How to Sell a Car You Still Owe Payments On

If you are currently making payments on a car that you do not want to keep or simply cannot afford to keep, you may not know what your options are. Even though you are still making payments on the car, you can sell the car to get rid of it. Since you are still making payments on the car, that means that you still have a car loan outstanding on the vehicle. When you have a loan on the car, this means that you do not have the car title, which is part of what makes it challenging to sell a car that you still owe on.

Instructions

1

Use your car loan payment paperwork to get the contact number for your loan customer service line. Call the line and ask the representative if the option exists to transfer the loan into someone else's name. Not all lenders allow this and those that do require the new person to go through the same credit check process as you did.

2

Look on your statement or ask the loan customer service representative for the loan pay-off amount. Once you know how much you still owe on the vehicle, you will know how much you need to sell it for.

3

Go visit your car loan lender, if you have a local lender such as your bank, with the potential car buyer. Request to have the car title transferred to the buyer's name in the lender's office. Some lenders will allow the buyer to hand over the cash and then immediately close out your loan and let you sign the title over in person to the new buyer. If you financed through the car dealership, you cannot do this.

4

Ask the buyer if they will accept just the bill of sale as proof of ownership until you get the new title in the mail. If the buyer will do this, you can take the buyer's money and pay off the vehicle so that the title is sent to you. Once you get the title you can sign it over to the new buyer. This method does require the new buyer to trust that you will actually get the title to them, so you may not be able to convince a buyer to do this. Showing a statement with the payoff amount listed on it may help convince the buyer.

5

Trade in the vehicle at a car dealership if you have no other way to sell it. When you do this, the dealer will rollover any amount due on the vehicle in excess of its value to your new loan. This can be a costly way of selling a vehicle that you still owe money on.