verITableLIFE

Motorcycle Sold!

Side view of my Ex 2003 Yamaha YZF-R6 Limited Edition

In my previous post, Farewell Old Friend, I was selling my motorcycle using Craigslist. Well, she’s gone. No more motorcycle for me. However, there are some great lessons to be learned for people looking to sell their vehicles.

Lesson One – Advertise

Advertise, advertise, advertise. I know this seems like a little more work, but it is important that what you are selling is reaching it’s intended audience. How did I do that with Craigslist? Simple, I would delete my post and then repost it every other day: this kept my add on the top of the page.

Lesson Two – Appeal

What you are selling has to be appealing. With Craigslist, you can use HTML to help make your ad more appealing. For me to make my ad appealing, I used a clean looking HTML ad; in addition, I created an external web page, 2003 Yamaha YZF-R6 For Sale, to better illustrate what I was selling.

Lesson Three – Patience

Know what you are selling and know how much it is worth. A great place to determine the value of your product is on eBay. I knew how much my motorcycle was selling for around the USA, and I knew what set my motorcycle apart from all the other motorcycles: I was then able to set my price accordingly. Although I posted my motorcycle for $6,000, I was not looking to get that much. People love to bargain or talk their way into a good deal. This is where patience comes into play. Within the first 2 days I had about 6 offers that were lower than I expected. By the 6th day I had found a potential buyer will to pay what I was looking to get.

Lesson Four – Legal Stuff

When selling a vehicle there are a few things that need to happen.

1. Money is exchanged – the obvious one. If you are getting cash that easy, but if they are paying with a check, be careful. Ask for a certified check or a cashiers check. If it is too late for that, tell them that they will have to wait until the check clears.
2. Receipt written for the sale – This is a very important part of the process, when selling a vehicle make sure that you are selling it AS IS, I can’t stress this enough. When writing the receipt this is where you would disclose that you are selling the vehicle “as is”. For myself, writing a receipt was easy because I decided to use SmartFormz Bill of Sale.
3. Title transferred – Once you have the funds and the receipt is all drawn up. Sign over the title to the new owner. On the back of the title there is a section for the seller to fill out and another section for the buyer.
4. Supply any lien release information needed – If there was a lien on the title, you must supply the new owner with the paperwork stating that there was a release of that lien. If you cannot find that paperwork, you may need to go back to the financial institution where the loan was taken out from and request that they resend you the note stating that you have paid of your loan. Or you can go get a new title.
5. Turn in the plate – Don’t let them drive away with your plate. Anything that happens while your plate is on the vehicle can end up falling on your lap.

Although these are simple things, it is sometimes easy to forget a little step here or there. In fact, I may have missed a step or two. If I did, please feel free to comment and help educate. Either way I hope this information will help when selling a vehicle in the future.