Blessed by the Potato

And to dovetail nicely with my last post on buying a car for the first time, Baum has recently decided to sell his car. Since this is another major transaction I’ve never done on my own, I shot him off a few interview questions which he graciously took the time to answer for me:

What made you decide to sell?

When my girlfriend and I moved in together we each had a car, we rented a place right by the subway, so I decided to give it a year and see how much we needed two cars, after that year I only put 3000km on my car and partiality due to the fact that when we’d go out sometimes we’d take her car, and sometimes we’d walk or take transit, I noticed I didn’t take my car anywhere for work, and that keeping it was costing me at least $200.00 a month in insurance and parking at the apartment, not to mention gas and maintenance costs.

How do you plan to get along without it? As I understand it, you can share a car with your serious long-term special live-in girlfriend. Has there ever been a time in the recent past where you needed both cars?

serious – long term – special… heheheh

not really, nothing dire it was more we we’re both driving to a location for convenience and I’m sure that with planning and some flexibility on both our parts, we can work this out, also I will be looking into a car sharing program like auto share or zip car when the time comes.

What steps have you taken towards selling?

I purchased the used vehicle information package (government mandated), gave it a car wash took some pictures, and posted it on craigslist, I’m not in any rush to sell the car at the moment so I’m doing the minimum

What tools are you going to use to determine the fair value of your car?

I’ve checked around on the internet to see what the car is going for, and decided what it would take to let me give up my car.

I understand you’re selling it yourself, where have you decided to advertise?

Craigslist, I’ve used it in the past to move some merchandise I like the interface

Have you considered using Autotrader.ca? [Full disclosure: I own shares in YLO]

No, I’m going to use the free sites first I’m not so keen on spending money on the listing I’d rather put it into the car to help it sell [full disclosure: sorry if this stops other people from using Autotrader.ca thus making your stock worth less, but I’m cheep]

What does someone selling a car on their own need to know? How do you transfer the ownership? How do you collect and pay the taxes? How do you protect against fraud? What sort of safety certifications are needed? Who pays for that?

Ownership needs to be transferred at the MTO, they will collect the taxes, directly from the purchaser. To protect against fraud I’ve decided that I will only deal with money orders or certified cheques. The car will need to pass an Etest and get a safety certificate from an authorized mechanic, as for who pays for that I’m willing to negotiate when the time comes. Also an aforementioned used vehicle package is required it provides the perspective buyer with information such us past owners, accidents reported, and the suggested wholesale and retail prices bases on the cars “black book” value and it is their right in Ontario to ask to see this before they purchase any used car.

Ok, thanks Baum!