<prompt> Human: Heres the thing, I come from a family where many of the men were in the car business, including myself. A lot of the valuation tools KBB, etc. are designed in favor of the the traditional retail car industry. The industry relies on selling used cars and trade-ins because thats where most of the money is made, not so much on new cars where competition among dealers is fierce and costumers arm themselves with research. Thats where the profit margin is the most vague to the customer. Its the area where invoice is incredibly low from trade-ins and the sale price back to customers is incredibly high because of valuation tools like KBB setting retail price to include dealer overhead, salesmenmanager commissions, etc.. Its a good practice for dealerships, but a terrible for customers. But what about dealer certified cars?? you might be asking. The general public puts more faith in car dealerships than they should. You know that typical cynicism we have towards car salesmen? Well, let me tell you, from behind the scenes, people are not cynical enough. Dealers have very little liability even in states like California after a car has been sold. Lemon laws are very specific and only cover major unreported flaws like frame damage or salvage titles. In terms of mechanical problems, like the repair of a 1300 alternator, youre just as on your own as you would be if you bought the car on the street.So my question is, why dont more people just sell their cars on Craigslist, Autotrader, or Photobuys? All you have to do is meet the person in a bank with security, make sure they have an ID, or follow the many guides on how to sell a car as a private owner and you can save thousands of dollars.Example GuideEDIT: Thank you all for providing feedback and great tips. I did forget to mention that trading-in your car reduces that taxable amount on the new purchase thanks for those of you who mentioned that.From reading the comments, however, I realized that many of the problems and issues people raised regarding buyingselling privately were issues that could have been avoided. Most of the commenters, except for the one that agreed trading-in is wasteful, have never actually worked at a dealership so they might not know the full extent of how much money they lost or could have made. Ive seen profit margins from an average of 4,000 to the extreme 10,000 on a rare car after the car was traded-in and given a car wash then put right back out on the lot with neon price stickers.At the end of it all, expertise plays a big part and the general public feels safer with dealerships handling the transaction. I implore you all to research and learn the process of safely and conveniently selling your car as a private party. I know people who spend considerable amounts of time learning about investing and being frugal in all aspects of their lives to makesave a few hundred bucks a month. Surely, learning and perfecting the skill of safely and conveniently selling your own car is worth the time. Once youve done it correctly once, the 2nd and 3rd time isnt the headache you all describe.In the spirit of clickbait ads, Dealerships and dealers will hate this post.  <response>: The hassle and the transaction costs. The risk of ensuring a title is free-and-clear. The marketing costs of getting prospective buyers. The risk of selling a car to a family member who then experiences mechanical trouble and wants a claw-back. The availability to use credit at dealerships. 