How to Sell Your Car When You Still Have Payments Left

We’ve all experienced it. That itchy feeling you get whenever you see the car you really want driving down the street. It starts as a little tingle in the back of your mind and suddenly it becomes a full-blown want as the object of your desire rolls by. When you turn to look at your current jalopy parked in the driveway, perhaps with a few payments left on the docket, an overwhelming sense of disappointment wells up and forces you to look away.

But fear not, oh-you-owner-of-a-car-with-payments-still-remaining, there’s an answer to your woes. You can easily get rid of your gently used car with a few payments left on it without having to mortgage your apartment or sell off members of your family. While it’s a bit more complex when you still owe money on it, it’s far easier than dealing with the daily want-demon rearing its ugly head.

First, find out how much your car is worth.

Head over to Edmunds.com or Kelley Blue Book and pull up the going rate for your year, make, and model. Be honest about the condition your car is in, too, as this will greatly affect the price you could get on the private market.

Next, ring your lender.

They’ll be able to tell you how much you have left to pay in order to own your car outright. Don’t be alarmed if the payment they quote you on the phone is slightly different from what your last balance says it is. That occurs because interest accrues daily—so likely your bill be just a hair higher than the last one that came in the mail. Compare your payoff amount with the amount that KBB and Edmunds estimate your car to be worth. If your payoff amount is less than what your car is estimated to be worth, you wont have to write a check at the end of the sale. If it’s the other way around, however, you will likely have to send money to your loan holder to get the vehicle loan cleared.

Find a buyer.

Once you have all your ducks in a row and you know what you owe and what you can sell your car for, get your buyer lined up. The best way to do this is to list your car on a safe platform like Instamotor and get a solid buyer without the hassle. Work with your lender directly to find out what their process for selling the car is, as they hold the title so you’ll need to go through them to get the title transferred to the buyer. If your loan is held by a local bank or a credit union, consider holding the sale at the local office. This provides a neutral ground for both parties, gives a formality to the sale and the bank can provide documents immediately and notarize anything that might need some official signatures.

An easy way of finding a buyer is to sell your financed car to a dealership. The dealer will pay whatever is left of the loan you have on the car, and for any amount over the sale price the dealer will give you in the form of a check, or towards your next purchase.