It seems, every year for last few decades, that private party auto listings are on the decline. It's harder for sure, no tax savings as on a trade, but still can save money overall. Do you think it's the number of vehicles that are financed, too hard to sell with an outstanding loan for sure.

Just checking if it's a false perception on my part.

It's dealers / vroom / carmax / givemethevin buying all the cars (and buying deeper too). It's a pain in the brain to sell a car private party, people would rather sell to one of the outlets above and not worry about it.

Ten years ago I bought a car off Craig's List. I wouldn't do that now. You list a car on Autotrader and get peppered with low balls and hard luck scams. No thanks. I wouldn't trust a cashiers check from a stranger anymore.

I would sell it on TexAgs. I would buy one off TexAgs. That's about it. It's just too easy online to sell to CarMax or one of the many other used car dealers and avoid the general public.

These are my thoughts and may not be a trend

Nah, used vehicles prices at all time highs. I think the opposite. Sold my truck private last year, for 2k more than those webstie offerings.

I think he's saying number of people selling their vehicles off their curb by their house is at an all-time low and I'd agree.

I've seen three private sales happen in the last week.

#1 Girlfriend's sister buys vehicle listed on Texags Classifieds
#2 Girlfriend buys her sister's old vehicle
#3 Girlfriend sells her old vehicle through Facebook marketplace.

All 3 transactions went smoothly.

I bought a boat off Facebook last fall. Even had to travel to Auburn, AL from Houston to pick it up.

It was a little scary, but I spoke to the guy several times, had him send me pics, and picked it up from his local dealership after they performed a full warranty inspection on it (basically like a CPO inspection so the warranty would transfer). My bank wired the money I finance, I picked up the remaining cash there in Auburn and took it with me to the dealer.

SECAg13 said:

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I've seen three private sales happen in the last week.

#1 Girlfriend's sister buys vehicle listed on Texags Classifieds
#2 Girlfriend buys her sister's old vehicle
#3 Girlfriend sells her old vehicle through Facebook marketplace.

All 3 transactions went smoothly.

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She sounds like a keeper

I remember grabbing the 50+ page "magazines", full of cars listed by individuals, on the convenience store racks back in the 90's. And then finding them on craigslist or Ebay, and I guess now it's Facebook marketplace (see very few individuals listing on cars.com, or autotrader.com, or cargurus.com, etc). But even on Facebook marketplace the "individual seller" is often a representative of a small lot dealership. It was seeming to me that it was harder to find cars truly listed by individuals, but it may just be the way I find them make it appear to be fewer than it really is. The last couple years even trade in values were way over what people might have originally paid for their cars, so no incentive to sell private party - to me the main inventive to selling private party was to net more money. It can be a pain in the ass, so it better be 10% more, at least, than what I could get on trade in.

I list a vehicle now and it's constant trade requests, or can I rent to own, or "best I can do is 50% of your asking price".