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Removing the Danger, Wasted Time and Lost Profit from Prestige Automotive Traders

Date: 12/01/2019

Ask anyone, and they’ll probably groan at the idea of having to sell a car. Listing it in the classifieds, fielding the phone calls, bickering over price, waiting for people who may or may not show up, and then worrying about the buyer being legit and not some criminal only there to steal your car, your money, or both. The alternative of a dealer trade-in usually means settling for the least amount you can get for your car, and just getting it over with so you can get home happily in your new car and forget about it.

Fortunately, those days may be over forever with a business model for Prestige Automotive Traders, new to the US, which focuses on making it as easy as possible for the seller. A company representative arrives at your home and appraises the automobile, and within an hour you’ve obtained a decent price for your car, the paperwork has all been done so all you need to do is apply your signature, and the vehicle is gone, leaving you with no worries, an empty slot in your garage and a nice check.

It’s true that private car sales are fraught with aggravation, wasted time, and troubles. Just ask Michael Stamolis, director of sales for a large office supply company, who has had to sell a number of his own vehicles. A recent experience took nearly a week straight of his personal time. “I would say that it probably, between messing around with the ads, having to respond to people on the phone and set up times to meet them, and then meeting them, I would say I spent 40 hours.”

Terry L. Stuhlbarg, legal professional, agrees. “It’s a complete hassle. Half the time or more people don’t show up when they’re supposed to. I had one case where one guy had agreed upon a price and tried to back out of it.”

And trading in at the dealer is, for many, not an option. “I felt the dealers were low-balling me on prices,” Stuhlbarg says.

And then there are concerns about just who will arrive at your door, especially if you’re a woman alone. Ask Kate (she asked that her last name not be used), a notary public. “I’m a single girl living in Los Angeles, and was really reluctant to put an ad online or do any of that. I’d heard horror stories of people that steal your car, or they pull a gun on you when they meet you, or all these weird things,” she says.

Michael Stamolis agrees that it’s a valid concern. “You look at the safety factor of, do I want somebody going to my house to look at a car when my wife’s home alone with my kid? No, don’t want it, of course.”

Michael himself also had an experience that placed him in a potentially dangerous situation. He had sold an automobile for the agreed-upon price of $20,000. The buyer indeed brought that amount…in cash. “The guy shows up at my house with 20 grand in $100 bills. It’s one of those things where, ‘wow, that’s good’, but the reality is, I don’t want to have that much money in my possession. A lot of banks aren’t even taking that kind of money now because they think it’s money laundering or something else. Also, I live in a pretty safe area, but with $20,000 in cash sitting in someone’s house you never know what psycho is going to try and come back in and get it.”

All of these individuals, however, made the discovery of a new business model catering to the private seller. Each went through a company called Prestige Automotive Traders, who sent representatives to their homes or offices and completed transactions satisfactory to all parties in under an hour.

“They just looked at the car and gave me a quote,” Kate says. “Then when I wanted to do the transaction with them, they came to my house, they picked up the car, I signed a couple documents, and that was it. I thought something was going to go wrong or I was going to get a phone call like a week later because it seemed too easy.”

Michael Stamolis had a similar experience. “I would say, literally, if you count all the time I spent with them either in person or getting the documents signed, it was maybe an hour.”

If you’ve ever had to sell a car privately, you also know that the paperwork can be aggravating. The company takes care of that as well. “They handle everything, including the bill of sale and sending all the correct paperwork to the DMV,” Kate says. “I did not have to do anything. I literally just got a check in my hand.”

Kate had an additional problem, the kind that can normally put off private buyers: Her car was registered in the state of Massachusetts. With car purchasing professionals, however, “It wasn’t even an issue,” she says.

Stamolis’ experience ran along the same lines. “They’ve got the forms already filled out and ready for you to sign,” he says. “They just make it simple. You don’t have to think twice about it.”

Of paramount concern in the seller’s mind is the price the car will sell for, and many times a seller, after trying to get a car sold for weeks, will take a lower price to finally get rid of it. Gulliver’s representatives work more for the client and when a seller isn’t satisfied with the price, the representative will help sell the value of the vehicle back to the home office. “They gave me a quote which was better than a dealer gave me, but it still wasn’t what I wanted. I let them know what I was looking for, and they met me at my price,” Kate says.

Terry Stuhlbarg was satisfied as well. “I got a price that I thought was fair,” he says.

While Michael Stamolis felt he probably could have made more by selling the vehicle himself, he also feels the difference in price was negligible and more than made up for by the convenience and time and energy saved. “I’m actually guessing that I could have sold it for more, but it was only $750 difference,” he says. “When I calculated in the time factor of what it would take selling it myself I thought, why not just get rid of it? If I don’t have to spend 40 hours at a time and I only lose a couple hundred bucks, and if it means spending that time with my kids or my wife, and enjoying life, it’s absolutely worth it.”

It’s also quite possible that had Stamolis taken that extra time to get that slightly-higher price from a private party, he may well have lost it due to the fact that a late-model auto’s price depreciates almost daily. Hence he won both with the price he obtained and the rapidity of the sale.

For more information about selling your car visit www.prestigeautomotivetraders.com.

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