Every instant-offer site we track gives you one number from one buyer. A private sale flips that: you set the price, buyers come to you, and the platform exists to make the paperwork and payment safe. Four services in our data work that way, and they differ sharply in what they charge and how much of the sale they take off your plate. Here is what each states on its own site.
The four private-sale routes, as their own sites price them
| Service | What you pay | What the platform handles | What you still do |
|---|---|---|---|
| PrivateAuto | $29 per listing, plus $150 per deal at closing ($75 each if split with the buyer) | ID verification, Verified Funds check, e-signed paperwork, secure payment transfer; buyers use it free | Find the buyer; transfer the title in person |
| Cars.com Sell & Trade | Free private listing, no costs or hidden fees | Marketplace listing; Caramel partnership for financing and delivery; free instant dealer offer as fallback | The sale itself; no pre-1992 vehicles |
| Kelley Blue Book | Free, no obligation | Listings reach buyers on Autotrader and KBB.com; Instant Cash Offer shows what dealers will pay | The private sale; KBB does not pick up or pay |
| Dealr | $0 in fees, ever | AI agent values the car in about 30 seconds, negotiates across hundreds of buyers, handles the whole sale | Wait: a typical sale completes in under 2 weeks |
PrivateAuto is the only service in our data that charges the seller, and it charges twice: $29 to list and $150 when a deal closes, which drops to $75 if the buyer agrees to split it. A completed sale costs you $104 to $179. Cars.com and Kelley Blue Book list for free, and Dealr states $0 in fees, ever. Dealr is operated by the same team as PickMerit, so weigh that disclosure when you read its row.
What you are buying with PrivateAuto's fees
PrivateAuto's price buys the parts of a private sale that go wrong. Its site describes facial-recognition identity verification and a Verified Funds confirmation before you meet the buyer, e-signed paperwork and a secure payment transfer, built to kill common private-sale scams. Buyers use it free, which matters because a buyer who must pay to transact with you is a buyer who walks. Two limits are stated plainly: it 'does not hold funds in the manner of an escrow service', and the title transfer must happen in person. You still meet a stranger with your car. What changes is that you know who they are, and that their money is real, before you do.
The free listings, and where they stop
Cars.com lists your car at no cost and says so: 'no costs or hidden fees to selling your car yourself'. Its Caramel partnership for financing and delivery is the closest any free route comes to PrivateAuto's transaction tools. The catch is on the car: listings exclude pre-1992 vehicles, and the instant dealer offer behind them excludes salvage or reconstructed titles, cars older than 17 model years, flood, hail or fire damage, and anything under $1,000. Kelley Blue Book is thinner. Your listing reaches buyers on Autotrader and KBB.com, and its Instant Cash Offer shows exactly what dealers will pay, a floor to negotiate above. But KBB does not pick up or pay directly, and that offer is redeemed in person at a participating dealer, so the private half is entirely yours.
Dealr sits between the two models. There is no listing to write and no meetup: its agent, Dex, values the car in around 30 seconds, then checks hundreds of buyers across dealers, national buyers, online marketplaces, auction networks and peer-to-peer channels, and negotiates automatically. The cost is time. Dealr's own site says it is built to maximize price, not speed, and that a typical sale completes in under 2 weeks: the highest number it can find, later, rather than a fixed number today.
What the instant-offer buyers do in the same window
- Carvana: real offer in 2 minutes, driveway pickup as soon as the same day, though pickup can carry a service charge in specific locations.
- GiveMeTheVin: offer in 60 seconds, free pickup or drop-off, paid by check the same business day.
- Wheelzy: instant offer, same-day pickup, cash on the spot, and 'your offer is always guaranteed' at pickup.
- CarBrain and DamagedCars.com: on average paid and picked up 24-48 hours after you accept.
- CarMax, AutoNation and EchoPark: offer in minutes, valid 7 days, paid on the spot at a store appointment; EchoPark adds $500 if you sell within 48 hours.
All of those are free to use and none binds you, so the private routes are not competing on cost. They compete on price. PrivateAuto sells you the safety tools for up to $179 and leaves the buyer-finding to you, Cars.com and KBB give you the audience for nothing and leave the rest to you, and Dealr does the whole thing for nothing but takes up to two weeks. Get the instant offers first anyway. They cost nothing, most last a week, and they tell you exactly how much the private route has to beat.