Deciding to sell my car:
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Posted on Mar 31, 2011 02:01 am
J-bot
Byte-Mixer
Member Since: Dec 04, 2007
So, deciding to sell the old 2001 Toyota Avalon I got from my parents. My wife has her own car, and we usually take it places, and I just drive mine on the weekend these days so it at least gets driven.
Anyhoo, wondering what price I should post it at. It's a 2001 Toyota Avalon XLS with about 155K miles. Tires were replaced before I moved up to Iowa in 2009, and are still good. There are some minor paint scrapes on the bumpers.
I've looked at the bluebook prices. For the most part the car drives just fine. No weird noises, but it is showing its age. Front passenger doorlock has to be locked manually...probably a bad wire in there somewhere. Check-engine light is on, but dealer techs said that is due to a faulty oxygen sensor, and not really something I deem a critical component. Although a check-engine light is a bit of a red-flag I realize.
Rear Right wheel bearing needs to be replaced, but the dealer quoted $665 for the work, which I'm not prepared to do if I'm gonna sell the car (based on my dad's advice) Good ol' dad also said replacing the bearing/assembly shouldn't be much more than $100 bucks. :P Might take it to a local mechanic and see if they're willing to look at it and gimme an estimate.
Transmission and Power Steering fluids probably need to be flushed in the near future. Oil valve cap gaskets need to be changed in the near future as they're beginning to leak a little, but probably still good to go for some time.
Dealer techs also recommended replacing the rear sway bar bushing, but they said it's not something that needs to be done immediately, and that can wait for some time. Spark plugs and water pump/timing belt were done around 100k miles so they should be good for at least another 50k miles.
Anyhoo, I'm planning on selling it myself, or possibly through something like a carmax. Just wondering how much it might be worth. I'd say the car is in decent condition. No major problems according to the dealer inspection. So KBB states about $5900 for my zipcode. I figure that's a totally optimistic price for "good" condition. "fair" lists for about 5000, and excellent about 6900. I'm thinking I should ballpark the price around 5500 negotiable/best offer.
Anyone else have any thoughts on the matter? Whatever I get out of the old gal, I'll be putting toward a new car in a couple years when we get ready to move. (thinking of getting a Prius)
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Mar 31, 2011 08:11 am man, $5900 seems like a lot for a car with 155k on it, but yeah, I searched around a bit and it doesn't look like it's that far out of line...I'm surprised...if you're selling it, I wouldn't worry about any maintenance, but be honest about the bigger stuff when selling it, it could come back to haunt you legally if the buyer feels taken advantage of and feel litigious.
I am getting to about that time with my 2002 Cavalier as well...gotta start looking for a new vehicle pretty soon, but now is the time of year my car will be pretty much parked, once it warms up a little bit more I'll be riding my bicycle to work any day it's not raining.
Dematrixhttp://www.reverbnation.com/2ndgMember
Since: Nov 27, 2007
Mar 31, 2011 08:57 am Hey man,
Back wheel bearings are easy to change.
Just take off the wheel,
take off the drum and undo the nut holding hub on.
You'll find the bearings in there. Find piece of wood roughly the same size as the bearing casing and tap it out with a hammer.
Do the same in reverse to re-fit, just dont crush the rubber bit on the new casing when you fit it.
Bearings cost bugger all.
Different cars i guess they are diffrent prices, but i just did mine about 10 months ago and they cost me 25 odd bucks for 2.
And yeah, they'll slug you for labour if they fit them for you. 665 is outrages though.
I dunno if you guys get slugged for mechanics labour over there more than here.
But yeah a Toyota dealer will tear you more for sure.
Mar 31, 2011 09:20 am Yeah, that's true, some things are pretty easy and may be worth a sunny afternoon to do a few small things...change some fluids, bearings, pads, etc...
Open a beer or two, do some routine crap in the sunshine of the day may serve you well, I still say I wouldn't spend a ton of time/money though.
J-botByte-MixerMember
Since: Dec 04, 2007
Mar 31, 2011 02:38 pm Thanks for the response folks. That's just what I needed to hear. On the bearings bit, I may take a crack at it if it's that easy. Seems I read somewhere changing/removing the bearings usually breaks the carrier, which would need replacing on an Avalon, but maybe not. Basically, a new hub unit with the bearings would be purchased and replace the old one. (seems the hub unit costs around $350-ish from toyota but cheaper aftermarket.)
Er anyway, I've driven it some yesterday, and will do so some more this weekend. I've heard no weird noises, or grinding or humming while driving around parking lots and on the highway. So, I may hold off on changing it out.
Ideally, I wanna sell the thing by May 20 (my birthday), before the title/tag renewal payment comes due. So I may adjust the price to sell quickly.
Dematrixhttp://www.reverbnation.com/2ndgMember
Since: Nov 27, 2007
Mar 31, 2011 08:39 pm no noise=no worries man, sell it! sell it now!! Quickly, before it changes its mind.
