As a private seller I take into consideration that I am not a bank. Dealers can get away with selling the car at a lower price, especially if the customer will finance the car. There are plenty of people that will finance a $5000 car (for whatever reason that may be), but the dealer can still make a profit. Dealers always price their cars to make a profit. Always.

When you have a car in the price range 15k and above, there is a slightly smaller market of cash buyers. Think about it, as a private seller, I don't do payment plans or partial pays. I want all the money up front. And, private sellers have always been known to undervalue their cars anyway. Most dealers will always resell a car at least 1-2k above what they paid for it as a trade in.

Most dealer prices tend to be at least 1k above KBB, depending on the car and mileage. Lower mileage cars are much more financiable and push the price of the car up significantly. The trick with selling private is hanging in as long as you can and putting in the "nego", or "obo" in the ad. If I can sell it for 1k less and it won't hurt me financially then so be it. I can't get what I paid for it, but if I don't owe anything on it...

Back in 1997, I tried to sell a 94 base model 850 5 spd with 36000 miles. It was in showroom condition or near so. I had it priced at 19000 at that time. I took it to a dealer who would only give $15000 for it. I ran an ad for 6 months. No takers. Everyone wants to take it for nothing. Fortunately, I had staying power with the vehicle. One day on the job, I ran into a lady that said her husband was in need of a new car. I did the sell job of a life and sold it to them for $19000 after a total of 9 months of effort.

Problem is, is that with new car dealers having an inventory of used cars that come with a warranty, the private seller is then at a disadvantage.

My only experience was when I was shopping around at 6 different new car dealers (to trade in my 1 year old vehicle), I found that I was offered, within $100.00, of the KBB wholesale price (trade in price) for my vehicle at every dealer.

I too have found the "private party" value to be too high for actual market conditions.
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