Steel-Cable Insurance

Casey Liss (0:00)

I had been looking to see whether or not my VIN number for my Volkswagen had been listed online for sale, and it hadn't been. I'd been checking every other day or so, because I'm me, and I like to know these things.

John Siracusa (0:09)

Why? Why are you stalking your ex?

Casey Liss (0:11)

Because I'm curious.

Marco Arment (0:11)

There is no good, no good can come from this.

Casey Liss (0:14)

I just find it interesting, and I was curious what they were going to list it for. And so.

Marco Arment (0:21)

But how, okay, there's only one way this can go. They're not going to list it for below what they paid you.

Casey Liss (0:27)

Oh, of course.

Marco Arment (0:27)

So they're going to list it for some amount of money that is above what they paid you. And the only thing that can possibly do is make you feel bad that they didn't pay you enough.

Casey Liss (0:36)

Well, so on paper, especially when we're talking about me, yes.

However, however, first of all, I'm needy and I just want to know. And second of all, I feel like I had done the best I could do short of a private sale, right? I had surveyed a couple of different options. I kind of sort of, and it was my own choice, but I kind of sort of wanted to do it with a quickness.

And I had done what I thought was best for me at the time. And I stand by that. Now, if I had sold it privately, I'm sure I could have gotten quite a bit more money, but I didn't want to mess with any of that. I have no patience for that. I absolutely did not want to have somebody test drive the car, whether or not I'm in it, but watching them like melt my clutch. No, thank you.

Marco Arment (1:22)

Uh-uh.

Casey Liss (1:23)

So I did what I think was right for me.

Marco Arment (1:25)

Yeah, the whole reason to sell to a company like that is so that it's out of your hands. It's quick, it's done. You're not getting the best possible price, but you're at least not having to deal with any of that.

Casey Liss (1:37)

Exactly right.

Marco Arment (1:38)

The last thing you should possibly then know is like, so how much profit are they gonna make off of me? There's no good that comes from that.

Casey Liss (1:45)

Well, again, I think it's fascinating just because I was curious what they would do. And when I sold the BMW to a local CarMax equivalent, it was one of those like, we'll beat CarMax prices, but they beat it by literally $150, I believe.

Anyways, when I sold it to them, I forget what they listed it for, but it was, I don't know, a couple of grand more than they paid me, which is what I expected, right? I mean, it was a relatively unremarkable three series, and it was relatively high miles, and they sold it presumably for a little bit more than they paid me. Makes perfect sense, I get it.

So, I went and at the tip of a friend of mine, I went to see, okay, how much are they going to sell my car for? So, I should tell you that I bought the car on the 30th of August in 2018, that is almost exactly eight years ago from when I sold it to CarMax. I sold it on the 14th or 15th of August in 2026 At the end of August in 2018, I paid, I'm looking at the buyer's order right now, I paid a shade less than $40,000 for this brand new 10 miles on the odometer as per the buyer's order, brand new Volkswagen Golf R. I sold it to CarMax, I think I said, what was it, 26 and change? I forget exactly what it was now. I sold it for 26 and change. Other people had offered quite a bit less than that. And I felt like I was doing pretty well. And to be honest, I still do. CarMax is listing my car for a shade less than $39,000.

I'm sorry, I lied to you a minute ago. That was the price with taxes. The actual purchase price, by mistake, was $37,500. So before taxes, $37,500, in 2018, brand new, CarMax has it listed for a shade less than $39,000. This car appreciated from their point of view since I bought it. And I find that astonishing. I'm actually not upset about this because I don't think they're going to sell it for that much, but can you fathom? They're selling it for more than my total purchase price in 2018 I am shocked.