With the economy in such a dire way, how long is it taking people to sell their Coopers?

I'm about to put my 07 Cooper S on sale and I passed on a great deal for a new car expressly because I'm worried I won't be able to unload this car in a reasonable fashion (1-2- months).

So how long is it taking people to drop their cars?

 

if the price is low enough, you can sell it almost immediately...

 

If gas shoots up again, you should have no problem, but if it stays around $2, then

 

1-2 months seems like a long time but then again I've only sold old cars that are cheap enough to attract lots of buyers. Price is the big determinant in how long it takes to sell anything. There are lots of people that want to buy a 07 Cooper S. The question is whether you have a good handle on the market price for your car. Price it too low and you get a quick sale but you give up money. Price it too high and you wait in the hopes of finding an uninformed buyer. The other risk on pricing too high is that you get tired of trying to sell it and then over discount it when you get fed up.

 

I feel that higher cost cars are very difficult to sell privately... probably due to financing, which the dealer usually helps with. However, if you're willing to negotiate, it shouldn't take too long.

 

And if you grow tired of trying, Carmax generally does trade-in value plus a tiny bit. And they always buy it.

I got rid of a truck that way years ago when nobody was buying used because all the manufacturers were offering 0% on new cars.

 

If your car is priced fairly and advertised well, you should have money within two weeks.

 

I sold the last 2 MINIs in 2 weeks. For the first week I advertised them at the price I'd like to get, for the second week I advertised them for what I'd take. They both sold in the second week.

 

Unless the buyer pays with cash, it could take a while as car loans are hard to come by these days. Banks demand high credit scores.