GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Grant Kerkstra is looking to trade in his 1994 Lincoln Mark VIII without help from a car dealership.
Kerkstra is part of a group of people on the popular website Craigslist that likes to trade vehicles.
A few days ago, he placed an ad on Craigslist, looking to see if anyone was interested in trading their car for his.
All you do is place an ad on the website and wait to see if anyone contacts you. If they have a car you’re interested in, you schedule a meet up. If you agree on the trade, you’ll exchange titles and drive away.
“I’ve had a few people who were willing to trade, but their cars weren’t quit worth the value of mine, so I would ask if they could throw in a little bit of money,” Kerkstra said. “Sometimes it works and sometimes not.”
While he has bought and sold a few cars on Craigslist, this is Kerkstra’s first time attempting to trade. He’s hoping for something that gets better gas mileage, but still has a nice engine.
“If you can afford the 15 miles per gallon, it’s a perfect car,” he said of the wheels he drives now. “I love it. I really don’t want to trade it, but I’m moving out of the house soon and I can’t afford the fuel economy as of now.”
But Kerktra has a word of warning for anyone looking to use this method to trade a car. “If you have any doubts at all, usually you don’t want to go with that car, unless you have a mechanic go check it out. If a deal is too good to be true, it’s probably too good to be true.”
According to the Secretary of State, this is legal. It’s just up to you to find a good car.
