Buy or Sell Your Car, Truck, or Other Vehicle

Selling or buying a car, truck, or other vehicle is simple when you know the steps the DMV requires in order to make the process legal for you and for the buyer or seller of the car.

It’s time for a new car – yes, even in this economy. That old jalopy of yours just isn’t going to cut it anymore. It doesn’t run, it doesn’t start, and it certainly isn’t making dating all the more exciting. What date wants to play carpool for you all the time? But before you start handing over a blank check, here’s what you need to do to prepare yourself to buy or to sell

How to Buy a ‘New’ Vehicle

Let’s face it, car dealers certainly don’t make it easy for anyone to buy a vehicle – car or truck. These dealerships want you to be s turned around when you walk into the showroom that you simply agree to the first overpriced piece of junk on the lot. And it works. But you can outsmart them. First of all, look at your checkbook. If you don’t have a lot of money in your account, you can’t afford a car. Stop now. But if you do have some money, figure out how much you can afford to pay each month since you’ll probably be taking out a loan. This is going to give you a haggling price that the salesperson needs to keep in mind as you shop.

Figure out the ideal car you want to buy and then look up reviews for that car to see if it’s really as nifty as you think it is. Once you’ve seen that other people like it (oh peer pressure), then you can start looking to see what the prices online are looking like. You might even want to head to Kelly Blue Book to find out what the suggested price for the car is. Again, it’s all about being more prepared than that salesperson is.

How to Sell Your Car or Truck

Of course, you might have an extra car (or two) sitting on your lawn that you want to sell. Easy enough. Find a sucker who doesn’t care if it runs, get him to pay you in cash and you’re done. Okay, okay, if you don’t want to be a jerk, you will want to get the car looked at by a certified mechanic to make sure there are no major repairs coming up. If there are, you have two choices. Make the repairs or tell the prospective buyer and knock the price of repairs off the selling price. You might also just want to trade in the car when you buy a new one – saves you the trouble of having to place an ad, haggle, and hope that test drive isn’t going to turn into a stolen vehicle report.

When you do sell the car, it’s just a matter of heading to the DMV to apply for a Vehicle Title transfer and that lemon is then off your hands.