Are you looking to sell your car? We’re On Your Side with the silver linings

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - While the market to buy a car right now can feel pretty tough, if you’re looking to trade in or sell your car, there are some serious silver linings.

We went to a local dealership to see what car buyers are facing here at home and to see if there are any winners in this market.

Bryan Baker says he took a chance in 2019.

“We were really lucky,” he said.

Leasing a vehicle for the very first time.

“We bought it when we were pregnant with our second child. It ended up being December 2019. COVID hit us in March, three months later. We were in a situation where getting a car and getting a lease was really perfect for us,” he said.

Now that he and his wife had two more children in the pandemic, the once SUV of their dreams, a Lexus GX, is no longer quite big enough for their family of five.

“If we do decide to get another car, a bigger car, we could buy the car outright when the lease ends. Sell it, flip it, and put the money into a bigger car for whatever we need,” he said.

Now that chance he took three years ago is paying off. Baker now has at least $5,000 in equity in the vehicle that he can use to put down on another car.

In math terms, he’s getting 10 months of lease payments back in cash.

“I wish we had a crystal ball. We obviously lucked out there,” said Baker.

Will Schafer runs Master Automotive and he knows cars.

“Customers are making more on these cars than the dealer is most of the time,” he said.

His family has been running this local dealership for 85 years.

“People are driving cars for a year, year and a half and they are actually making money on cars when they sell them back to a store,” said Schafer.

A lack of inventory across the country due to production shutdowns and microchip shortages is sending car prices soaring, making Baker’s newer SUV more profitable for him. His balance on the lease was set in 2019.

“Dealers are hungry to buy these cars. It’s a whole lot cheaper for us to buy a car from an individual than it is to go to auction,” said Schafer.

Schafer says there are savings still to be found.

“There are deals to be had, it’s just difficult. You need to be sure you do your research,” he said.

The biggest weapon...is at your fingertips.

“The internet is made the playing field level for everybody,” he said.

But the overall message, it’s a seller’s market. That seller could be you if you’re looking to trade in or sell your car to a dealership.

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