Suggestions on selling a car nobody apparently wants.

I've been trying to sell my mazda6 for 10 weeks now thru Craigslist. I've had 2 people come and look at it, and both were disappointed it wasn't a new car. The car runs great, drives great, but has paint issues on the trunk. It's a 4500 car. Can you not just drive it and ignore the trunk?

I paid 5500, I have 1500 into it after 12k miles of use. Selling it for 4500 hurts enough as it is.

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/sat/cto/5336861322.html

Suggestions? Advice on how terrible my ad is? I don't get it.

Here's my two thoughts. Show pics of the sun damage, that's what I'd want to see if I were looking. Down in GA you can't advertise it as a southern car, cuz they all are. So, get a hotel room in the north (the rust belt) for a weekend ($100 a night), and a return bus ticket ($200?) and advertise it as a Texas car and charge an extra grand more than you're asking. Up here, that'd sell quick.

Looking at the Atlanta craigslist for Mazda 6s, you have a lot of competition. There are many similar cars for 3500-4000. It may just be a saturated market.

Unfortunately it's only a $4500 car if you can sell it for that, and on that car, the manual is probably hurting you.

Too much info. Lose the mileage from the listing, and keep the description short and sweet. Something like "Cold a/c, recently serviced, runs/drives excellent, clean interior, paint looks ok from 10-feet" Maybe put in something about the "clutch" just to help the clueless realize it's not an automatic.

Sad to say, but you don't get buyers off craigslist by including details.

Get a repair estimate on the trunk and bumper to show the price diff/value. It's craigslist, so maybe worse pictures and less details

No one buys cars right before the holidays down here...come tax refund season it'll sell in a blink.

Plus...manual...market is small with Atlanta traffic...

Your ad has a typo in the work trunk.

I also really dislike ads that describe the major flaw but then don't actually show pictures of this flaw.
Let's see the paint damage.

Toyman01 wrote: Unfortunately it's only a $4500 car if you can sell it for that, and on that car, the manual is probably hurting you.

I agree, the manual is likely hurting you.
To find out how much, change the ad to Automatic Trans and see how much response you get. Then, in CL fashion, do not reply to any of those ads.

I drove to tx because there wasn't a single mazda6 manual in this state. I go to sell mine and theres 5.

Auto trader offers 3300 for the car. If it was an auto I'd get 4200.

I'll add pics of the trunk and shorten the ad. Thank you!

JohnRW1621 wrote: Your ad has a typo in the work trunk. I also really dislike ads that describe the major flaw but then don't actually show pictures of this flaw. Let's see the paint damage.

There's misspelling in the word word.
Sorry, but you started it

Don't take the mileage out of the ad, to me its one the cars high points, and you need something that will make yours better than the other cars available. When I see some one say low mileage but not state the actual mileage I assume its around 150k. But yeah ad a picture of the trunk.

Also make sure you list the car as "For sell" and post some pics of your index finger covering the license plate. And is it too much to ask to see pics of how it looks at a gas station at night.

Why are you selling it if your asking price is hurting you?

Id say the only reason it hasnt already sold for 4200 (what i feel it is worth) is the manual trans, but you kind of already said that in a different way.

In addition to the damage pics already mentioned, i'd drop the duplicate front 1/4 view pic and add one of the back seat (just showing condition).

Vigo wrote: Id say the only reason it hasnt already sold for 4200 (what i feel it is worth) is the manual trans, but you kind of already said that in a different way. In addition to the damage pics already mentioned, i'd drop the duplicate front 1/4 view pic and add one of the back seat (just showing condition).

Why do you think it's worth 4200?

Grtechguy wrote: Why are you selling it if your asking price is hurting you?

Bought a minivan because of 3rd kid, and I'm not at a point financially to swing 3 vehicles.

I'd be tempted myself if I had the cash on hand. But I'd want to see the sun damage, and would check what other Mazda 6s are going for. (With a manual transmission. It's something I would definitely prefer to have.)

I know this sounds nut but raise the price over $5k. It will attract a different group of search results. Not saying it always works but I have seen it work. You are falling in to the under $5K search. Post it over $5K and you will get a different group of people searching for it. You have a expensive sub $5K car (and those people are expecting a perfect car for that $$$$) What you really have is a cheap sub $7500 car. People in that market will accept some blemishes. It is all about perceived value.

That's a nice car, V6/MT 6's are pretty rare. If I had four grand to blow on a car I'd be booking the cheapest flight to Atlanta right now.

I'll second what Dean said. That is a nice car, don't sell it short.

Maybe soon you can get a photo of it completely covered in snow?

While I cant help with the disposition of the car, I have to thank your for valuable insight.

That car at that price would be very attractive to me. Now I know that a car in that class with a manual gearbox has a limited market. If I am ever in the market for a used car, I will use that to my advantage.

Sent the CL link to a potential customer (who I happen to be married to.) I suspect the distance from here to there will kill it, but worth a shot. A stick shift is the one immutable requirement in her car search.

dean1484 wrote: I know this sounds nut but raise the price over $5k. It will attract a different group of search results. Not saying it always works but I have seen it work.

You might be on to something, 5k is one of my standard cutoffs when CL car searches when looking for 'cheap' cars.

If were any color other than black, I would be interested.