Question about selling with a loan

The opportunity presented itself for me to get a GR Corolla, so I have decided to get rid of my 21 Tacoma since, at this point, I really only use the truck part for dump runs and taking the dogs to the vet. I got a pretty good trade in offer - $36k with 30k miles, and they’re letting me sell the cap and other add-ins for whatever I can get. (For reference, that’s about MSRP, which is what I paid).

I know typically you get more selling privately, but I have a hard time believing I’d get that much more. To complicate that, I still owe a bit. Can you guys give me some perspective here on how much extra effort it is to sell a vehicle that still has a loan, and if the juice is worth the squeeze in this case?

 

It's just as easy as it would be with a clear title. If you go through a dealer they automatically zero out the loan and apply the difference, positive or negative, to the down on the new car.

If you sell privately it's up to you to take the cash and pay off the loan.

It's also up to you to check to see if you are right side up (difference between loan and sale is in your favor) or upside down (you would still owe money after selling), and by how much. Only you can make that calculation and decide if it's worth it.

 

I traded my 2019 TRD OR to the dealer for $32k with 60k miles you should get a lot more for your truck!

 

Yeah I specifically was asking about the process of selling private party while a loan is still owned. Is the process basically I take their cash and pay off the loan, then then the title is mailed to me and I fill out the sale section on that to transfer the title, or is there a process that is more streamlined?

Maybe… I’m a little nervous what impact the 4th gen announcement is going to have on my truck’s value.

 

It'll be a while before the 4th gen is on the lots and even then, it'll be hard to get at MSRP.

 

I had a super clean but gutless Nissan with 7500 miles on it and it was my worst decision ever, I was so glad to find the Taco I didn't care how much more I paid for it. So there's the "howbadyouwantit" factor. They roll the balance into your new loan, give you a little bump on the trade-in value, and of course there's fees stuck in there somewhere, but it's fairly seamless. Be sure to follow up on gap insurance refunds after the sale, it's not much but money is money.

A private sale is a bit more complicated, and your buyer has to be willing to work with you on the waiting for the title to get resolved and all that.

 

If you only " owe a bit" pay it off during the sale. I bought a truck and the 1st owner paid off the note w TMC after we came to agreement and we had the Bill of sale notarized with TMC sending me the Title. I guess I could have gotten screwed by an unscrupulous seller if TMC sent him the title by mistake, but I weighed the choices and recieved my title 5 days after the deal

 

You could also do a "Pass through" If you have a buyer for your truck you can do both deals at the same time at the dealer. The dealer does all the work with dealing with the title and loan on your current truck and the new buyer does not have to deal with possibly waiting for the lien release if the bank with your current loan is not local. (credit union, etc) Also, you should also be able to save on taxes on the GR since it's just like trading the tacoma in to the dealer. In a nut shell it's like selling your vehicle at the private party agreed upon sale price, but the process is like trading it in to the dealer. I did it yrs ago, and worked great. It can get tricky though since the buyer of your truck would have to agree to do that way, and the dealer would of course also play ball to do it as well. Worth a look in my book.

 

Can you keep the truck and buy the GR? You probably won't find a better deal than what you have now on a truck, unless you are buying another truck. The GR isn't that practical of a vehicle for a daily driver, it's definitely a nice car. I look at the GR as something I'd buy for life, or 6 months hopping to flip it. Either way I'd want another vehicle to keep the miles off of it. I'd hold on to the Tacoma for a while if I bought a GR.

 

It's been a little while since I bought a used vehicle and others provided some good info.

But from what I recall correctly, when I used to shop used vehicles, making sure the seller had title in hand was a pretty big deal to me.

Part of it was making sure that they actually owned the vehicle or it was in their name. ie not stolen.

But the other was a hassle in getting the title. Especially if they were selling for less than they owed and didn't have the money to cover the difference. Did run into one instance of that and the guy was pretty easy going in returning the money and taking the vehicle back even though I had it for a couple of weeks. I didn't use it much and kept it in the garage most of the time because didn't want to get pulled over with it.

I thought the process was once the seller gets the money, they pay off their loan then get a lien release. Where I think you can then go to the department of motor vehicles and get a reprinted title that shows there's no lien on it. But that part may be optional and you can just keep the lien release. I didn't know about the options of having the title mailed directly to the buyer or can go to a dealer to process the transaction.

But you might lose some potential buyers if you don't have your title in hand. Don't know how big of a deal it is to others.

 

If your private buyer is a bit worried, you might be able to go to the lien holder together in person and pay off the loan and then they get the title directly from them vs trusting you to pay it off to release the title later.

 

Interesting idea, I’ll see if the dealer is on board. Unfortunately, in Virginia the total cost of the vehicle is taxed regardless of trade in, so my taxes won’t be decreased at all.

I’ll have a 2001 Tacoma for truck stuff but the Corolla will largely be a DD and my something I’ll use for AutoX and occasionally track days. I won’t pretend it’s practical, but I rarely need a truck so a hatchback, even with limited storage and stiffer suspension compared to a regular Corolla, is more practical than a taco as a DD.

Yeah, this is my perspective and is kind of the impetus for the thread. If I were buying I would definitely want title in hand, and I get that so was wondering if it was worth even listing it.

 

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/artic...xt=If your vehicle has a,and you can get paid.