Car Sale

The last time we sold a vehicle in Washington, we did it ALL wrong.  We had been in Washington for about year, our old salvage title car needed to be sold and we sold it.  For cheap.  Except for us it turned into quite the opposite.  In Michigan, the plates are removed and kept with the current owner while the seller gets the plateless car and signed title.  At least this is what I recall.  I could be wrong.  But in Washington, the seller must report the sale or will be held responsible for what the purchaser does with the car.  We didn’t report the sale and the buyer didn’t either.  The buyer didn’t even try to register it in their name.  So when the buyer had to abandon the car on the highway (for who knows why) they didn’t bother to come back for it….which left us responsible for the towing and impound fees for a vehicle we thought we had sold.  Yeah, it sucked.  This time around, I read the instructions SEVERAL times over.  We sold our mini-van, “Sally” on Wednesday.  I was sad to let  it go.  The girls and I cleaned it, got new hubcaps and took pictures.  Listed it on craigslist & AutoTrader.  (AutoTrader was a joke.  Just got a bunch of out-of-state offers to purchase it via PayPal sight unseen).  I listed it on Craigslist on a Thursday evening and didn’t have any real interest until late Sunday.  At which point I was sweating that maybe it wouldn’t sell.  I lowered the price $1,000 and then got 10-12 inquires, one right after the other.  I felt MUCH better and since I had so many inquiries and felt the price was fair to both parties I could say I was firm on the price.  It’s one thing to haggle at a garage sale but to take the time for test drives and kicking the tires, I didn’t feel like haggling.  The van had just been driven across the country, had lots of interior stains, not-so-regular oil changes and one seat that was a different color.  It does have brand new tires, brakes, battery and alternator.  And in comparison to what else was on the market for Toyota Sienna’s, it was fair.  The first people to look, bought it!  Yeah!  They had wanted to take it to the local auto shop for an inspection, but couldn’t do it until tomorrow.  I know, that’s what I would have wanted to do as a buyer, but as the seller with limited time and three other people scheduled to come look at it I wasn’t game.  I think it alleviated their concerns when I pulled out the brake job receipts from the exact place they wanted to take it to.  Jeff went on the test drive.  I went to the bank with them.  And the kids waved good-bye to Sally from their bedroom window.  I nixed the going down to give Sally a hug.