Within days of selling Pepe’s Audi, I came across a listing for a Nissan Rogue in the area that the seller was promoting on a local Facebook group. It was great to see that, by the time I came across the post, Kathryn Jirsa had already plugged Carma Services as an option to help consult on their used car selling process. Since this car was older and likely to sell for much less than $10k, it made a perfect Carma Car, and potentially another great selling story. This is why I let the seller know that I would be happy to assist and not take any commission in exchange for the opportunity to share the story with you.

I never did hear back from that seller, but Mary Pat, another local seller, asked me to message her and I did. We spoke for a few minutes the next day over the phone and she let me know that her 2011 Honda Accord would be needing to find a new home, as she was expecting delivery of a new Subaru in the coming weeks. She wanted to know what I could do to help her get more in this situation and we discussed Carma Services’ three current offers to help our clients maximize selling value.

After encouraging Mary Pat to take her car to CarMax for the complimentary assessment and related documentation, she called me back with some news. During her visit to the store, she found out that CarMax would offer her $8500 within the next 7-days for her Honda, no strings attached. She was surprised to learn that the history report showed an accident from several years ago, which she had no knowledge of ever taking place. I suggested she speak with her family to see if perhaps a small incident had generated a police report (but had been withheld from her out of embarrassment). We laughed about it, and I assured her that a minor blemish on the report such as this would not likely affect the value much, if at all.

With her offer and history report in hand, I volunteered to stop by the next day to take some pictures, but she told me she was heading out of town around 8:00 the following morning and we planned to complete that step the following week upon her return.

Hi Mary Pat – I hope you’re having a good trip!

Before we get started on selling your Accord with Carma Services, it is always good practice to communicate the process and preferences we plan to follow as we work to get the most for your vehicle. My primary goal is to provide my clients with the highest level of service during our time together, and this includes clear expectations and transparency throughout the selling process.

As we discussed last week, I am not looking to get paid for my services beyond the ability to tell the story and share a donation with a local nonprofit, should you choose to sell with Carma Services. Also, our selling model has proven very effective in cars that sell for less than $10,000. I would like to see you get at least this amount, but as your vehicle is on the high side of this value, it may take a bit longer than the usual number of weeks that cars have been selling in the current market. Since every seller is different with some wanting to sell in a day or two and others in no rush at all. It is something to consider and I wanted to make you aware of this possibility.

You had mentioned the tax savings if you were to trade the Honda for your new Subaru, and this is also an important consideration, because in your case it is more than a few hundred dollars. With this in mind, have you had your dealer appraise the vehicle already? If not, it may be worth doing (if for no other reason than because it is another data point when deciding how to proceed).

As much as I would love the opportunity to help you sell, it would be wrong to put this desire above the most practical decision for you as the seller. If it were me, and the dealer was offering me close to $10,000 (including the tax savings), it would be worth considering. I say this not only because of the potential delay in selling mentioned earlier, but because selling a used car does not come without risk, although incredibly rare. I still like to let my prospects know before getting too far into the process of these risks and can elaborate should you proceed in selling with Carma Services.

Enjoy the rest of your time away and I will look forward to speaking with you again soon.

After receiving my message, Mary Pat called me back that night and we were able to discuss more details surrounding the sale of her Honda Accord and what Carma’s role might be in that process. I explained that I completely understood if she decided to go a different direction and let her know that she could contact me after she had the chance to discuss selling options with her husband during their trip together.

I waited until a few days after her expected delivery date on the new Subaru and decided to follow up out of curiosity. During our call, she let me know that she very much appreciated my help and told me that she did in fact sell her Honda to the dealer that she bought the new vehicle from. I asked how their offer was in comparison to the one she had received the month before at CarMax and she told me they offered her a mere $3000, claiming potential hail damage and the tires needing to be replaced.

It was at this point she was glad that she took my suggestion of getting it appraised weeks earlier. She presented her dealer the CarMax offer of $8500 and they agreed to match that offer, but withheld the tax savings that would have made her Honda worth more than $9k. The audacity!

All told, Mary Pat was glad that she had taken the time to contact Carma Services, and the survey that was sent to her following our interaction had nothing but nice things to say about our time together. She asked what she could do to help our efforts to raise awareness and I reminded her of much of what I have been sharing with you for months, including our current referral of $250 if she knows of any other car sellers who could benefit from our “full-service” offer. Who knows, maybe we will hear back from her in the future when the opportunity presents itself?

Until then, keep your eyes open for local sellers that are looking to get more when selling. Even if they don’t use our services, as was the case in this selling story, we are glad to consult them on their selling process and try to help them avoid some of the more common selling blunders, including lowball dealer offers and more serious mistakes.

It is alway fun to learn a seller’s situation and see how we can add value to it!