At least in our community, Kijiji is a great used car online market maker. Consider using it next time you are trying to sell your used car. 

Most of us don’t sell a used car very often. So I thought I would share my experience and what I learned along the way. Recently, we bought a new car and wanted to get the best value for the old one. In our case, the vehicle for sale was a 12 year old 2005 Toyota Highlander. Mileage – if we still call it that – was 165,000 kilometers and in great shape.

Perhaps the simplest way to get rid of the old car is to give it to your children. Many of our old vehicles found a second life with one of our sons. But they are all grown up now. The next simplest disposal scheme is the “trade in”. That’s fast and fairly painless, but you leave a lot of money on the table. I figure if your used car is desirable, you can probably get 70% more by selling it privately.

The last time I had sold a used car was in 2009 and the vehicle was a 2003 Acura TL-S. Back then, the main used car online market maker was Auto Trader. This web site is still around and popular. It’s also a great source of information about what similar models are being listed for.

But my kids encouraged me to try Kijiji as well. I had never done a big ticket transaction on Kijiji, although I had used it a lot for tools, electronics and computer gear. So, I thought I would try both.

Before listing, I did the usual research on used car prices. I figured that an all wheel drive SUV would be of interest to a new Canadian family, especially with winter approaching. Also, I know that used, lower-mileage Toyota’s are desirable, as are single-owner vehicles. Our Highlander had been well maintained and we kept all the records.

Finally, I set a price that I thought was reasonable for a fast sale and posted ads on both Kijiji and Auto Trader.

Used Car Online Market Makers Really Work

The ads went online at 11:35 a.m. giving the option to contact me by text or phone. That done, I put on my shoes and coat and was ready to go out and clean the car. At 11:40, the phone rang. My first response in less than ten minutes! And they wanted to come right away.

To make a long story short, I got 14 serious responses over a few hours. Six people came to check out the car. The Highlander sold for cash within eight hours. I got 95% of my target price. Took the ads down at 9:15 p.m. Never had time to actually clean out the car.

13 of the 14 responses came through Kijiji. My kids were right. It looks like Kijiji has become a popular used car online market maker. I think the ability to set up alerts helped get such fast responses.

Keep this in mind next time you are thinking of doing a trade-in.