Finances & Money

Chevy Malibu sale update #1

I’ve been learning more since finding a buyer for our Chevy Malibu last night. Here’s the status on our task items from the last post:

Duane’s status:

• Contact the credit union to get financing: Duane is still working on getting the extra $500 from the CU to match my price. He’s in school and has upcoming semester costs, as well as the other costs for the vehicle such as tax, tag, title, and an insurance down payment. Apparently he doesn’t have much of a credit history, but he works for a credible employer (he showed me his pay stub). Additionally, the CU told him he needed to get a copy of the title and bill of sale before they would issue the loan. I had to get the bill of sale notarized, which turned out to be a little adventure of its own (the notary stunk and was a slob). Total cost for us: $4. I’ll call the CU tomorrow to finalize this part.

My status:

• Call the MVA to confirm the process of sale: There weren’t any surprises on this front, but I needed to confirm the process for myself.
• Find out the “book value" of the car through the MVA: Since the credit union needed a notarized bill of sale anyway, this doesn’t matter anymore. However, I did confirm that I would have needed the notarized bill of sale.
• Find out for how much we could cash out the extended warranty: After the $50 charge, we would get a $818 refund. I offered the warranty to Duane for $1000, which is still $600 less than he could get it from a dealer. Duane wants the warranty (the car is still under the original warranty till next March), but he’s probably going to need help from his family for this.
• Find out if Duane wants to transfer the paint and fabric protection warranties: I haven’t asked him yet. I could probably ask another $100 for each of these plus the $50 service charge for each.
• Take the car in to get the tires rotated and balanced for free: I’m going to drive up to the shop tomorrow. I’m hoping I can leave the car there all day since it’s next to the metro and would make my walk much more convenient.
• Take the car to the dealer to check out some noises: I determined it’s from the steering column. Stacie said she’s been hearing it for a while. She’s worried that if I take it into the dealer, they’ll find something big and it will ruin the sale. But you know what, I don’t want to sell someone a lemon. Also, we have extra cars, so it’s not a major inconvenience to us.

I’m still nervous about the sale since it’s my first used car deal. I don’t want to get scammed, but I don’t want this to weigh down on me during every waking moment. I’ve actually been contacted by 3 more people today, so I feel bad for taking the first offer. However, I didn’t want to deal with scheduling test drives with a bunch of people and haggling as well. Lastly, I didn’t think the Malibu would be very popular given the dozens and dozens for sale in the area.