. Any reasonable offer will be considered.

As with all of Carma Service’s used car ads, this one attempted to disclose the good (history report being available and previous CarMax vehicle) as well as the not so good (obvious body damage and the fact there was still a lien which would need to be paid before receiving a title). By being forthright about blemishes on the cars we sell privately, we can save a great deal of time. Who wants to show a car to someone who is less likely to want to do business once they see you don’t play above board with a lack of transparency. It only makes sense that Carma Services fully discloses the defects in the used cars we sell, many of which are older with higher miles and will almost always have some “war wounds.”

Within minutes, people were messaging me to learn more about the car. Some wanted to come out and see it for themselves. In fact, we had 3 appointments set up for the following Saturday, when Jeff said he would be available to show his car. We stacked them back-to-back in 15-minute increments so he could maximize his time and hopefully show buyers that he had serious interest in his Camry.

To help Jeff be sure that people were actually coming to see his car, I requested they confirm with me before leaving so I could let him know that our prospects were headed his way. This worked out well, because two of the three people that scheduled ended up flaking out on their appointments. The one appointment that did show up was Mohammed. He and his family said they had driven in from Milwaukee to see the car and after a quick test drive he said he was interested, but could not purchase it that day. Jeff let him know that if the car didn’t sell within the upcoming week, Mohammad could return the following weekend and buy it then.

After handling several more online inquiries on Jeff’s behalf, I finally heard back from Mohammed a couple of weeks later. He said that he had been busy and wanted to come buy the car if Jeff would make a small price concession. I spoke with Jeff and he said that he could drop it a few hundred dollars, but in order to pay off his loan and make a donation he could not drop it much further. After letting Mohammed know, he asked to come back a few days later to finalize the deal. I let him know that we would be keeping the car on the market in search of a quicker sale and he reluctantly accepted that fact after I explained that without a deposit we had no assurance he would return.

The next week, Mohammed scheduled to return to meet with Jeff after he would get home from work. I emailed Jeff a bill of sale template for him to help document the transaction and we waited until the following day.

We were excited that we might be able to sell his car for more than the CarMax offer, pay off much of his loan, and still make a donation from the sale. As the time drew near, I offered to come bear witness to his transactions and help ensure that the process went as smoothly as possible. After making my way halfway to Jeff’s house, I received notification that our friend Mohammed had decided to demand another $500 off the agreed to price and Jeff had to ask him to leave. This was a shock since he had already seen the car and agreed to a selling price before driving all the way back to start playing games.

So we were back to the part of the process where we waited for more responses to our ad. I shared with Jeff that we could take comfort in the fact our Facebook ad had received over 3500 “clicks” and that is by far the most I have observed to date with Carma Services on any vehicle we have listed.

Only a few days later, I began responding to inquiries from a newly-interested individual, Sawfer. He had some typical questions about the condition of the vehicle and asked if the title was “clean.” I let him know about the body damage and sent him a copy of the history report that we had obtained during the CarMax appraisal process.

He responded letting me know that he was very interested in coming to see the vehicle, and I immediately texted Jeff to share with him that we had a live one. Jeff made the time to show the car on Sawfer’s schedule, as he was a trucker on the road for days on end.

When the time came for Sawfer to come out, I again made my way to Jeff’s house as a witness and to provide another layer of security as he was dealing with several thousand dollars in cash.  This time I made it all the way, and they were already in the process of completing the bill of sale that I had emailed days before. I was able to help verify the funds and sign the bill of sale to finalize this deal. We took some pictures and everyone left with a smile on their face!

This deal required a tremendous amount of trust on the part of our buyer as he was relying on Jeff to not only pay off the loan, but also provide him the title to allow him to transfer ownership with the secretary of state. Now that weeks have passed, I can proudly report that the title did make its way to Sawfer, and he is now officially the proud new owner of Jeff’s 2012 Toyota Camry.

This sale was a bit different than all of Carma Services previous sales, and it was an excellent opportunity to learn more about getting a title from a lender as it is a process in itself. It also was another opportunity to make a donation to a local charity with a portion of the proceeds above the dealer’s 7-day offer. In this case, that difference was $1500!

Jeff and I agreed that if he’d had the title, we would have had more viable buyers, and thus gotten even more from this sale. We also agreed that we would both contribute to the charity of his choosing. He was willing to donate $300 and Carma Services would kick in another $75 to bring the total donation amount to $375. This was important because this amount represents a quarter of the $1500 and reflects a full-service sale with the Carma model of selling a used car.

I would like to thank Jeff for all of his support with what Carma Services strives to be and his willingness to not accept less for his valuable asset. We will share more about the charity he chose to support with his sale and how they serve those in our community in need with you soon!