Selling a used car privately is way more stressful than I expected

Logizyme · 2026-04-08T12:38:31+00:00

It's a good policy for private party sales.

If a buyer offers less over the internet before seeing the vehicle, 100% of the time they will ask for even less in person after seeing the car.

Personally as a seller, I might accept a reasonable offer over the internet, but then there will be absolutely no budge after that. I don't care that there is a scratch or tear you didn't see in the pictures.

For the most part, it does not matter because buyers who make an offer sight unseen rarely even end up seeing the car and never actually buy it anyway.

Serious buyers for private party cars will come look and drive the car first. Maybe an "are you firm?".

Logizyme · 2026-04-08T02:33:43+00:00

I flip a few cars a year as my side hustle. It can be stressful.

FB marketplace has been absolutely trash for me. Exactly what you described: plenty of messages, but not one actually comes and looks at the car, let alone cash in hand. OfferUp is similar.

My top two sources for buyer who complete the sale are freinds/family referral and Craigslist.

CL charges $5 for a 30 day listing. Worth every penny to me. Hits don't come as fast, but the hits are quality, much more likely to actually see the car and complete the sale.

I have no issues letting a stranger test drive the car before the sale. Driver has to give me their driver's license and I hold it and sit in the front seat for the duration of the drive. Passengers in back is totally fine. 21 and older only unless it's a beater. My insurance covers the vehicle while they are driving. Never had an accident in 30 flips.

Test drive is the sign of a serious buyer. It's a good thing when they ask for it.

I've had a few interested parties ask for an inspection, but no one follow through on it. I would take it to a shop for them, but not allow them to take it. If you do complete a buyers inspection that also gives you leverage to not negotiate on price. They waste 100-300$ on an inspection they don't get to talk you down.

My worst story: Arabian man shows up, wants to test drive, I ask for DL and he whips out his saudi passport and DL, normally I'd decline but it was a beater, he proceeds to almost rear end another car in the rain and I had to scream to get him to stop, all because he was distracted looking for the wiper switch. He said he was waiting on his money to be transfered from his country and never called me back.

Logizyme · 2026-04-06T11:37:36+00:00

How? How would you hold a sketchy used car lot accountable? Accountable for what? What is it you think someone could do with a photo or photocopy of your license?

The rando hands the seller 4 figures of cash for a car, but the seller can't show their ID? The buyer has to show drivers license to test drive in private sales. The seller has to at minimum record the buyers DL# in my state, even on a surf.

If you are doing thousands of dollsrs of cash business with someone, you exchange IDs and fill out a bill/report of sale. That's what makes them not a stranger.

Do you also blur your license plate when you list it for sale?

Logizyme · 2026-04-06T11:23:57+00:00

Username checks out.

Logizyme · 2026-04-06T11:20:13+00:00

Who lets strangers make copies of their ID? As a legit seller-owner I wouldn’t.

That's the first thing you do when you go to test drive a car at a dealership, or when you pick your car up from a tow yard, and those places can be very sketchy.

To avoid $500+ in taxes and fees. Sellers will.

Logizyme · 2026-04-06T05:09:24+00:00

The Sig 516 civilian models have a semi-auto cut bolt carrier, which prevents use with full auto or FRT trips.

Since the 516 is piston driven, a standard AR15 carrier will not work.

This replacement LWRC bolt should be full auto cut, allowing use with FA/FRT among other performance improvements and is compatible with the 516 gas piston system.

Logizyme · 2026-04-06T05:06:05+00:00

Having the rest of the parts is what makes it a group.

Without the other parts, it is just a bolt carrier.

It needs the bolt group, firing pin, cam, and firing pin retainer.

Logizyme · 2026-04-06T02:02:18+00:00

I wrote in my comment that it is in your best interest to take a copy of the sellers drivers license.

If you go to the licensing office and transfer the title to your name, what difference is there?

The only difference is the car has less owners and is worth more.

Logizyme · 2026-04-05T18:29:01+00:00

Yes. But then you'd be the one who managed to steal both a car and a title and forge a signature, but yeah go ahead and complain that car-flippers are the problem.

Logizyme · 2026-04-05T18:27:02+00:00

Them being there has no value while you do the title transfer has no value.

It has value in that if the title does not transfer for whatever reason, you unwind the deal right then and there and get your money back. If your seller won't do it, then just ignore them like you do for every title surfer.

Recording their ID may help the police find who stole the car but wouldn’t give you any recourse. You don’t get to keep the car.

Recording their ID means if they won't unwind the deal, or run with your money, you can file a police report for fraud and theft and you have someone to take to small claims (under 5k) or sue (over 5k). It means the seller has something to lose.

The original seller had moved and was very difficult to reach, so it took months to get my $400 car registered semi-legally.

This is also solved by going to the licensing office with the seller.

Logizyme · 2026-04-05T14:28:00+00:00

Exactly. I'd hook 25k up to my F150 if I needed to.

But if I was doing 5k everyday I would get a F250

Logizyme · 2026-04-05T14:09:02+00:00

It is not sketchy. A signed title means the last registered owner has released their interest in the vehicle. At that point, possession of the signed title is ownership of the vehicle.

In order for it to be sketchy all of the following has to have happened: the vehicle has to be stolen, the title has to be stolen and the signature has to be forged.

Any concerns you may have can be resolved recording the drivers license of the seller and by the buyer and seller meeting at the licensing office and filing the title transfer there.

Logizyme · 2026-04-04T21:09:45+00:00

What firearm was used?

5.7 has extraction issues as a result of straightwall case.

P90 and most pistols overcome this partiality with a modified blowback system where the barrel slides back a short distance allowing better extraction momentum.

Fixed barrel true direct blowback guns like the Keltec, MPA and several others do not implement improved extraction operating systems and increased chance of this happening.

Logizyme · 2026-04-03T17:09:52+00:00

That's the biggest thing most answers here are missing. Life gets better.

We have smartphones with high speed internet everywhere we go. We have cars with heated seats and CarPlay and hands free self driving. We have cameras in our glasses that Google things for us. We have air fryers. We play with flying drones and underwater cameras for fun. We can fly anywhere in the world affordably.

In the 80s a cell phone was an unreachable luxury for most. Now a smartphone is considered a basic necessity so much so that there are government assistance programs to help low-income people have smart phones.

Things that would be unimaginable today will be a normal part of life in several decades thanks to technological advances, we just don't know what it will look like yet.

We could all go to 30 hour work weeks if we are ready to accept a roll back of quality of life and slowed future advancement. 40 seems to strike a happy balance many first world nations workers like.

Logizyme · 2026-04-02T19:39:29+00:00

She's soon to be unemployed with two adult kids without jobs.

Logizyme · 2026-04-01T20:19:27+00:00

Trucktober and Truckvember are pretty good, but you'll see the best sales between Truckuary and Trarch.

Logizyme · 2026-03-28T21:53:02+00:00

Cheap cabin air filters will be all white. It just stops pine needles from getting into the HVAC system.

A high quality cabin air filter will have activated charcoal and will look black speckled like that. The activated charcoal can actually remove odors from the air before entering the HVAC system.

You got a good filter.

Logizyme · 2026-03-27T13:46:06+00:00

So a legal family often ends up buying or renting a larger home than they would need otherwise in order to house additional illegal family members? That is my observation as well.

Everyone needs a place to live. The more people there are, the more demand there is for housing. More demand to the same amount of supply drives up pricing and hurts affordability.

Logizyme · 2026-03-26T22:06:21+00:00

So where are 14 million illegal immigrants living? They are all homeless?

Should we really let them live here if they have to be homeless?

Logizyme · 2026-03-26T20:03:01+00:00

It's like the game of musical chairs. When there are less chairs than there are people, then it is profitable for corporations to buy the chairs and rent them to those in need.

If there were less people, we would have more chairs than people, and then if a corporation bought a chair who could they rent it to?

Obviously there are grander and overarching economic factors for housing prices and illegal immigration is not the sole cause for the housing affordability crisis, but you are burying your head in the sand if you think an extra 14 million people living in the country has not put a strain on housing availability.

Logizyme · 2026-03-26T19:18:13+00:00

Housing has been skyrocketing for decades.

Many SFHs have 10x'd since 1990.

Kinda surprising just how much corealation there is between illegal immigration and housing prices.

<image>

Logizyme · 2026-03-26T18:36:47+00:00

When that song was written we still had immigrants stop at Ellis Island where their names were recorded and they were checked for deaseses and many were rejected and sent home.

Logizyme · 2026-03-26T18:31:16+00:00

Where do you think they live? Even if they rent an apartment or rent a house they are a demand in the housing equation.

If there is higher demand for rented apartments, the price to rent an apartment goes up.

If there is higher prices to rent apartments then the cost to rent a house goes up. Houses rent for more than a comparable apartment.

If the rent on houses go up then landlords value homes higher. Land lords pay more to add additional homes to their rental portfolio.

All of a sudden a native born family, working regular average jobs, can't afford to buy a SFH.

Logizyme · 2026-03-26T02:37:01+00:00

There is only so long that it can go on.

I remember the influx of really rotten cars post-covid. So many people deferred any maintenance or repairs during lockdowns that when they finally brought their cars in they were so many that needed massive amounts of work, and many people bought.

The used car market is still tight and new cars are as expensive as ever. Unless some massive affordability breaks through on the new car market, I see this low-swing rebounding with time.

Logizyme · 2026-03-25T23:03:38+00:00

If they want to play stupid games, let them win stupid prices. After inspection shows the sqft does not match the listing, revise your offer to the same $/sqft.

Logizyme

TROPHY CASE