How would you do it?

[Scott Douglas]

Distant family member is in charge of his late parent's estate. He wants to sell his mom's car with as little trouble as possible, ie no interaction with the public if possible.
Car is a 2014 Lexus ES350 w/less than 16k miles, always garaged, still has original tires on it. Beige over tan, no dings dents or other injuries.
Other than CarMax, who else would you contact to get a quote for buying it?
I was going to suggest he try the dealer where they had the car serviced too.
Any other suggestions?

[javadog]

Tell him he needs to sell it himself or he’s going to get about half of what it’s actually worth. Most people don’t realize that but the world has changed. The days of there being 10 or 15% difference between retail and wholesale are over.

At least he will have some idea and can make an informed decision.

[LWJ]

There are many outfits that buy cars. And, personal experience with car max was that they are absolutely fraudulent in their dealings- they claimed my Volvo had “transmission issues” and devalued it from the initial offer. I had been to a mechanic just prior and also run diagnostics. No transmission issues. Be cautious.

[Paul T]

Originally Posted by javadog

Tell him he needs to sell it himself or he’s going to get about half of what it’s actually worth. Most people don’t realize that but the world has changed. The days of there being 10 or 15% difference between retail and wholesale are over.

At least he will have some idea and can make an informed decision.

Agree with this. If he just wants a quick check, CarMax/Dealer/etc. will work, but he will leave a LOT of $$ on the table. All depends on if he wants maximize value or convenience.

[wilnj]

It doesn’t cost you anything so you may as well try Carvana, Vroom and the like.

For a rough guesstimate, I’ve used Edmunds True Market Value estimator which automatically gives you the option of taking an estimate from CarMax.

Running a quick trade in estimate based on your description, the low miles equate to a bump of $4000 for low mileage. I also told the calculator to assume all 4 tires need to be changed so that should be accounted for.

Edmunds TMV came back at $19481 with no options checked.


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[Scott Douglas]

Thanks guys.
Right now I think he's more about convenience than max value.

[Steve F]

How about this...............


https://www.givemethevin.com/

[cstreit]

Ive heard good things about Carvana - they make their money off financing rather than sale price IMO, so they offer premium...

[speeder]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

Thanks guys.
Right now I think he's more about convenience than max value.

Everyone says that but what they mean is that they don't mind giving up 10-15% for a no-hassle sale. As Javadog correctly pointed out, it's more like 40-50% these days. Where in the country is the car located?

[speeder]

Originally Posted by cstreit

Ive heard good things about Carvana - they make their money off financing rather than sale price IMO, so they offer premium...

Carvana is thisclose to going tits-up from their bad business practices. I can't imagine where you've heard good things about them?

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by speeder

Carvana is thisclose to going tits-up from their bad business practices. I can't imagine where you've heard good things about them?

I would avoid them like the plague.

I went through a purchase experience with them and unwound it at the end.

The place is amateur hour. Deceptive practices.

Worst part, and the reason they keep getting their dealers license pulled in some places, paperwork.

People buying cars and unable to title them for months because because Carvana does not have a good process for handling it.

In all fairness it's not an easy thing to deal with registration / titling issues in all 50 states but if buying and reselling cars regardless of geography is one of the cornerstones of your model then it's something you better ****ing get right.

[Scott Douglas]

The car is in LA.
I'll see if I can get in touch with the owner to see how things are going with it.

[pwd72s]

If you're thinking of buying it, an interesting article...
https://www.copilotsearch.com/posts/lexus-es-350-years-to-avoid/

Since the seller wants as little hassles as possible, contacting a dealership is still a viable option...maybe the rest of the estate is of more concern than messing with the fuss of getting all of the car value...meaning $5-6 thou one way or another not a big deal.

[Zeke]

Buy it and flip it. Or let Speeder buy it and flip it.

[red 928]

Carvana won't touch it if it is titled to a deceased person.
Same with AAA and the DMV and car dealerships in many states.
Doesn't matter if he is the court-appointed representative
to the estate.
He will need to have the title transferred to his name before it can be sold.

[craigster59]

Originally Posted by red 928

Carvana won't touch it if it is titled to a deceased person.
Same with AAA and the DMV and car dealerships in many states.
Doesn't matter if he is the court-appointed representative
to the estate.
He will need to have the title transferred to his name before it can be sold.

My Cousin passed away and had a Toyota MR2 that he was making payments to an old friend. Cousin had the pink slip even though he still owed 60% of value to his friend.

I called the friend and told him he can come get the car but the pink slip was a problem. We went to AAA and they said go to DMV. DMV said we needed to hire an attorney, get power of attorney in court, blah, blah, blah to be able to sign the car back over to the friend.

I went out to the parking lot, signed my cousin's signature on the pink, walked back to AAA and registered the car in his friends name.

[Tobra]

How much does he want for it?

[Scott Douglas]

I appreciate the input all.
I haven't heard back from him on my inquiries about the car.
He's busy dealing with the estate sale prep I'm sure.

[Scott Douglas]

I heard back from him this morning.
His sisters are selling it to a friend for the family friendly price of $15k.

[Tobra]

Easy peasy