One of the best parts of understanding the insider strategies we teach is the fact that you can actually buy your exotic or luxury car at a dealer’s trade-in value (or below) and SELL your car for dealer retail – all without actually being a dealer.
I’ve written and posted often about how to find target buy pricing, mastering negotiations, the 90-Day rule, etc. for buying cars… but as some of you have pointed out, I haven’t done the same for selling.
Did you know that, in many cases, as a private seller you can get more selling a car than a dealer?
It’s not as crazy as it sounds.
You as a solo seller only have one car to market, whereas dealers can have dozens or even hundreds of cars they’re trying to sell at the same time.
This leads to diluted dealer ads, sub-optimal presentation, incomplete descriptions, and an overall lazy or weaker ad than what you could come up with on your own.
Here are five areas where you can present your car in a far more attractive ad than a dealer would come up with:
Photography
This is the single best place for you to get a competitive edge. Taking great photos yourself or, if you don’t have the skills, hiring an automotive photographer for a few hundred dollars makes a world of difference. Your photos can make a prospective buyer want your car, versus shopping your car against others that look the same on price alone.
Pedigree
Most dealers list Ferraris that are red as “red” not Rosso Corsa or Rosso Scuderia. None of them go into the history of the model, why it’s important, what makes it special, etc.
Options
Dealers don’t list specific options based on rarity. At most, they’re looking at window sticker prices. By highlighting the rare and unique options on your car, your listing can appear a cut above the rest, even if other cars on the market actually have similar option packages.
Rarity
Dealers don’t look at rarity or historical importance. I bought the only white-on-white Mercedes SL65 AMG Black Series from a Mercedes dealer and made $18,800 profit because they didn’t know it was the only one and they failed to market the fact that it was owned by Marco Andretti, son of legendary race car driver Mario Andretti.
Social Media
Dealers only market their cars once they arrive in inventory, and generally have a tight 90-day window to sell. You can start posting your car on social media the day you get it, building interest and letting the greater car community know it exists. That’s one of the reasons why I have epic photoshoots of my cars done the day I get them – I often have buyers lined up and ready to pay premium dollars for my cars before they’re even listed for sale thanks to months and months of #carporn prior to my being ready to sell.
Dealers often don’t list on car forums like 6SpeedOnline.com or make/model specific forums (because it costs money to be a sponsor), another high-traffic area where you can get real interest in your listing.
Don’t make the mistake of looking at dealer ads and duplicating them; originality and great information lead to higher sale values always.
Learn how dealers price by starting higher and allowing buyers to make you lower offers, but doing so in a manner that allows them to make you lower offers only much closer to your desired amount with the perceived discount they receive.