What's a good way to get offers for a used car? We took it to the dealership, but we want to shop around. It's a 2014 Buick Regal with only 40k miles on it. Is there a website to notify several dealerships for them to give us offers?

Use the internet to gain an idea what the car might be valued at. NADA, Blue Book and other sites or services are a start. They can give you a "high-low" price range for both trade-in and/or private sale. Then Google your type car "for sale" and see what dealers and private sales are asking for the type in your area. Once you have a good idea what the market price is you can then decide how you want to sell it and for what price. Obviously, dealers have profit margin to consider and will tend to be lower than private buyers. Used car prices are wack right now...

Most dealerships and pricing websites have a "instant offer" function where you put in your car data and get an offer via email.

VIN specific values can be had at on a variety of sites. The 5 biggest are carmax, carvana, vroom, driveway, and shift. Get actual purchase prices from them and decide.

If you want quick and easy offers, and only need 3 or 4, just use Carvana, Vroom, Carmax. If you want to play the game, spend about $25 and post it on Autotrader. Last time I did that (May 2019), I got 7-10 dealership offers and 10-12 private offers. I ultimately ended up getting a dealership in Austin to match the highest offer, it was super easy, they hired somebody to drive to me (College Station) to pick it up and sign all the paperwork, was done in 10 minutes and they took care of all the paperwork with the state. Highly recommend keeping your plates if you are in Texas to avoid the annoyance of having to deal with false toll charges.

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Highly recommend keeping your plates if you are in Texas to avoid the annoyance of having to deal with false toll charges.

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Yes, and file the online form reporting the transfer. The Texas web site on vehicle transfers also states to remove the plates. It used to be just a suggestion, now they 100% say to do so.

Thanks guys!

My buddy just sold to GivemetheVIN.com

Said it was super easy and got the best price.

+1 for GivemetheVIN.com

I used them 2 years ago and it was quick and painless over the internet. Got them to up the offer a little and then 2 guys showed up at my house & did a quick walkaround and drove it around the block and then handed me a check.

How did you end up dealing with the toll tag thing? It just happened to a friend of mine. What's weird is that the VIN and the license plate number don't come back with hits anymore. Why would that be?

Tibbers said:

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How did you end up dealing with the toll tag thing? It just happened to a friend of mine. What's weird is that the VIN and the license plate number don't come back with hits anymore. Why would that be?

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There's a time limit to submit your car being sold. If within that period you just turn said proof to the toll road and they should wave it. Much easier to keep your plates though.

Always keep the plates. State of Texas recommends it

Thanks for the autotrader suggestion. We got a much higher price than the local dealerships were offering. Buyers came to the bank with cash, we filled out the paperwork and were done in 30 minutes. Couldn't have been easier to be honest. Thanks guys for your help.