If there’s one thing you can count on as a car owner, it’s that every vehicle ultimately breaks down. Even if you may go to tremendous efforts to maintain your car regularly, the day will come when you will have no choice but to part with your vehicle.
When looking to sell your vehicle for scrap, you would typically search for the nearest scrap yard in your area, but the trend nowadays is to go online to find your buyer. Although this may seem more convenient, it may not always be the best idea.
The danger with selling anything online is the difficulty of vetting your buyers and ensuring you get the best price for your car. Craigslist is a popular site to sell vehicles, but it may not be the ideal place to sell junk cars, and here’s why:
- Craigslist Offers are Often Lowball Prices
Even if you are selling a scrap car, you can still get a good price for it for the right buyer. Unfortunately, you may not get that benefit when you sell on Craigslist. The platform has plenty of low-ballers just waiting for opportunities to buy what they need at a very low price.
In addition, the market for junk cars on Craigslist is very small, making it all the more difficult to get a good offer for your junk car.
- Selling on Craigslist Takes a Lot of Time
In any eCommerce platform, you would have to invest some time to sell your used car to adhere to numerous product listing requirements. For example, you’d need to provide substantial information, including vehicle type, history, current condition, and reasons for selling. Additionally, you must provide detailed photos to attract more buyers.
All this effort on Craigslist may not be worth it because people looking to buy junk cars here often don’t care about these details, except to get the lowest price in exchange for your vehicle. In the process of haggling for the price, you might go back and forth with inquiries but end up with an unsuccessful sale.
- Craigslist Is Now a Hotspot for Scammers
The Craigslist website has become a playground for scammers over the years. Due to the platform’s popularity and accessibility as a great place to purchase and sell items, crooks have been exploiting unsuspecting sellers.
If you use Craigslist, you must be cautious about the people you interact with online. Be careful of fraudulent checks, promises to pay shipping fees, and requests to see the product first hand. If you get a good offer, make sure you don’t provide confidential information about yourself, like your address, contact details, and where you work.
It’s advisable if you include moving fees with the price of the junk car. You can use safe third-party payment platforms like PayPal, so you would not have to provide your bank details.
Ask for a down payment (at least enough to cover moving fees), and meet up in a public area to complete the sale. In case of a no-show or an unsuccessful sale, the downpayment should be enough to cover towing fees back to your home.
- You’ll Have a Lot of Paperwork to Deal With
The paperwork is cumbersome when selling junk cars on Craigslist. You must work out the logistics since dealing solely online makes trusting strangers difficult. This leaves much room for scammers to dupe you. Even if you come across buyers who promise to handle the paperwork, there is a big risk that they will do it incorrectly or not at all, leaving you criminally liable for various offenses.
Conclusion
These are the reasons why selling junk vehicles on Craigslist is a terrible idea. Sure, the platform may be used for various things, but it’s not the best place for junk cars. When selling your junk car, explore better options outside of Craigslist. Those hoping for a hassle-free transaction might consider selling their junk cars to reputable junk car buyers.
At Brooklyn Cash for Cars, our mission is to help you sell your car fast and at the best prices. We have the best-used cars to flip, and we can also help you get cash for unwanted cars. Stop paying for inconvenient viewings, advertising, and maintenance. Contact us today.