Since Mike had moved to the city and no longer needed his modified 2006 Honda Accord, he was looking to cash out. Although a 2006 Accord is fairly run-of-the-mill and will usually sell within a day or two on the private market, Mike’s car was anything but ordinary. One of the significant modifications on this vehicle was suspension work that dropped it inches lower than a stock Accord. Of course, this made the car very nimble and fun to drive, but it also made it far more challenging to get and out of it. The lower suspension also made it necessary to avoid moderate bumps in the road (hitting a pothole or other uneven terrain could cause significant damage to the car). Lastly, Mike’s Accord was a manual transmission, which would likely eliminate a large pool of potential buyers, since the vast majority of people do not know how to drive stick shift.

Despite these potential obstacles, I agreed to help, starting with removing the car from his Mom’s house about 45 minutes north of where I lived. Mike trusted me to store the car at my place, as this made it far more convenient for me to show it (although I prefer to not have someone else’s car in my possession). Depending on where the car is located I can go to it and meet with potential buyers.

Having assessed his situation, I could see that there was enough potential to take this case, and with a goal of selling within 30 days, I was eager to have it appraised at CarMax to get a fair value and some other important sales information to boost our chances of a quick sale at a much better price.

After dropping Mike off at his Mom’s house, I made my way back home and began prepping the car. I quickly learned that the battery was not holding a charge overnight, so each day I’d have to jump it or leave it on a trickle charger overnight. Although we did not know how old the battery was, we did know that it was a high-end battery that would be much more expensive to replace than the one that I offered to pick up at Costco, should he decide a replacement was warranted. Mike decided that we should try ordering a special charger that would help it to fully “refresh.”

While I waited for the charger we ordered to arrive from Amazon, I got to work detailing the car, taking some pictures, and composing the ad to be placed on Craigslist that evening. Prepping the car for showing, inside and out, only took a couple hours of my time. A hand wash usually takes 20-30 minutes, and the interior was not too bad (besides some random items inside the vehicle that needed to be removed prior to vacuuming it out). Additionally, the black rubber and trim had faded significantly, which is common with older cars. Some products will help to reverse the appearance for a while, helping to increase the overall “curb appeal” of a used car, so I spent a few moments on those small but important details.

So with the car “ready to show,” I could post my ad and wait for the nibbles of interest. Once the ad was up, it was mere minutes before I was being contacted by people interested in “learning more.”

With the ad live, it took no more than a couple of minutes before I began receiving texts from numbers with area codes that were unfamiliar to me. The messages seemed “off.” Not only were they too quick, but they smacked of a bot-generated text to lure me down a dangerous path. Besides, if someone was that eager to speak with me about this car, they would likely follow up in the coming days. If so, I know a) they’re somewhat serious and b) they would likely pay more to take it home, which helps when it’s time to negotiate.

Upon waking the next morning, I had a text from a local area code with an offer for $4200. It was nice to see a local interest coming through, but an offer being made without seeing the car is usually a bad sign. These people usually never even come to see the car; however, I did respond right away and after answering some questions and never heard back.

Another day passed, and we decided to also put it on Facebook Marketplace in addition to the Craigslist ad. Having always used Craigslist as my sole means to market privately, I did not see the need. However, since we were looking to sell a rather unique vehicle at a significant value above the CarMax offer, it was worth a shot. It was surprisingly easy to create the ad after my wife showed me how to do it and did not cost a dime.

One thing I learned, with this being the first charitable sale since the shutdown, was that Craigslist had changed their policy, and now charged $5 per month for listings. In the past, It had always been free to list with Craigslist, and it’s always a pain to have to go get your wallet. I absolutely would still recommend using at least both platforms to reach potential buyers.

With the ad on multiple outlets, the inquiries were coming in at a fairly good clip. I had to sometimes reach out to Mike if the questions being asked were beyond my scope, but it was very manageable. After a lull in interest of a few days, we decided to lower the asking price down to $4900. This was not only a more attractive price, it would also open up people capping their search criteria at 5K.

It was not long after that I received a text from someone who wanted to look at it in just a few hours. The problem was we were just about to head out for dinner with family and we would not be home by 6:30 to show the car. Also, it had rained a few times and the car did not have that lovely shine that is in the ad pictures. I explained the circumstance to my potential buyer and he agreed to come at 7:45 and we had our first showing set up.

When meeting a stranger for a test drive, I usually suggest meeting at a public place or local police station. You never know who you might find from sites like Craigslist, so precautions like this can help minimize your risk of meeting with the wrong person. In this case, I had met my potential buyer through Facebook. Since I was able to get a feel for him by checking out his Facebook page, I felt comfortable meeting at my house.

One of Mike’s main concerns in selling this car was having someone damage it during a test drive. We were particularly concerned about the risk of damage if someone carelessly hit potholes and ensuring that the person knew how to drive stick shift. (During my previous life selling cars for the corporation, young people would sometimes ask to test drive a car with a manual transmission, like a sports car, because it would be “fun.”)

To manage this risk, Mike agreed that including stipulations to test drive in our ad would make sense to protect the both of us. The first was being able to prove they could drive stick. This meant they would need to either need to already have a car with a manual transmission or know someone willing to allow them to drive their car to see this one. The other initial requirement was to be able to verify funds. Meaning either show up with a stack of cash or show me their account with at least $4900 in it.

Ultimately these were both waived after I spoke with the buyer and asked Mike if we could to help facilitate this sale. I think that just having the requirement helped deter less than ideal prospects from even trying to contact me, but had I spoken with someone and felt that they weren’t “right,” I could stand by both of these disclosures prior to having to put myself in harm’s way.
This particular buyer was a real pleasure to work with. He was early to the showing. I was curious if he would mask up for the test drive, but he did not. (As a courtesy, I always do and part of me wished he had put on a mask just for the 5 minutes we were confined in the same cabin.) Beside grinding 3rd gear a couple of times he managed not to stall the engine and really liked the car.

He knew that a 6×6 in an Accord was rare. This is a six-speed transmission paired with a bigger 6-cylinder engine. Before we even finished the drive, he was asking if we had any flexibility in the price. I explained that we had just dropped the price, but I thought Mike would come down a little. I reminded him of the rarity of this car to help manage his expectations.

As we pulled up to my driveway he made an offer of $4700 and I had a good feeling we were about to close a deal. I called Mike who agreed immediately, and then we were on our way to the closing table.

Watching people sign paperwork is a delight. Working for the dealership, we had a business office tasked with facilitating with the completion of necessary documents. I was relieved to not have to be responsible for all those pesky details. Fortunately, I have my lovely wife, Stacey, who is naturally especially attuned to details. Her eyes catch things that I miss all the time, likely as a result of her strong background in graphics and design. Thus far, my wife has willingly agreed to play the role of “business office” each time I make a sale, to make sure everything has been completed accurately.

The transaction selling Mike’s car went as consistently as all of the other sales I’ve made. Stacey is a natural lover of people and likes to make others laugh whenever possible. This is great because most people who are buying a car have a level of excitement that makes it easy to feel joyful. She walks buyers through all the necessary documents with ease, including the bill of sale and title transfer details, and she helps verify funds before we close.

Without Stacey, I would not have had anywhere near the level of confidence needed to be comfortable offering this service. At the end of this sale, she even reminded me to remove the plates from Mike’s car. However, despite my best efforts with a screwdriver (Stacey even busted out some of her power tools and took a shot at removing the plates), the screws had become sealed on tight in the years the car had last been sold. Of course, it is always a good idea to take off existing plates at the conclusion of a sale, as is escorting your buyer to the DMV right away to ensure that the vehicle is promptly registered. In this case, as it was approaching 9pm, it was a Sunday so the DMV was not open, and we still hadn’t gotten the plates to budge even a bit, I once again reached out to Mike while the buyer was sitting and waiting in the idling car. Together, Mike and I decided that it was probably time to release our buyer and trust that he would dispose of the plates properly. We simply asked the buyer to take a picture at the DMV when he went to the DMV the next day and text it to us for verification. By 9am on Monday, I received the pictures and sent them to Mike for his review.

Ultimately, the removal of the plates in this case proved to be the only obstacle I could not overcome. The last thing we had to decide was how to divvy up the $2,700 that was earned by not selling the car to CarMax. Since CarMax only offered $2,000 and we sold Mike’s car for nearly $5,000, I think we did quite well for ourselves. As an added bonus, by avoiding buying this car at a dealership, our buyer saved about $3000 off of retail dealership pricing. This truly is a better way for car selling!

The most exciting thing about working to sell Mike’s car was knowing that once it sold, we’d have the opportunity to use a portion of the sale to help another charity. While Mike offered me cash for the services provided, I declined his gesture; to me the fact that he agreed to allow me to profile the experience and serve it up to you was compensation enough. It was also really great to see him and play some racquet sports and hit the trails a few times since starting this process. It had been way too long!

One agreement we made early on was to still make a donation to a charity following the successful sale of his car to illustrate one option available to anyone considering selling a car using this service of RDAC. Everything is based on the wholesale value provided by our friends at CarMax – knowing that they would offer $2,000 on the spot helped establish a baseline and an emergency exit should he change his mind and choose to take the money and run!

Since Mike chose to see this process through, we were able to capture an additional $2,700 on top of the CarMax wholesale offer within a little over a week from the time he had it appraised. This is the “profit” generated from the work we did to get the car ready, shown, and finally sold on his behalf. Many of my clients believe that it is fair that they take at least half of this profit created from the asset they provided to be sold – something with which I fully agree. In this case, half of Mike’s profit came out to $1,350 for him. With the remaining profit, I usually suggest that it is split between the charity of the seller’s choosing and a commission for RDAC services rendered. Splitting the remaining $1,350 evenly would result in leaving both the charity and me with $675 each. As stated earlier, in Mike’s case, I waived my commission in exchange for showcasing Mike’s story (and accepting a dinner he bought and shared with me and my family).
Of course, not all sales will yield the same profit. Just like every used car is different, so is everyone’s situation. Most of my clients prefer a much shorter sales window from Mike’s 30 days. In most cases, they want it sold in just a day or two, and usually those cars that are under $10,000 and not modified like Mike’s will do just that. Even if we “only” make $2,000 over the wholesale offer, I think that getting an extra $1,000 for my client plus an additional $500 each for their charity and my time is a good return on investment.
We will be announcing the charity that Mike selected to receive his $675 donation in the coming days. With any luck we will be doing this far more often now as circumstances allow.

Now that you know Mike’s story, please consider investing in us. Even if you do not have a car to sell, you either likely know someone who does or will hear someone mention it in the future. This is our opportunity to “do better.”