Selling a used car can be a daunting experience.  You have to first decide what the car is worth and what someone will pay for it, and they are not necessarily the same number.  You then have to decide how to sell it.  Do you find a street corner to park the car on and put a sign in the window, or do you list it in the newspaper, auto magazines, online, or do you do it all? 

First things first.  How much do you want to get out of the car, and how much do you need to get out of the car?  Will the money go toward a new car?  Do you need to use the money to finish paying off the car you are selling?  Will you be using the money to pay off credit card bills and other debt, or take a vacation, or put your child through ballet school?  How you will be using the money will be the greatest determining factor in how much money you need to get out of the car.  If the car is worth more than you need, then you can decide how much more you want to get out of it.

Parking the car on the street corner is a great way to allow potential buyers to get a good look at the car before bothering you on the phone and asking you to meet them to give it a test drive.  But, if that is the only way you will be advertising the car then you are limiting your potential buyers to people who happen to be on that street.

You can list your car for sale in a local newspaper or two for very little cost.  The easiest way to do this is to come up with a good for sale ad and give the paper a call.  They will take your information, your ad, word for word as you read it to them, your credit card number to pay for the ad, and before you know it you will be getting calls for your car.

Listing your car in one of those free car trader magazines that you see at the grocery store is a bit more expensive than a newspaper ad, but the exposure is priceless.  You can put a photo of the car in the magazine and a detailed description.  You usually don’t pay until the car sells, too, which is nice.  They will still take your credit card number when you place the ad to insure you will pay, though.  The only drawback to this method is the number of people you will be giving your phone number to, and you can imagine the problems that can result from that.

Selling the car at an online auction is another option.  You are taking chances here, though, that you won’t get what you need out of the car.  But, if you start the bidding at the price you need and get even two bids on it, then you are coming out ahead.  You will need to consider the listing price into the total price of the sale of the car, which can be expensive, but the good news is that you don’t have to give your credit card number to anyone to list the car at auction in most cases.