Michael W.
My Experiences selling a car and how I ended up using KBB ICO.
First of all, I just wanted to say after reading this website before the transaction I was really hesitant to believe the KBB Instant cash offer on my vehicle. However, I felt it was important to come back on here to talk about my real experience. I also think it is important to understand my situation to understand where there could be gaps in my review. I am in the process of quitting my job of 11 years, selling most of what I own and backpacking across the USA on foot. When I'm done I'm going out of the country for a while to climb some mountains in the Andes. About what I sold and my experiences through the process. I had a 2011 jeep wrangler, with only 39k miles on it. 2 months back I had used KBB ICO for my jeep and received a quote of $16,000 and used this as the basis for what I was going to accept from dealerships for my vehicle. I listed it privately for a while but it didn't sell, so now with 4 weeks left until I embark on my trip I needed to go the firesale route of selling it to a dealer instead of private sale. I initially didn't go back to KBB ICO because I thought I knew better. I first contacted a dealer that had contacted me after I submitted my KBB ICO. After some negotiations that dealer agreed to give me $15,500 although I was adamant about getting $16000. I agreed to come back in a few days as they said the offer would be on the table for a week. I proceeded to then shop around at about 8 other dealerships for offers on my Jeep. The offers ranged from $13,500 to the last one I got at $16,000. While I was ready to sell it on the spot the finance people werent in and I had to come back the next day. While at home that night I decided just for grins to try KBB ICO again, and to my surprise the offer was $16,833. A whole $833 higher than the offer KBB ICO had offered me 2 months prior. I assume that this has a lot to do with the fact that I requested the inital offer in early march, and now we are a few days from June a time at which Jeep Wranglers will be more of a hot item to sell. Next I called a few dealerships in the area to set up an appointment and finally got one set for early the next morning at Lexus of Tacoma at Fife. I drove my vehicle down there not expecting much assuming that if it was just crap as I was led to believe by reviews that I'd still have time to go take the $16,000 offer at the other dealership that same morning. The process took about 1 hour and they came back with a revised offer of $16,584 because my windshield was cracked. I was worried about the cracked windshield thing as the KBB ICo website only let me classify repairable stars but not cracks. That seemed like a fair price reduction (251$) to account for the cost of the window. I had priced a window out at 239$ as I had considered replacing it before sale myself. I gladly accepted the offer and went on my merry way. I feel like the process worked exceptionally well for me and would recommend it. Additional thoughts on the experience and comparison to other dealers as well as how my experiences may differ from the norm. 1. The biggest inconvenience I experienced which I am uncertain if it is a KBB ICO thing or the actual dealer I was selling to. I owe funds on my vehicle to a lending company still, but have a sizeable positive equity stake in it. The KBB ICO dealership will not pay me out on the positive equity in my vehicle until they receive the title from the bank. This is a little annoying with my journey into the wild soon approaching. Out of all the non KBB ICO dealers I talked to some of them had similar process some of them didnt and would pay me right away and some would pay me most right away. This little quirk was the complexity that affected me the most. 2. All dealers including KBB ICO asked me why I'm selling what I'd be driving, but none of them tried to sell me a car because of my circumstances. As a result I can't speak to any pressured sales tactics you may experience on buying a new car as is typical of the industry. 3. All other dealers offered me an uber/Cab/Or other complimentary ride home if I sold my car to them, with KBBICO I had to find my own way home, which really wasn't that big of a deal but more of a Minor nuisance.