Car, anyone?

JMB · April 11, 2005 at 9:13 pm · Filed Under Off-topic ranting 

I’ve asked once; I’m asking again. We’re leaving on Wednesday and I really need to unload my 1997 Jetta before then, as we can’t afford to have two cars in New York. KBB.com says $5,555 — I’m asking $5500 and will listen to any reasonable offer. Here’s the craigslist listing. Thanks.

Comments

22 Responses to “Car, anyone?”

  1. aron on April 11th, 2005 9:54 pm

    sorry I already live in NYC and I am still trying to unload my car… let me know if you want to see the M’s when they are in town..much easier to get a ticket now that we “suck” 🙂

    as I recall you mentioned you were moving north outside of the city proper… it is hard even having one car anywhere near here. The insurance is murder.

  2. jm on April 11th, 2005 9:56 pm

    i suggest you add a picture to your listing, it makes a huge difference.

    also, in my experience items sell for lower value on craigs list than in the times/pi classifieds. i highly recommend listing it there if you aren’t already.

    good luck man.

  3. Eric on April 11th, 2005 10:02 pm

    have you tried autotrader.com?

    Also I’ll second what soemone above said, you gotta have a picture on either Craig’s list or Autotrader to get hits.

  4. Brian on April 11th, 2005 10:05 pm

    At the very least you should let people know what color it is.

  5. Rob on April 11th, 2005 10:49 pm

    If this was 3 or 4 months later I would look into it.

    But I agree with jm on the picture, it could help get more people interested.

  6. Roger on April 12th, 2005 12:04 am

    I can say this from some experience, if you’re in a bind and say so the only real offers you’re likely to entertain are going to be very low–probably trade-in value ($3800). Not saying the car isn’t worth your asking but you’re in a disadvantaged position.

    If you really do need to sell by Wednesday, re-do your craigslist ad, add pictures, and really cut the price down–say $4500 or offer. Worst case, get a dealer involved and see what they would pay you for the car, probably the trade-in value.

    While your car doesn’t have high miles, it has high “psychological” miles at 100K, and that will make it a slightly harder sell to a dealer looking to make a profit on their used car lot.

    Another thought would be to sell your other car if it’s more readily saleable, and sell the Jetta when you get to New York to replace it with whatever your other car is.

    You can lodge the car with a friend and hope it sells, and hope the friend takes care of it–or “sell” it to a relative (parents, perhaps?) and let them sell it and send you on the money when that happens.

    Anyway, you definitely need to come down from blue book, and preferably get under $5K, for a quick sale. I’d forget the times or PI, I’ve never had luck there. If you have a friend at Microsoft, get them to put it in the Micronews, pretty good venue for this sort of stuff.

  7. Karen on April 12th, 2005 2:43 am

    If you don’t need the money from a sale, use it as a tax write-off. Donate it to a charitable non-profit organization.

  8. David J Corcoran on April 12th, 2005 6:34 am

    Damn. That’s exactly what I’m looking for. But I can’t go all the way back to Seattle. If you can somehow get it to central Idaho I might consider.

  9. Griff on April 12th, 2005 6:57 am

    David:

    Grab a Southwest special, it’s like $79 one way from Boise or Spokane(whichever is closer), get the car, and drive it back.

  10. tvwxman on April 12th, 2005 7:03 am

    Is it a lime green hatchback?

  11. Dobbs on April 12th, 2005 7:20 am

    #6 says it all. BTW my last attempt at selling my car (2001 Ford Mustang convertible, attempted sale during summer) resulted in absolutely no interest when I had a picture on Autotrader and priced the car quite a ways below Blue Book.

    So basically Blue Book doesn’t mean much and you’ll be lucky to get near it.

    The previous car I did sell before that ended up selling for something like 3800 instead of the 4500 it was listed at. And that took me 2 months to sell. Had low miles, good shape and everything, just hard to interested people in a 4-door Grand AM I guess.

  12. Sue on April 12th, 2005 8:01 am

    Might be interested – send me an e-mail and we can get together on the phone. What is the color anyway??? Can you add or send a picture? Thanks! Sue

  13. JPWood on April 12th, 2005 8:06 am

    Corc is your buyer. Now just work out the details.
    Cook up a storm.

  14. PositivePaul on April 12th, 2005 9:13 am

    So, I guess the real question is, then:

    Wusthoff or Henckels?

    Enjoy your travels!

    There’s a “Park-It Market” around the corner from me that allows you to drop your car off and they’ll sell it for you. There’s probably one closer to where you live than Olympia, though, so you might want to look into it.

  15. Russ on April 12th, 2005 9:27 am

    I have family in Idaho. I could be easily convinced to drive it over to Boise from Spokane. I’ll fly home from there.

  16. Dirk on April 12th, 2005 10:04 am

    I’m from Portland, but interested. If the price is right, I’ll drive up to make it work for your deadline. Please email me more information (color, body condition, picture, etc.) and I’ll shoot you an offer if everything fits.

    Sorry for the situation you’re in.

    kdirksen22@hotmail.com

  17. JMB on April 12th, 2005 10:43 am

    Wusthoff or Henckels?

    I’m a Global guy, myself. Well, either them or Furi, a company out of Australia. Though I do have to wait and see what sort of knives I’ll get in the CIA-issued knife kit (which I’ll then supplement with my favorite knife, an 8-inch Global).

    jason

  18. Jeff on April 12th, 2005 1:42 pm

    Boy, I’ve never seen “the CIA-issued knife kit” used in this context before.

  19. DFC on April 12th, 2005 1:48 pm

    A buddy of mine went to the CIA-Greystone and, as I recall, the knives were junk. That’s really what you want for cooking school anyway–that way no one’s using your expensive Japanese knives to break down boxes or hack apart frozen veal bones or open cans. Seriously, things get lost, or “lost,” in cooking schools all the time, and I wouldn’t take any tools that I was too invested in.

    On topic, the only cars I’ve bought or sold have been under $1000, from or to friends of mine, so no help here.

  20. jm on April 12th, 2005 1:51 pm

    For what it’s worth, I’ll be happy to take some pictures of the car tonight after work (I’m a photographer) if you want to bring the car to Fremont around or after 6pm.

  21. hans on April 12th, 2005 2:53 pm

    I’ve always been a fan of high carbon, no stainless steel. They take an edge incredibly well, but require a little babying in the washing. Like cast iron pans, they will prove to be your most reliable, best quality tools for your buck. I understand Sabattier makes a good set.

    For home knives they might not be what you want though, because with a newborn, you will find that you take every shortcut you can to save time. In that sense, you might want knives you can throw in the dishwasher… in which case you would want a little stainless mixed in with the high carbon steel… Which brings you back to the original question. You could always go with Cutco.

  22. Tim on April 12th, 2005 3:50 pm

    KBB is a dealer friendly publication. They overvalue resale prices on cars. No one will pay near KBB price for the car. You’re going to have to take significantly less if you want to get rid of it.