Well, I'm looking into selling my '06 MC SS unfortunately. It's just not a practical car to have with a small kid and newborn. I'm looking into selling it or trading in for a new Traverse or Equinox. The problem is I'm a little upside down in it. The loan for it is under GMAC and I owe $15K still. Car runs and looks great and I've put in a few aftermarket additions, but there's also been some cosmetic damage before too. I was rear ended once to where they had to replace the rear bumper and ground effects and the front passenger side ground effect in front of the wheel was scraped up and had to be repainted. The current blemishes on it are a small chip in the windshield, scratch on front passenger side wheel and a small scratch on the back seat leather. Below are the specs on the car:

2006 Monte Carlo SS
16K miles
Silver
Fully loaded and very clean interior
Magnaflow cat back exhaust
K&N Aircharger intake

Can anyone tell me what they believe would be a fair price if I were to private sell it or trade it in? Also, does anyone have experience selling a car with a lien on it from GMAC? I'm not sure what the process would be if I were to private sell it since GMAC has the title. Thanks for any advice.

 

Selling Your Car if You Owe Money on It

By Staff

It's possible to sell a car even if you still have an outstanding loan balance on the vehicle. This just adds a step to the transaction: closing the loan with your lender.

• Call your lending institution to determine the best way to close out the loan. At the same time, ask about obtaining a lien release, which states that there are no outstanding loan obligations on your car.
• If you owe more on your loan than you can readily pay prior to a sale, it's possible to close the loan and transfer ownership at the same time. For instance, Escrow.com can facilitate payment to the lien holder during a normal escrow transaction. There are other sites that offer this service; be sure to thoroughly check out any site where you might transfer your money.
• If neither of these options is satisfactory, conduct the sale at the bank or credit union that holds the title or lien on your car. Just pay off the loan balance with the sale proceeds and sign over the title to the new owner. Call the lending institution beforehand to facilitate this transaction. If the lien holder is out of state, take the bill of sale to your state's Department of Motor Vehicles to obtain a temporary operating permit for the buyer. Then, once you've paid off the loan, you can send the signed title to the new owner. While this option involves more faith on the part of the buyer, you can tell the buyer that it's also in your best interest to transfer the title as soon as possible to eliminate your personal liability.
• Leased cars represent a different situation. If you want to transfer your current lease to a new owner, you're better off using a lease-transfer service.

© Cars.com 7/1/09

 

Thanks for the info on upside down sales. I checked out the KBB site for values, but that site doesn't take into account aftermarket upgrades so I'm not sure how that can play into the value of a vehicle for trade ins or private sales. I'm in Olathe, KS (suburb of KC). I'll work on some pics and get them posted soon. Thanks

 

First off, in general, aftermarket upgrades do not increase the value of the vehicle and in some cases they decrease it. I know thats hard to hear as im sure you yourself have seen the added value of these upgrades but a buyer might not have the same taste. For example your exhaust system, while your looking at it as about a $1000 value increase, the potential owner might be wondering how he is gonna get that loud obnoxious exhaust off this car.. These are the cold hard facts..

A prime example would be my best friends truck he sold 6 months ago. He had an 05 gmc sierra with a 6 inch fabtech suspension lift kit with 35inch tires and 22 inch wheels. He also had it rhino lined and custom dual exhaust. Everything else he had done was easily removed but all in all the above mods cost him somewhere around 6 grand.. Truck sold for 2 grand less than kbb, He was out 8 grand.

Nothing you can do there except with your magnaflow, if you didnt have the kit welded like I did, is you can put the factory exhaust back on and sell the used magnaflow for 400 bucks.

Now as far as the value of your car.. I would say somewhere around 20 grand.. maybe. Unfortunatley our montes were not very popular and thus dont have a high resell value. If you sold it for 20 it would actually surprise me even with your low mileage..

Now lastly, Im in the market for an 06-07 ss and could quite possibly be able to give you 15 for it, probably not what you wanted to hear but thats the most i can pay for a vehicle right now.

-Good Luck with your sell, I know its a pain as im currently selling my monte and the trials and tribulations are head ache causing.

 

Like alabamamonte said, aftermarket add ons do not increase the value of a vehicle. If you were looking to sell the car for more because of them, I wouldnt get your hopes up. Your best bet would be to remove some of the more expensive mods and sell the car without them and then just sell the parts seperately.

 

thats sad to hear that you are selling your monty. what i am wondering is i have used my monty carlo with two small kids in the back. a one year old and a infant i had no problems having car seats in the back. the only thing that i had a problem is having repositioned the strollers to acomidate coming from the store or the beach. but that is the same way for all vehicles. i am sorry if you are in a bind with your loan on your monty and it being so high. i hope that you can get every thing situated for you and your family i am sorry you are going threw some hard times selling your monty keep your head up.

 

Thanks for all the info everyone. Luckily I'm in a position to where I don't absolutely have to sell the car. With the recent addition of our newborn it's made me realize that a bigger vehicle would make things much more convenient for us. So selling the Monte isn't the only option. I also have a '97 F150 so that's why I'm looking around into getting something else to consolidate the Monte and F150 into 1 vehicle like a Traverse or Equinox since GM is having some good sales right now. I was thinking if I couldn't get a dealer to buy me out of the Monte and give me a good deal on a new vehicle I'd just start looking into selling it myself. 17K is what I was originally thinking of going for and seeing where it goes.

 

Well, it's official now. My Monte is gone. Was able to get a good deal on a 2010 Equinox. They bought me out of the Monte and gave me a good deal on the Equinox. Equinox is a great vehicle, but the 4 cylinder makes quite a bit of difference in the driving habits.

If anyone's interested here's the URL to the dealership that took it, but they don't have it showing in their inventory online yet. It's in Warrensburg, MO which is about 50 miles east of KC.

http://www.lotspeichauto.com

 

Those 2010 Equinox's are really nice! Good all around vehicle, and great MPG's! Sorry to hear you got rid of the Monte, but congrats on the new car purchase as well! Enjoy it!

 

Just checked and the dealer's got it up on their site now if anyone's interested.

http://www.lotspeichauto.com/preowned-inventory.aspx