Selling a used car is tough. The thought of haggling over prices and having a stranger pick faults in your pride and joy is enough to bring you out in a cold sweat. The current economic climate has only made things tougher: There’s a good chance that your car’s value has plummeted if you’ve owned it from new and held onto it for a few years.
With the pressures of making a sale in mind, here’s some top tips for taking away a little bit of the stress and ensuring a fast and simple sale for your old car:
Price To Sell
It’s important to keep things realistic: Do some research and find the average price for your make and model. Some niches like sports cars and 4x4s are getting increasingly hard to shift as people’s disposable income shrinks. Make sure you price accordingly.
Don’t be tempted to raise the price to account for hagglers either. All you’re doing is putting off potential buyers by advertising a car that’s way more expensive than it’s rivals. It’s much better to set the price competitively and then refuse to budge on price.
Make The Advert Appealing
Highlight the best features first: Key things to mention are a full service history and a lower than average mileage. Next, list the extras and features. Avoid using long winded acronyms unless you’re advertising to enthusiasts. Regular buyers may not understand your advert if it’s full of unintelligible letters. Photos are also vital: Make sure you’ve covered the whole car, inside and out, in detail.
Clean And Polish Until It Sparkles!
This sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people ignore the cleanliness factor when advertising a car. If you really want your car to stand out and sell quickly, consider a professional car valeting and bodywork treatment by a reputable company like www.aspectvaleting.com. They’ll be able to remove paint imperfections, pin dents and minor scratches, as well as perform a deep clean of the entire vehicle. This is definitely money well spent in a crowded market.
Proper Maintenance
Amateur car buyers might not have a clue about the mechanical ins and outs of the car they’re buying, but they’re sure to look at the service history, MOT sheets and tax discs before buying. Likewise, they’ll always check oil and washer fluid in an attempt to seem knowledgable. Make sure you haven’t neglected these areas.
The Day Of The Sale
Always arrange bookings to coincide with daylight hours and check the weather before committing to a viewing. In addition, make sure a viewer has insurance sorted before you let them test drive the vehicle. Don’t ever let them take the car out alone, and never leave the keys in the ignition.
Be Firm With Hagglers
Virtually all buyers will haggle over your asking price. If you’ve set your price well, and decided on a limit before anyone has viewed the car, you should be fine. Stand firm and point out the car’s value when compared to others that are for sale. If you do have to concede some ground, you could always throw in extras like free fuel or freshly renewed road tax.
Selling a car is never going to be a completely stress free experience, but with these tips, you should at least get a speedy sale at price you’re happy with. Good luck!
Wendy Lin is a successful freelance writer and businesswoman. She frequently travels between L.A. and London for business. She is also the proud mother of 3 lovely boys.