Birth Of A Salesman - How To Sell Wrecked Cars For A Reasonable Price

Poor Willy Loman just can’t catch a break.The much-maligned protagonist of Arthur Miller’s seminal play Death of a Salesman works incredibly hard as a salesman, has put in decades at a firm that in the end accords him as little pay as respect, and has car trouble to boot, all with tragic results. Then there’s Gregor Samsa, who famously “woke one morning…to discover that he had transformed into a hideous bug”—and Franz Kafka’s most famous protagonist was, likewise, a salesman.

There’s no doubt that the life of a salesman is hard, and nowhere is this more apparent than when it comes to selling wrecked cars. Whether you’re a seasoned salesman or (more likely) just someone who’s trying to get an old car off your hands, selling your vehicle for a reasonable price can be difficult indeed. However, it doesn’t have to be -

Here is a quick, step by step guide to help you sell wrecked cars for a reasonable price.

MAKE AND MODEL

To begin with, you’re going to want to take note of some vital information regarding your car, including the make, model, year, any special features or add-ons, and so on.

Now, there are certain sites that will allow you to input all that aforementioned information and give you a quote or estimate as to what you might expect in terms of a price or the overall value of the vehicle. On the plus side, this can be a good way to get a rough idea as to what sort of asking price might be reasonable to expect on your part. This is especially true if you have little to no automotive experience. On the other hand, however, you should shy away from sites that ask for money at that stage. If they are actively buying and selling wrecked cars, that’s one thing, but there are enough free resources out there to where a site asking money before you even put in info smacks of a money grab.

Navigating the ins and outs of determining what kind of car you have and what kind of value you can expect is crucial to the process of selling wrecked cars.

HOW TO EFFECTIVELY POST ADS

Now that you have taken note of all the vital information, the time has come to post an advertisement for your wrecked car. What kind of site should you advertise on? That’s going to depend on what you consider to be your target buyer. While there are sites that specialize in helping people like you sell wrecked cars, you can also advertise on mainstream sites such as Craigslist or Facebook.

So which is the best option for you?

If you are planning on selling your car for scrap, you’re almost certainly better off selling on a site which specializes in dealing with selling wrecked cars for that purpose. Not only are you mare likely to find a buyer that way, but these sites tend to have the resources and infrastructure necessary to handle cases such as yours. They may have their own storage facilities or tow trucks, and may either pay for those cost or otherwise mitigate the cost for you to pay for that all-important part of the process. By contrast, those costs could be massive if you have to pay for them all on your own, which would almost certainly be the case on an independent site such as Craigslist or Facebook. That being said, however, the former site can get your vehicle some good exposure, as craigslist receives a good deal of traffic every day, while the latter can allow you to market your wrecked car to friends and on arguably the most internationally-recognized social media platform in the world.

TAKE GOOD PICTURES

Wherever you choose to market you vehicle, one thing is certain—when it comes to selling wrecked cars, you absolutely have to have high-definition, high quality pictures. We live in an age where pictures are at a premium, where the phrase “Pics or it didn’t happen” is a common refrain across comment sections on news stories and blogs across the Internet. Sure, you say that your car is only slightly-damaged and well-worth the $10K you’re asking for it, but how is a stranger supposed to take your word for it? What’s more, because we live in an era where just about every phone can take quality, high-definition pictures, lacking them will put you at a competitive disadvantage in an already-crowded used and wrecked car market.

THE SALES PROCESS

In terms of the actual sales process, unless you have specific clients in mind, you generally want to post your property on one of those aforementioned sites and then wait for a response; actively trying to market your car to random users won’t get you very far, and if anything it might damage your credibility online. Once you’ve attracted a potential buyer, you’ll want to come across as polite and professional but not stiff or seemingly or over-anxious to sell. Not only does an over-willingness weaken your bargaining position should it come to that, but it could scare off potential buyers, as they might wonder why you seem so eager to unload this car. When meeting a potential client—especially one that you’ve just met online—it’s best to meet in a neutral area. Starbucks and similar classy-but-not-overbearing locales are perfect for meeting for a cup of coffee or tea and negotiations over your property.

Remember—the better the mood of your potential buyer, the more willing they may be to stretch a bit in terms of price and other factors.

WRAP UP

To come full circle, when it comes to selling wrecked cars, it pays to remember the likes of Willy Loman. As different characters in the play note, Willy himself is a nice enough guy, and he himself prides himself on his ability to foster good individual relationships with people, but when it comes to business he’s a complete flop, ultimately unable to either command the respect he believes he deserves or treat negotiations as serious. You, too, should learn from Willy—the good and the bad. Take his goodness and earnest effort to heart, but remember that trying to sell wrecked cars is a business venture—a serious one—and should be approached with the utmost professionalism on all sides from a sales perspective.