Sell Your Car on Craigslist You see all those ads for used cars on eBay, Craigslist, and the papers and pretty much everywhere else. Why do car owners take classified ads out to sell their cars themselves instead of just selling at the used car lot?

Well, because, you know, used car dealers aren't anybody's favorite people. Everyone knows that they aren't about to give you the best price possible. They've also heard of how hard it can be figuring out how to sell your car on Craigslist or eBay and do it well. But they're willing to take up the challenge.

Let's take up how to sell your car on Craigslist in particular now (because, you know, Craigslist is free, and eBay is not). The classifieds they have are quite irresistible. It is a free service, you can write pretty much as much as you want, you can post pictures, and it's searchable.

Take an ad out in a local paper, and you're out plenty of money, it isn't searchable because it's technology that's stuck in the last century, and you're limited to 20 words and no pictures. Craigslist and other online classifieds are the winners pretty much hands-down.

Now advertising and successfully finding buyers is only a small part of the challenge. More important than that is having a good product to sell. For instance, make sure that you take complete care that your car has a clear title. If you can't remember when you saw it last, look hard for it before you put that ad out.

If the car’s title is with the bank because it's being held against a loan, you need to call the bank and ask them how much it'll take to pay the car off and get your title back. And if you don't have your car’s title because, you figured who cares, you're about to learn now who cares. You need to call the DMV and get your application started.

Have you ever seen those poor quality pictures of cars on Craigslist? Whatever were those people thinking putting those pictures of their dirty looking cars there? That's not how to sell your car on Craigslist. You want to first give your car washed as well as you can, you need to get the interior properly vacuumed, and you need a coat of great polish everywhere. And then, you are to get the best camera you can and take the best pictures you possibly can. This is what's going to do the selling for you.

Think about what parts of a car you'd like to look at before buying one. And make sure that you put pictures of all those parts into your ad. Take pictures of the dashboard with the car turned on (so that it's clear that there are no service lights turned on), take close up pictures of the stereo, the driver’s seat, the engine, the receipt, the trunk, the wheels, the trade on the wheels and so on.

Make sure that you don't hide any damage at all. It's going to be more than apparent when the buyer comes to buy it. And make sure that you blur out your number plates for privacy’s sake.

You need to describe the car as well as you can. Try saying something about your maintenance records and the mileage, check thoroughly for any spelling mistakes. As for the price you set, check the Kelly Blue Book, knock a few dollars off the price for any new problems there are, and list the car. When a buyer calls, do remember to negotiate.