If your car is a popular make and model, the first place to try advertising it is your local newspaper. Buyers prefer not to travel far and the ad will be fairly cheap. If you want to cast your net a bit wider, try a local classifieds paper like FreeAd, Loot or similar in your area. They're also good for cheap cars and tend to cover a wider area.
Don't automatically
choose regional publications like
Auto Trader or Exchange & Mart that cover a much wider
area still. They'll certainly have plenty of buyers reading, but they're
also likely to have huge numbers of cheap and popular types of cars to
compete with yours for the buyers' attention.
If your car's a bit more expensive or unusual - maybe a prestige make or collector's car - then a car sales mag like Auto Trader or Exchange & Mart, or national newspaper or specialist car magazine, would be a better choice.
If your car's only worth a few hundred pounds, try a card in a local supermarket or newsagent's window. That'll either be free or just a few pounds. Or put a big sign in the window and find a visible but safe place to park it during the day where there's likely to be plenty of passing traffic. Bring it home overnight though. If all else fails, Auto Trader magazine has a 'Bargain Cars' section and the ads cost a bit less. But it's still not cheap.
Use the internet to get your ad seen more widely. While most site visitors won't be local, it's surprising how far some people will travel to buy a car these days. Sites like AutoTrader offer local searches by postcode - you get an entry on the website with an ad in their mag ad, or you can just advertise online. eBay has thriving online car auction pages and often submitting your ad to other sites like Exchange and Mart and Loot can give good coverage for minimal cost.
Avoid the brokers who ring up and tell you they've got several people on their books looking for a car like yours. They'll have seen your ad and be after a sizeable registration fee before passing on your car's details. Ever wondered about all those 'no canvassers' statements in the car ads?
