Craigslist United States Cars (2025)

FAQs

How effective is Craigslist for selling cars? ›

Getting your inventory listed on Craigslist is one of the most profitable ways to advertise your cars. It's proven that car buyers on Craigslist tend to convert much quicker than on any other classifieds. The conversion rate on Craigslist can be as high as 10%, and that's huge.

Negotiate the price

To negotiate the car price, start by offering 15% below the asking price or the KBB value, whichever is lower. If an inspection reveals a problem, ask the seller to deduct the cost of repairs from the car's price. Lowballing the seller — asking for more than 30% off — could leave you empty-handed.

Cars.com, Carvana, Edmunds, CarMax and TrueCar are our top recommendations for used car websites. Whether you want to find your ideal pre-owned vehicle or find the right buyer for a car you're selling, these sites are easy to use and offer excellent customer support.

You shouldn't include your VIN on any public listings or advertisements, such as Craigslist, Autotrader or eBay. This can leave you especially vulnerable to the practice of VIN cloning (see more from Rig Dig here).

Too-good-to-be-true prices: If a listing offers an item at a price significantly lower than its market value, proceed with caution. Scammers often use unbelievably low prices as bait.

Craigslist.org offers more advice for users by suggesting that buyers and sellers should have a friend accompany you. They also urge users to never post a physical address, home phone number or e-mail address on the site. As a buyer there are particular precautions to take when arranging meetings and paying for items.

Rule 2 of how to negotiate on Craigslist is to get them on the phone. Haggling works best when both parties respect each other as people. Unfortunately, email makes it very easy to be perceived as just text on a screen, reducing your ability to connect and close deals.

Make a realistic offer, but one that's also bold enough to anchor the negotiation to a lower point. A savings of 5% or so below the market value (not the price they are asking) is a reasonable starting point for negotiations. Another way to look at it is to do about 15% to 25% below the maximum you're willing to pay.

My reply is usually something like "sorry, that's just too low, my lowest is $xxx - let me know if you want it". If they fire off another low-ball, I'll say "sorry, $xxx was definitely the lowest I'll take, if you want it, great, if not, no problem.

What is considered high mileage on a car? Often, 100,000 miles is considered a cut-off point for used cars because older vehicles often start requiring more expensive and frequent maintenance when mileage exceeds 100,000.

What is the number one selling used car in America? ›

At the forefront of this trend are trucks, with used Ford F-150s taking the #1 spot.

Is It Safe To Give A Stranger My Vehicle Identification Number? Yes! Because VIN data is not public record, providing your car's VIN to a potential buyer, whether online or in person, is completely safe. A VIN number can only be used to obtain general information about the service records and history of your vehicle.

Fortunately, sharing your VIN number is entirely safe and secure when selling a car privately. The VIN does not contain any personal information about you, the seller. In addition, most private buyers are reputable and trustworthy — so it shouldn't be a problem.

Another question is whether the seller will be providing a vehicle history report. If not, ask for the car's vehicle identification number, or VIN, so you can order a history report yourself.

Use cash — safely

If you're dealing with a local, the most secure way to pay or collect funds for a Craigslist transaction is with cash. To keep it even more secure, you can make the exchange in a safe place like your local police station or even at Acclaim FCU.