Rant. Why won't anyone buy my dang truck?

Its priced right, its nice, clean title in my name... I don't get it.

http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4368986389.html

Not enough pedals for me to consider it, FWIW

I have one guy coming tomorrow to look at it, but he hasn't called to confirm like he said he would.

I have a buddy up on the main road who said I could put it in his yard this week (spring carlisle show) to see if it gets better bites.

HAve you posted it up since you first posted it? Sometimes you won't get any bites the first time, but if you repost it a week or two later you can have half a dozen people contact you.

TLDR syndrome? Dodge truck, 4x4, auto, runs good.

Not to be mean but I wouldn't spend $6K on an 02 Dakota, ever.

You car does a few things going against it, the big one is year. Difficult to get a private party financed enough, especially one that is over 10 years old.

The ad has too many negatives in it. No salvage, no recon, no issues, no CEL, nothing to hide.

So psychologically what you wrote is negative negative, negative negative, negative negative, negative negative, you can't trust this truck because I said you could.

How about this.

This is my 02 Dakota SXT Club Cab 4x4. I'm selling it because my life has changed since I bought and I don't really need a truck anymore. Clear PA title. Compare this low mileage truck to other trucks with twice the mileage asking the same or more money.

Thanks for checking out my awesome truck.

I would also change the price to something very odd. Like $5981. People will call and ask questions just to figure out the price. Get off of the cash only thing. Too many people trying to kill people in the news on Craigslist. A check will work, just meet them at their bank and get the checked cashed there, before they take possession.

It looks like you just transported your rock collection in there, get out the vacuum cleaner man.

Just yankin' your chain. Nice looking truck. GLWS.

The type of person that can afford a $6k cash payment can probably also afford to finance a newer model. I agree that you should drop the price by a literal few bucks just to get it into the $5xxx price bracket.

Also, Craigslist is where many shop for cheap, niche items. I think of Autotrader for stock, normal vehicles in good condition.

I bought a 2006 F150 Xl with 60K miles, mind you in a 2wd, for 6200 last year and gas pricing was much less.

You put a lot of words in the description. That scares people on Craigslist.

Flight Service wrote: I would also change the price to something very odd. Like $5981. People will call and ask questions just to figure out the price.

personally when i see odd numbers like that for price i usually assume its a scam, i hate when people cant put a real dollar amount they want for what they are selling.

really i dont see much wrong with your add, i dont know what the prices are for dakotas but i know if i was getting one i would go for a v8 before a v6, not sure where your price falls between the 2 options but maybe thats the reason of such few responses.

N Sperlo wrote: You put a lot of words in the description. That scares people on Craigslist.

and none of them are misspelled

It is a nice truck. :D

My guess is that you're going to have to wait for someone who is looking for that exact truck more or less. Seems like a lot of money to me when I can get an F150/Silverado/RAM 1500 for the same price.

But I'm not looking for a truck.

Lots of good advice so far. Definitely try autorader and ebay.

Speaking as someone who is currently in the market for a $6K vehicle, it's a crappy price point.

Banks don't like to finance anything that old. Finance companies want to ream you for credit card-like interest rates.

For cash flow reasons, $6K is a bit more than I comfortably want to part with in cash.

So, my choices appear to be:

1- Pay cash, and take the risk of having nothing left in the bank for an emergency.

2- Borrow at usury rates.

3- Put $2K down on a new car, make the payments (which I can afford), and get a much better warranty, while keeping $4K in the bank for an emergency fund.

4- Move down the price scale and buy an older $3K car.

All bad options. Your buyers have the same issues.

Not much to add that hasn't been said already... but I pass by a similar truck for sale during my commute. I think it has a cap as well. It's been for sale for over a year.

SVreX says everything I was thinking but could not effectively write from phone.
Tough price point.

That's a better Ebay ad than a Craigs ad. Too much info and too many pics. Just need to entice the buyer to call. With so much info they just keep looking to see if they can find better.

Take pics somewhere else with nothing in the bed and vacuum first.

Pretty sure my inlaws just sold their '03 Dakota Quad Cab for similar money, but it had like double the mileage, severe rust through in many spots, and some other issues. Though I will say the Quad Cab is a nice truck if you need to spend time in the back.

Drive that truck to Michigan and it would sell in a heartbeat. All our Dakotas are rusted to hell.

I think the ad is good, I'd wash/vacuum the truck and take some pictures in a more neutral vacation (town park, school parking lot off hours, etc.).

If the underside is clean, I'd take some pictures. When I see 12 year old 4X4 truck from PA, I think rust. If that's not the case, then definitely highlight that fact in the text and with some good pictures.

Without looking up any value, the price seems a little high. I realize that yours has lower mileage and is 4WD, but being the V6 and the extended cab both lower the value (and size of the target audience). I would echo the other comments that getting it into the 5,xxx range couldn't hurt.

One other thing is that it was posted over a month ago. Even though CL allows you to manage listings for that long, I'd drop this one and start over with a new listing, new pictures, etc.

I've found it helpful when selling to look at your vehicle and how it stacks up against the competition. I price mine where I'd look at my vehicle before any of the other similar models that would come up in the search (if I were looking). I'm sure I've left money on the table at times, but I've always had quick, trouble-free sales.

Good luck with the sale!

Realistically the best thing it has going for it is 4wd.

I just sold my wifes old Tahoe on Craigslist, here's my $0.02:

You need to clean it good, inside and out, and then get better pics. I had to wait for a sunny day to get any that were good enough to actually see how clean the truck was in the pics.

You also need to relist it every day so it stays at or near the top, I didn't get any interest the first couple days my ad was up either.

Good luck man.

If it makes you feel any better - I can't sell the Mighty Dak at $5,000.

all good advice … but how 'bout …. instead of changing the price to some "artificial" $5xxx price, make it $6250 and it gives you some more wiggle room … and doesn't sound like the price you have on it ?