The Web offers abundant tools to get a fair appraisal of your vehicle’s value – Kelly Blue Book is an authoritative source, as is the Nada Guide. You can also review online classifieds such as AutoTrader to see what actual cars (dealer and private party) are selling for in your area.

The official guides, while informative, are ultimately speculative. Just like your house which you think is worth X, turns out to have a very different value when it becomes necessary to make a sale happen ASAP.

One way to get a “cash-on-the-barrelhead” price for your car is to visit your local CarMax dealer. They are unlikely to offer you as much as you’d get from a private buyer, but they’ll give you a no-nonsense appraisal that you can use as the absolute minimum you should ask from a private buyer. The good thing is that you will now have a “back stop” against low-ball offers.

Car Max will buy a car that they’ve appraised at their appraised price for up to seven days from the date of the appraisal, so you could even sell it to them if you can’t find a private buyer willing to make a better offer. Car Max is also great for window-shopping lots of makes and models for your next car.

At the end of the day, price is all about timing. If you need to unload your car tomorrow, the price will be significantly lower than if you have the luxury of time to show your car to the world with your MAGNATIZE signs.