Advertising When Selling a Used Car

How to advertise your used car for a quick sell

First, you may simply put "For Sale" sticker on your car. If you sure your car is in good shape consider to tell your friends that you are going to sell a car. Consider placing an ad in some internet used car databases or online classifieds.

Place an ad in the classified section of your local paper newspaper. Describing your car, try to be honest, don't write something like "best car you can ever find!" Because if you describe your car much better than it really is, most of customers would be disappointed coming to check your car, so you most likely lose your potential buyers. On the contrary customers would be very pleased realizing that the car is even better than they could imagine it. If so, the chances are high that you'll have a deal.

Marketing your vehicle

Word-of-mouth might work, but advertising your vehicle is probably essential. Otherwise, how will anyone know it is for sale?

You have numerous advertising mediums available to you. Some are free, while others will cost you a few dollars — but it will be worth it.

Consider who is most likely to buy your old car; then think about what they read or how and where they shop. This will be key in deciding how and where to advertise your vehicle. For instance, if you are selling an older, higher-mileage car, it’s likely that a student will purchase it — so consider where students go: schools, college campuses, shopping centers and community centers. Many of these places have bulletin boards covered with free advertisements. (You might consider fringing the bottom of the advertisement and listing your phone number on the fringes so a prospective buyer without a pencil can tear off your number.)

You can place a For Sale sign on your vehicle with your phone number. As you drive around town and park at various places, it becomes a billboard — and a free one at that. Make sure the numbers are large and easy to read.

You also might consider putting the price on the sign to weed out a rash of phone calls from people asking about the price. To be safe, however, don’t add any personal information, such as your address. Locations in high-traffic areas where you can park the car may be beneficial, but check with local authorities to make sure it is legal.

Local newspapers represent an effective and inexpensive way to advertise your vehicle. If you place an ad in a cars.com affiliate newspaper, your ad may also run on the cars.com Web site. You can take out ads on the days that car buyers are most likely to read the newspaper, such as the weekend edition. Or you can advertise on days when the paper is read less and contains fewer ad pages, so your ad will stand out.

If you live in a city with multiple daily newspapers, compare them by ad price and circulation — and don’t look at just the number of papers sold each day but also where the concentration of them are sold. Ask about packages that allow your ad to run in multiple zones of the paper for several days.

In addition, many cities have specialty publications that are available at grocery and convenience stores, which list only vehicles or used products. Some don’t charge for the ad unless you sell the item you’re advertising. National and local Web sites where private sellers can place ads for vehicles are an increasing trend. You can post a For Sale by Owner ad on cars.com.

In the end, the best would be to employ multiple advertising tactics.