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best way to sell a high-mileage Jeep GC

5K views 19 replies 12 participants last post by  Bmwister 
#1 ·
With my Overland scheduled to arrive end of this month, I'm now looking to sell my 2001 GC Limited locally (Lancaster, PA). Anyone have advice on the best way to sell a used Jeep? (newspaper classifieds, CraigsList, or one of the online car sites?)

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
 
#2 ·
Criagslist is probably the easiest and cheapest, but it's easy to get lost amid the crush of other vehicles there.

I'd just be REAL sure that it's on its way before you put it up for sale if you can't be without the thing for a while. Those scheduled delivery dates aren't always correct.
 
#3 ·
Depending on your location, Craiglist is a good place just list in multiple areas surrounding your location. Also depending on your location and situation park it in a highly visible spot with signs on it.

Depending on what you want for it the other options:

cheap price and super fast sell - carmax
cheap price and quick sell- Ebay
good price and somewhat quick sell - cars.com
high price slow sell - autotrader

Forget the newspaper no one looks in the news papers anymore.

To sell a high mileage vehicle some good tips:

Let the price reflect it.
Raise the price and offer a 30 day warranty.
Have the carfax ready and offer it to the buyers.
 
#5 ·
I sold my '98 ZJ through a forum. I also listed it on craigslist. The purchaser wired me the money, flew into Baltimore/Washington Intl from Seattle, met me in a terminal parking lot and and drove it home.

He was 40-miles from home and rolled it down a snow bank :(

One important tip with any high-mileage vehicle... have all of your service records available to send via e-mail (scan and .pdf them) as soon as requested. Potential buyers do not want to wait around for you to send them service records or additional pictures. Also, say who and how it was driven; my wife's car, 40-mile commute each way, family vactions across country, etc. Also, will it pass your state's inspection? Obviosuly as a PA resident you wouldnt know if it will pass MD or NJ inspection. But you can offer remaining tread life and emissions testing results.

And, what is high mileage? Most people consider 15k/year average. So 135-150k on a 2001 would not be unreasonable.
 
#7 ·
GC2011 covered it well and Veix.com isn't bad. Make sure you have lots of detail high-res picks to send to potential buyers and include underbody shots too especially if it's clean. A good Carfax is a must and, without looking desperate, indicate why it's being sold. Good luck!
 
#8 ·
I have sold at least 5 vehicles through autotrader.com. The first person to look at each vehicle has bought it except one who didn't think their two large dogs would easily fit in the back of a Grand Cherokee (apparently they hadn't looked at a GL before??? They were a bit flaky.). So I've had good luck with that. The last vehicle I sold was 5.5 years ago so that was kinda before craigslist became so popular.

My sister just sold her big Infiniti SUV in a day on craigslist.

I will say to have the vehicle detailed, take a ton of photos, disclose any flaws, and have other paperwork scanned (or take a photo of the paperwork if you don't have a scanner) to email potential buyers. I have found most buyers will do their homework ahead of time so you'll save a lot of time and hassle by having everything to email.

I may sell my 2005 Jeep GC Limited instead of trading it in...will decide later...and I have all the paperwork including the window sticker.

Good luck.
 
#9 ·
Ditto to all that's been advised here. But if it's in exceptional condition -- and you're like my wife, who considers her 1994 GC to be more like a family horse than a pile of iron -- you might consider selling it to someone you know. Ours is in exceptional condition, and folks who know us realize that, so we already have a couple of people drooling to buy it.

No loss in money for us, but this way the old timer will get a good home.
 
#10 ·
I have also had good luck with Auto Trader.
 
#11 ·
Thanks guys, I just shot the snow pictures this morning! FYI, "high mileage" in this case is 160k miles in just over 10 years. It's my wife's car, so it's mostly around-town mileage, although we've driving the vehicle to the Rockies (to go rock climbing) each of the last few summers. Anyway, it's a loaded 2001 Limited and in very good shape. I'm thinking I should ask for Kelly Blue Book private seller retail ($5,000)
 
#13 ·
If you used a local mechanic for repair and maintenance, see if you can park it there with a “For Sale” sign. I did this for a 1994 GCL v8 with ~340K miles. Listed for $2,000, sold for $1,800. We love our new GC!
 
#15 ·
How do you deal with private buyers when price is significant? I only sold my really old car for $1,500 and it was a cash transaction. If we are talking about anything over $6,000 then I would be really uncomfortable dealing with that much cash with someone I don't know. Then options are regular check or cashiers check (anything else?) but you need to wait until they clear and even then I read that cashiers check can be faked and this becomes known weeks after it is supposedly cleared
 
#16 ·
Very good points, Joe. What I did when I sold a car for $29,000 was made the buyer get a cashier's check from a branch office of one of the banks I use, in that case it was Chase. It helps to have a bank account at a national bank so that an out-of-state buyer can be accommodated. We completed the transaction at the bank (my local branch) so we both felt "secure" and whereby the check was instantly validated. If a buyer is getting a loan, there is a substantial paper trail that your bank can verify the legitimacy of the auto-loan check (and it would also be marked as a check for an auto loan).
 
#19 ·
I sold my '93 Grand Cherokee (as old as they get) with 170K miles on craigslist in a few days! I thought it may take weeks or months given the number of user and dealer postings, but I was pleasantly surprised to get my asking price. I had a very good write up with photos, and the car was in very good condition for the years/mileage/usage. Note that craigslist is very popular in the San Fran area so your experience may vary.
 
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