r/UsedCars

Has anyone ever listed and successfully sold a car on Autotrader as a private seller? I listed my Jeep Wrangler but I feel like they make it too difficult for buyers to contact sellers and then there is a whole procedure that you must follow to actually sell the vehicle. Anyone ever had a positive experience using this?

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I was planning on buying a black 2022 Hyundai Elantra with about 45k miles from a private seller for $17,500.
I went to see the car in person a few days ago and everything checked out. It’s in pretty good condition for a 4-year-old car—just normal small dings/scratches here and there. The seller has also been really honest and transparent throughout the whole process, and I was basically set on buying it.
A couple days later, I withdrew the money from the bank and was literally on my way to meet him and buy the car when he called me and told me he had just gotten into a fender bender.
The damage was enough that the car needs to go to a body shop, so he decided to hold off on the sale until it’s completely repaired.

I’m still interested in the car assuming the repairs are done properly and there’s no structural/mechanical damage, but obviously the situation has changed. When we agreed on $17,500, I was buying a one-owner car with no accident history. Now it’ll be a recently repaired car with an accident on its history, which could hurt the resale/trade-in value later.
We’ve already talked about renegotiating the price once the repairs are finished.

What do you guys think would be a reasonable price after the accident? Would something around $15k be fair, or should I be looking lower?

For example, one car I'm looking at is a 2013 for $17k and 76k miles.

Another is also a 2013 for $13k, but 125k miles.

Thing is, I have no idea when it's worth it to stretch my budget (which is ideally 15k, but willing to go a bit higher for the right car) or go for the more expensive version because it may cost less in the long run.

I just have no clue how much value to put on this. Like, if the second car was $15k, I think it's then a no brainer to go for the more expensive one since that's 50k less miles for only $2k more. But is it worth it at $4k more? $6k seems like a definite no, but maybe there's still a mileage that makes it worth it in either direction?

i am in GTA, Canada and I know for a fact most of these dealership especially desi they tamper odometers, I mean all 2010-12 Camrys are under 150k kms lol.
Service records are not reliable enough, you get the car services from dealership at 20k, drive to 60 or even 100, get work done from outside, odometer reversed to 40k take the car back to dealership for “next” service.
I mean one can watch out inconsistency there but is there anything else that will catch such tampering

TLDR: Bought a 2016 Tacoma with around 113k miles that was Toyota Certified Silver. On the drive home from the dealer the TPMS sensors came on full time so I drove straight to Discount Tire to have them checked and replaced (they were faulty). Two days later I had an independent inspection done for my own peace of mind and they found a leaking rack and pinion and a broken motor mount, with several thousand dollars in estimated repairs. I then took it to a different Toyota dealer to independently inspect the truck and confirm the findings. I’m not expecting a 10 year old truck to be perfect or asking the selling dealer to fix normal wear and maintenance. My concern is that some of these issues appear to involve items that were specifically inspected and signed off on as part of the Toyota certification. I’m mainly looking for someone with used car sales experience to tell me how they would view this from the dealer side and what they think would be a reasonable outcome.

I recently bought a 2016 Toyota Tacoma SR with around 113k miles from a Toyota dealership. It was sold as a Toyota Certified Used Vehicle, Silver level. One owner, clean Carfax and overall it looked like it was in really good condition.

I paid around $19k out the door. I knew going into this that I was buying a 10 year old truck with over 100k miles, so I wasn’t expecting it to be perfect. I also don’t expect the dealer to fix every little thing that might come up on a vehicle this old. One of the things that gave me more confidence buying it though was that it was Toyota Certified and had gone through their inspection process.

Two days after I bought it I took it to a reputable independent shop for an inspection just to make sure there wasn’t anything I had missed. They found a leaking power steering rack and a broken motor mount. Their estimate to address everything they found was several thousand dollars.
That obviously concerned me, especially since these weren’t cosmetic things or normal maintenance items. They also appeared to be things that were specifically checked and signed off on as part of the Toyota Certified inspection.
I contacted Toyota Certified directly to find out how the warranty worked. They told me the selling dealer has to initiate the warranty process. I contacted the selling dealer, sent them the inspection and estimate and asked them to help get the process started.

I also didn’t want to just rely on one independent mechanic’s opinion, so I took the truck to a completely different Toyota dealership and paid them to do a full inspection of the truck. I specifically asked them to look at the rack and pinion and motor mount, but also to inspect the whole vehicle.

At this point I’m really just trying to figure out what is reasonable. I’m not expecting the selling dealer to make a 10 year old truck with 113k miles brand new. I understand there are going to be wear items and maintenance that comes with buying an older vehicle.

Where I have an issue is if their Certified inspection specifically says something was inspected and was good, had no leaks, was safe, or met the certification requirements, and then two days after buying it I have another shop finding a significant problem with that exact same component. Especially if another Toyota dealership confirms it.
I’m curious how someone who has worked in used car sales would look at this from the dealer’s side.

Could these things realistically have been missed during a legitimate Certified inspection?
If another Toyota dealership confirms the same problems within days of the sale, how would you expect the selling dealer to handle it? Do you think it’s reasonable for me to separate normal maintenance and wear from things they specifically inspected and signed off on?

And if you were on the dealer side of this, what would you consider a fair resolution?

I’m genuinely looking for another perspective here. If I’m expecting too much or looking at any part of this the wrong way, I’d rather someone tell me that too.