Definitely meet at the police station, even if there is no designated meeting area.

Some police departments allow sales to be done in their parking lots if notified before they happen.

I do have a suggestion if you are concerned about your safety research the new vehicles. Find one you are comfortable in and suits your needs. Then trade both his and your vehicles for the new one. Sorry I do not remember if your husband has passed away but if he has not put any remaining balance in your name. You can do a transfer on death in this state at the DMV if you would like to do that. Too many women find after the death or long term illness of their husband's that financially they do not exist.

Call the insurance company, if there thief, do they cover it? I assumed it is still insured. I truly belief most people are honest, and we never had a problem. But.... our cars were usually older than that. anylou, dealerships do not come close to the money it is worth,.

Lukki if I were in your shoes, I would not bother. Even if you have all the necessary papers and find a place to meet that you'd feel comfortable and safe, going to a place like CarMax is so much easier. We've sold 2 cars that way and both times got as much or more than we would have selling ourselves and DH has sold a LOT of vehicles.

How could it be that a car with current insurance wouldn't be covered for such a problem? Most unlikely, no need to check unless you're really worried about it. A policy in force remains in force until cancelled by the customer or the term ends.

I sold my husband's F250 diesel truck after he passed away. It was less than 2 yrs old. I sold it to the Ford dealer where he had purchased it. We paid cash when we bought it but it was too big for me to want to drive it. My sons helped me determine what it was worth and I got a fair price.

Not that this helps you, Lukki...but I'm looking for Honda CRV that isn't too terribly far from WI or that is near an airport...

I second the CarMax suggestion. They make it quick and easy plus if you're a repeat customer they pay more.

You never get as much money from a dealer as from a private party buyer. Take a look at KBB (Kelly Blue Book) and the lower dealer values versus private party prices that can be 10-20% higher, sometimes more, for each and every car and model. It has location-specific values based on zip codes.

Selling to a dealer is a simple and trouble free way to go if the extra potential bucks from a private sale aren't a concern.

I had a very similar experience to tvq1.

In 2006 I decided to sell my late husband's very nice Ford pickup. I had zero experience selling a car. I checked KBB and had a good idea of what it was worth. I thought it would be easiest and safest to sell it to a Ford dealer. They drove it a bit and came back to me with a number on a small piece of paper. It was insultingly low. I decided I'd rather push it off a cliff than let them have it for that price.

I took some nice pics and put it on Craigslist. Within 5 minutes I got an email from a guy who lived about 5 miles away. We met in a nearby shopping center. He brought his wife and I instantly had a good feeling about them. She remained behind and I went with him for his test drive, which didn't last long.

When we returned he made me an offer a couple of hundred dollars less than I wanted. I told him what I wanted. He said okay. And that was that. He gave me a couple hundred as a deposit and we shook hands.

As the seller I needed to get it smogged. We met at his bank maybe the next day where he got a cashiers check (or whatever kind is guaranteed and good). Then we met back at my house (I had to get home) and the truck was his. It made me sad watching it disappear down the street, but I knew I'd made the right decision.

Good luck!

We’ve sold many cars both to private parties and to CarMax. Here are some suggestions:

* Have at the ready the Kelly Blue Book Value, Edmond’s and the NADA values, adjusted for mileage, condition, extra features, etc. We usually base the asking price on the average of these three values and explain to the buyer the basis of the price. It helps both parties to be reasonable and realistic.

* Ask for the person’s name ahead of time and do a quick online check using their name and any other information you have, so as to eliminate anyone who has a crazy or shady online presence. Obviously, this is not a fool proof tool, but I do it anyway.

* take a picture of the DL as well as their insurance policy (if the have one)

CarMax is easy to do as well.

Look into CarMax and Carvana. We bought DH's car though Carvana but did not sell his to Carvana. We wound up selling it to the independent mechanics that work on my Mustang so they could re-sell it to their customers. They have a huge demand for budget-friendly used cars in good condition in that every day someone asks them if there is any car like this for sale. So, that might be an option if you have an independent shop you deal with. You may also want to contact Mazda because overall there is a shortage of good used cars that they can sell certified pre-owned.

Thanks for this thread. We’ve donated 3 cars and sold another to the mechanic. Now I have to sell my father’s 2000 Lexus. Great car! But we don’t need it (although it’s a great car, I’d love it, but it’s hard to justify.) And I’m so nervous about it! I have to replace the battery first, though. It hasn‘t been driven in too long.

If it was a local buyer, I would ride with them for a test run. If it is a stranger, then maybe have someone else at your house waiting for you. I sold my husbands 2003 Siilverado last year. The buyer was a friend of a friend and didn't even take it for a test drive. I also had our mutual friend stop by.

edited to say... Write As Is on the bill of sale.

How do you exchange the title?

If you sell to an individual:

• Require payment by cashier's check drawn on a local bank. Look up the bank's phone number (don't just use the one on the check) and verify that the check is valid.
• Meet at the DMV to complete the sale so that you can be sure the buyer transfers the registration from you to them. If you just sign the line to release but the buyer forgets to register the car and it's in an accident, etc., the car is still registered to you and there is a mess to prove that you sold it.

A little known fact: When you donate a car or sell it to a dealer, they don't change the registration until they sell the car. How do I know this? A car I donated was stolen from the storage area, taken for a joyride and wrecked. The car was still registered to me, so the police called me. It took a good bit of time to untangle. I was delighted that the car had to be crushed for scrap metal so that I never had to think about it again!

ETA: The seller signs the title to release it. The buyer needs this title to register the car and get an updated title in their name. If the seller doesn't have clear title (i.e., there is a lien on the car because a loan needs to be paid off) it's more complex.

When you donate a car or sell it to a dealer, they don't change the registration until they sell the car. How do I know this? A car I donated was stolen from the storage area, taken for a joyride and wrecked. The car was still registered to me, so the police called me. It took a good bit of time to untangle.

Moxie, something very similar happened to us in 2003 when we traded in our old Ford Taurus for the car I still have now. It was stolen and left somewhere, subsequently impounded. They tried to get us to pay the impounding fees. Fortunately the dealer was local and upstanding and got things untangled for us.

In my state you can report the car sold without the buyer having to do anything (although they are required to file within a certain time) which releases you from any liability. If they fail to register the car, that's now between them and the state and not your problem.

I would never get in the car with a stranger for a test drive; well, possibly a woman, but I'd have to feel very good about her - for certain not a man. Too many stories of problems. I would not let two people leave in the car; one stays behind. And, I would have a trusted male friend or relative go with you to meet up. Not to do the dealing, but just to be a presence. Good luck!

My recent experience was a very happy surprise. Apparently there is a shortage of used vehicles on the market, and prices that you would receive from a dealer are comparable to what you could get selling it to an individual - without 'lemon law' worries. The dealer was able to offer a terrific price, and it was a contactless transaction viz a viz coronavirus. I'd contact all your local dealers by phone to see if there is interest. I also contacted a used car dealer, who was also hot to trot, but I got a better price from the new car dealer.

I used Carmax based on recommendations here and I was very happy with the offer they gave me for my car. I ended up trading rather than selling outright but I woudn't hesitate to use them in the future.

I just sold my dad”s car. Easy, Peasy! Lukki, have your sil help you if he will. My husband went with the guy who bought dad“s car. We had maintenance records and the guy did not ask to take it to a mechanic. insurance was still intact on the car and would have covered an accident or theft. If someone wanted you take it to a mechanic, just have them leave their vehicle with you. We had the title and I simply filled in the info on the back and the new owner took it to be registered, etc. I did make a copy of the title beforehand. Hope this helps!!

ETA: what I meant is have your sil there with you when someone comes to look at the vehicle.

Another vote for using CarMax.

Used cars are very hot right now. I just traded mine in & Carmax gave me almost the full Blue book value if I had sold it myself. My son just sold his deceased BIL's Truck, Carmax offered him $21,000. He sold it to an individual for $23,000. Keep this in mind when you are setting the price. You could take it to a Carmax & see what they will give you for it. It might not be worth the trouble to sell it to an individual.

CarMax gave us way more for 3 cars than dealership, and it was a few hours of our time (each vehicle).

People I know have used carmax and are very satisfied.

I sold a car to CarMax. It was easy, fairly quick, and safe. I first took the car to a dealer who did the same thing CarMax does - looks the car over, then gives you a written offer that is good for a week. I then took it to CarMax, and their offer was $500 more than the dealer, so I sold it to them. I did not tell them about the dealer offer.

I would not do Craigslist - it just isn't worth the hassle. But if you do sell it yourself, do not leave your license plates on it. You have to turn those in to DMV if you don't plan to use on a new car.

And make sure you remove your name from both the insurance and registration immediately after selling it. You can be held responsible for tickets and or accidents that occur if you don't. Trust me: we sued the present and previous owner of the car that hit my husband. (well, our attorney did......... )

This is simple economics. A business of buying and selling anything needs to buy for a lower price than the item can be sold for, Buy low and sell high, right?

Assume everyone has access to market information (any of the websites, dealers use them too) and a particular car is "worth" 100. A buyer, whether dealing with a dealer or an individual, can be expected to be happy spending 90-100 to purchase the car. For a dealer to make a profit on the car, they would want to pay 75 or even less to purchase it. The owner of the car can get more selling it privately, they keep the full "value" without having to discount what they get by selling it to someone who wants to resell it.

There's a hassle factor, a time factor, sometimes a minor risk factor, a need for money factor, and other things that may enter in to the decision of how to go. Selling it to a business that resells cars will always result in receiving a lower value. Are all the "dealers" going to offer the same price? No.

Last December, got rid of two cars, purchased two new ones. I called my insurance company(State Farm). They DO NOT insure a car for it's purchase price if you pay cash.

I took photos of the SUV, listed it, then sat back. Had people that wanted to "talk" about the suv or test drive it...but NOT buy it. One week and I'd had enough! I took it to one of the dealers where I'd purchased my NEW suv, sold it to them for almost nothing.

I had multiple phone calls wanting to buy my old 1981 4x4 truck. I said the first one to bring me cash gets it. Just 3 hours after listing it....SOLD! Cash in hand.

We were lucky like Nicole. We knew we were going to sell the car, then actually someone asked my husband if he knew of a good used car for sale. His grandson had run the oil out of his car and the motor was junk. The young man is in college and needed transportation. Worked out great for the both of us.

In our state, you DO NOT turn in license plates.

Lukki, sounds like carmax might be the best thing for you. It wouldn't hurt to have them look at the vehicle. Best of luck!!

" I called my insurance company(State Farm). They DO NOT insure a car for it's purchase price if you pay cash."

Nicole, I'm not sure what you're thinking of or referring to.

When an insured car is totaled, insurance companies look to some form of adjusted Blue Book. You can overpay or underpay when buying a car but Blue Book is a localized market stat. Whether a buyer pays cash on hand or finances with a loan, it's the same thing for the seller, no?

I agree with Elmer. Whether you pay cash or finance a vehicle has nothing to do with value placed on it by an insurance company. Also, when I sold my husband's truck to the dealer I got a good price according to Kelley's blue book. Some of the reason might have been because my husband had once worked there and they all knew him. I needed a easy, secure way to sell it.

“ ’ve never sold a car before but assume one would want to test drive it, take it to their mechanic or whatever. My question is what did you do to ensure the car was returned? ”

We always sell our cars instead of trading them in or offering to a place like CarMax

If someone wants to test drive it, and few do, we have someone ride in the car with them. The people who want a Mechanic to see it would be invited to bring the mechanic to us.

Research what your Mazda will sell for on CarMax, then see what they offer to buy yours. There was an $ 8,000 difference in one of our vehicles recently. The 8,000 was worth a little inconvenience to us. My car sold within 24 hours. Low mileage sells quickly.

Elmer...no. It's called "GAP insurance". Insurance companies in general WILL insure a car for the purchase price with GAP insurance....off the lot. IF...you total the car driving it home they give you what you paid for it. Seriously. It's a REAL thang. ☺

A sad story. I was working in Denver, 12 hour night shift in the computer room...when a coworkers brand new red camaro.....had it two weeks, was stolen out of the parking lot. They got ALL of the purchase price back ....except $2K as I recall. So they had a car payment and NO car. They had been offered gap insurance and didn't take it.

Rose....because I paid cash, State Farm did NOT offer GAP insurance. So....it did make a difference.

Sounds like a different kind of insurance. What you're describing is insurance covering the loan amount, not the car's value. Like mortgage insurance versus property insurance.

I was never offered GAP insurance from an insurance company, it was offered thru the loan company. And added onto the loan total. It's to cover the difference between what you owe on the vehicle and what the book value is (if you should total it)

Elmer.....if you put $10k down and the loan is for $10k.....the car is insured for $20k....what you paid for the car. It's not insurance dependant on the "loan amount"....it's what you paid for the car. You learned something......I won't tell anyone. FYI....I changed insurance companies.

I GOOGLED: "Who sells GAP insurance?"

Insurance companies that sell gap coverage

• American Family.
• Auto-Owners Insurance.
• Liberty Mutual.
• Nationwide Insurance.
• Safeco.
• Travelers.
• USAA.

Sorry lukki....I apologize for my insurance input. I used to work for a big, name brand insurance company. When IBM sold our plant division and closed us, I had to reinvent myself.

Thank you for all the input, it’s really appreciated. Carmax is an option I hadn’t thought of and can use if it doesn’t sell. Obviously I won’t get what the car is worth there and looking at Auto Trader that’s about 15,000. I’m going to pay to list it on Auto Trader, I’ve heard people who look there are more serious about buying. And I like the idea of a safe zone; I’m going to contact our local police dept this week to inquire about it and follow the other safety measures suggested.

No worries Nicole, I’m really familiar with GAP insurance which is normally offered to cover depreciation when one buys new and I actually worked at KBB (and even knew the Kelleys) for 10 years, so I’m pretty familiar with them too!

Lukki, if you have a carmax nearby I would give them a shot before you go through the hassle of trying to sell on your own. New and used car inventory is really low right now because of supply chain issues and car dealers are begging for cars. You may be pleasantly surprised by the offer.

We tend to keep a car 10+ years. We've bought low-mileage demonstrators and untitled last year's models -- always with long (6-year) comprehensive warranties that we renew once or twice. We've seldom traded in a car against a purchase. We don't lease or borrow. When we sell, we can provide 'lifetime' maintenence records on the car.

The last car we sold was a Jag XJS. A man came to see it and we arranged to meet at our bank the following week. The bank guaranteed his check, and they put through the title registration papers that the buyer filled out right there. We both signed a simple bill of sale with price, VIN number, and our names and addresses.

Some years before this we sold a Jag sedan to an individual. Payment was no problem, but two years after the sale we had a call from the police. The buyer had never titled the car. His son was picked up driving it with a set of plates registered to a VW. We'd kept the simple bill of sale, and we never heard back from the police...but that's how I became aware that a buyer might not title a car!

Make sure to remove the toll tag and cancel the vehicle from your account if this applies.

Also, we have some weird rules about turning in plates. I think I had to cancel the plate and then the insurance for DH's car? There is a fine if it's done in the wrong order.

nicole, I learn things all the time, though not always with a snarky tone as you found necessary to add.

Your understanding isn't correct. It's how I speculated, it's a car equivalent to mortgage insurance.

According to Allstate:

"This type of coverage is only available if you're the original loan- or leaseholder on a new vehicle. Gap insurance helps pay the gap between the depreciated value of your car and what you still owe on the car." and

"Gap insurance coverage may apply if you're underwater on your auto loan (meaning, you owe more than the car is worth) when your vehicle is stolen or totaled."

Elmer....not snarky. Just your interpretation of how I typed it. Friendly teasing.....you! ALL cars are underwater when you pull them off a NEW car lot. That is how I explained it. ☺ Once a car is NO longer NEW...it loses it's resale value. Gap insurance is something you can GOOGLE also.

Gap insurance is an optional car insurance coverage that helps pay off your auto loan if your car is totaled or stolen and you owe more than the car's depreciated value. ... Gap insurance helps pay the gap between the depreciated value of your car and what you still owe on the car.

'ALL cars are underwater when you pull them off a NEW car lot."

You can pull my chain all you want, please use a smiley face or something so I know it. It's hard to tell with just written words and no facial expressions, I do the same thing sometimes too.

All cars are not underwater when you drive them off the lot - unless financed for 100% or close to it. That's never a good idea, suggests the buyer is spending above what they can afford.

I'll continue the analogy to mortgage insurance - I'd expect it's a high profit item for the insurance company. Just like mortgage insurance, claim experience can't be that high.

Elmer....You are correct! It's a big profit maker for insurance companies, not many claims.....buuuuuuut.......I now have American Family Insurance. ☺ I think I should have the option of getting a "new" replacement vehicle if I have an issue/stolen or totaled, with a just-off-the-lot vehicle. ☺ And I had two!

Yes....mortgage insurance. I know of one case where the owners died, the mortgage was paid off for them. ☺ Good analogy.

Analogous but different.

Mortgage insurance is life insurance. If you feel you have enough life insurance, you don't need mortgage insurance.

Homeowners die every day without having or needing mortgage insurance.

I rode along with the potential buyer. That was helpful because I could supply questions he thought of while test driving. Car salesmen at dealers often ride along or they hold your driver's license. If are selling a motorcycle, a ride-along may not be practical; Holding the person's driver's license may be an option. Make sure that the data on the license matches the person. Obviously, the photo should match, but look at the height, weight, and hair or eye color as well. It could be a stolen license with a doctored photo.

If the sale is agreed to by both parties, there is one more item that should be done and is most often skipped. Before you release the title to the buyer, have him sign a dated note stating that he bought the vehicle from you. Put a description of the vehicle on the note: Make, year, model, color, number of doors, VIN number, etc. A witness signature, not usually made, can strengthen this document.

Why do this? To have proof that you sold the car. That can come in handy. I saved my nephew a lot of aggravation on the sale of an auto by doing this. He lived in one state and was selling his car to person who lived in the adjoining state. It was an extra car on his farm he did not want and sold it at low cost to a person (an in-law to our family) who needed the car. The low-life buyer failed to register the car with his state and plied up a batch of parking tickets. After 4 to 5 tickets, the police traced the car back to the former owner and sent him the bill for the parking tickets. Since the car had not been re-registered, it bore its original license plates. At that point, my nephew was able to send the entire package back to the police department with a copy of the note stating it had been sold. He also told them who the new owner was and his address.

This document is useful for other cases. The car could have been involved in a hit-and-run, a robbery, or other nefarious actions.

Before the sale, make a form with fill-in blanks and a space for additional comments. This helps to record detail that might be forgotten during excitement of the transaction. Design the form so that you can use it for other sales. Keep the master copy and use copies.

I wonder how often this really happens? I totally get the concern but it would be GRAND THEFT so thinking not so much. I would keep their wallet, ID. Make it easy for the cops to track them down. They arrived in a car most likely so you always have their car.....be sure to keep your insurance until you know the title was transferred.