(WHTM) – Remember how tough it used to be to sell a car on your own? Strangers would stop by your home at all hours to kick the tires.

Now, you can get an instant offer from many places but there’s a downside.

Chyron dealers’ websites now make instant cash offers but are they good deals?

“It’s a great little vehicle, runs good, smooth riding.”

Michael Reiman loves his new compact pickup which replaced his Chevy Silverado that got too big for his needs.

But selling the old truck was tougher than he expected.

Micheal Reiman tried an instant cash offer.

“I looked up Kelly Blue Book, and it showed it to 37 thousand trade-in value. And I thought OK that’s good,” said Reiman.

Michael had seen all the ads for “Instant cash offers” and “Cash on the spot” so he called his longtime dealer.

Reiman said, “I call them and say run my VIN.”

But he couldn’t believe their offer.

“It was only $30,000, $7,000 less than trade-in,” Reiman said.

$7,000 than the Kelly Blue Book trade-in value.

As long as your description checks out, they will write you a check for that amount and they may even pick up your car right from your driveway!

But a recent report by MarketWatch dot com says instant cash offers are often less than KBB trade-in value.

That’s because the dealer is not making any money selling you a new car… So they have little incentive.
Marketwatch suggests checking multiple buyers, including:

– local dealers
– CarMax
– Carvana
– Vroom
– Autotrader
– and peddle…For older and junk cars

“They give you an instant cash offer, so that’s what the dealers are doing now, and it’s even less,” said Reiman.

Michael is happy with what he got but says it took a lot more effort than expected.

So instant cash offers can be a great way to unload that car but don’t just take the first one, so you don’t waste your money.