I found your site on faves.com bookmarking site.. I like it ..gave it a fave for you..ill be checking back later…

There are two ways to handle selling a car for someone else (a consignment)…

1) Sell the car for a straight commission…or…
2) Sell the car for anything over and above a pre-agreed upon selling price.

Unless you are really familiar with the market and what this particular car should sell for then a straight commission is usually the best way to sell a car for someone else.

To preserve good relations with your family member (IMPORTANT!), I suggest going the straight commission route and writing up a simple little agreement stating the percentage of your commission. You might also consider stating on there how much you should get if they choose to NOT sell the vehicle after you have prepped it. After all, you should get something for the time you spent cleaning it, fixing things, placing ads, fielding phone calls, showing the car, etc., etc.

I’ve sold cars for other people both ways and only had two times that things got weird. I learned from both experiences though and don’t do things that way anymore, but here is what happened…

I agreed to sell a car for a relative for anything above a certain price. The price was set by my relative…and I later learned that it was unrealistic (My mistake cuz I left the pricing research up to him). That deal was a HUGE hassle because stuff started breaking on the car immediately (like power windows) and I had to take the time to fix it and there were other things wrong too that I don’t remember now. It was a very complicated VW Corrado. I finally sold it and deducted everything it cost me to repair it and didn’t make a penney on it.

The other time was for a friend. It was a VW bus. I cleaned that thing thoroughly but the wife-ee of my friend kept raising the price (because it looked so good after I prepped it) and then it wouldn’t sell and she took it back, and again, I didn’t make a penney on it.

Actually, both times I was glad to get rid of the thing and just be done with it. The mistake was that I kind of let things be on a more casual basis BECAUSE I was dealing with family and a friend (BIG mistake!). In fact, it is with family and friends that you really need to be MORE careful…assuming you like them and want to hang out with them later!

Steve

Steve

Hah hah, age doesn’t matter Robbye…at least not with the way I buy and sell cars.

No doubt that cars are more complicated now with all the computer b.s. but you can still definetely make some good money doing this part or full time without a retail lot. These guys are making money buying and selling cars… http://www.buy-and-sell-cars-for-profit.com/testimonials-for-the-lazy-way-to-buy-and-sell-cars-for-profit.html

One option IF you do choose to get a car dealers license but don’t want some big high overhead lot can be seen here…

http://www.buy-and-sell-cars-for-profit.com/make-money-selling-used-cars-with-a-consignment-car-lot.html

And…

http://www.buy-and-sell-cars-for-profit.com/buy-and-sell-cars-from-a-gas-station.html

I have personally never had a reason to get a Carfax vehicle history report. However, Carfax is useful in showing the chain of ownership. This can be especially useful if you are dealing in late models cars that might be selling suspiciously cheap (because perhaps they were totaled by the insurance company and re-titled in another state. Known as ‘title washing’).

You can read more about the ‘title washing’ issue here:
http://www.buy-and-sell-cars-for-profit.com/flood-damaged-cars.html

It could be your ad, but tax time can be slow for selling stuff and people aren’t much into gas guzzlers right now (if thats what it is)…unless they are reeeeeally cheap. Why don’t you tell us the particulars of the car you’re selling (model, year, miles, engine type, general running condition and interior and exterior appearance) and maybe I can respond as to why its not selling.

Steve

Coming from someone like YOU that bought my book almost 3 years ago, your kind words really mean a lot to me. Thank you!

Steve