Selling a Car

Selling a car can be extremely difficult if you don't do some basic preparation, we hope this article will take you through some basic steps to get the best price for your car.

Clean It Up

One of the worst mistakes you can make when selling a car is not to prepare it properly. It doesn't matter whether your selling a fiesta or a ferrari, you'll always get more if you spend some time cleaning it outside and in. It may only take an hour but could get you up to 10% more for your car.

Here are some particular points to pay attention to :

1. Make sure you replace any missing trim or badges, they give the wrong impression about how the car has been looked after
2. Stone chips are worth repairing on the bonnet as kits for this only cost about £5
3. Hoover the inside and surfaces down with a cloth to rid the car of any dust. The better the car looks the better the final selling price will be
4. Make sure all the lights and wipers work, a new light bulb will only cost a few pounds and will give a better impression of the car

Advertising

There are lots of places to advertise your car, the internet has lots of online market places such as AutoTrader. These are very good places to advertise, it is essential that you make the most of your cars features.

Don't ever lie about a feature on your car, there's no point saying you have a full service history if you've got a receipt for some wiper blades and a bottle of oil. If a buyer turns up only to find that you've lied about all the features on a car, they just won't buy it off you. You've wasted both your time and theirs.

Make sure you point out the good points though, if it's done a low amount of miles place this early on in the advert, tell them about anything that is electric, windows, sunroof, mirrors etc. Although this may sound obvious, make sure you tell them what colour it is. More often than not someone has a colour in mind and if you don't tell them what colour yours is, you won't get a call.

Always advertise at a slightly higher price that you want, this gives you room to haggle with potential buyers to make them think they're getting a better deal.

When someone calls you, make sure you have answers to the most common questions like number of miles, the year it was built and be prepared to give directions to your house. Services such as multimap can be very useful for giving directions to people.

The Meeting

When someone arrives at your house, make sure you have everything ready to show them. Be polite and courteous at all times and never pressure them into making a decision. Chances are this is a big investment for them and they want to be sure they're making the right choice. One thing to note, never, ever let the people take the car away on a test drive without you. This is a very good way to get your car stolen.

If the person makes an offer, always make sure you know what price you'd be willing to accept, there's no point taking £300 less for a car if you need the money for another car. When it comes to actually taking the money there are a number of options that you have at your disposal.

1. Cash - This is a good way to accept smaller amounts but is not practical if you're selling a £20,000 car. Make sure you check each note for forgeries
2. Cheque - This is acceptable, but not preferable. Whatever you do, NEVER release the car until the cheque has cleared
3. Bankers Draft - This is a good way to accept payment for large amounts

Selling a car can be frustrating or satisfying, by following some of these steps, you can make it a little easier on yourself.