It’s time, you bought a new set of wheels and now you are faced with the task of selling your old vehicle.
It may seem like a big pain in the you know what, but it doesn’t have to be. There are a few steps that you can take that will help make selling your old vehicle not only easier on you but also on the potential buying. And if the potential buyer feels more comfortable, you have a lot better chance of turning that buyer into a new owner.
Here are five steps that you can take to help make the process of selling your old vehicle faster and easier.
Wash and Clean
It sounds like common scene, but not everybody feels the need to clean a vehicle that they hope will no longer be theirs for much longer. A dirty car shows just how it has been treated while in your possession. A dirty exterior can cause rust and corrosion and an unprotected one can fade away the clear coat and the paint. The longer the exterior has been abused the quicker these problems can happen.
The interior is where people sit and want to feel comfortable, no one is going to feel comfortable if the inside is filled with fast food wrappers, dirty carpets and gooey stuff in the cracks and crevasses. You want to clean the surfaces, vacuum, and make the car smell good, make it feel inviting for the potential buying.
A good clean can hide the evidence of abuse and make it look like the car has been well maintained, and that is one thing a buyer always wants to know, has the vehicle been taken care of.
Tune-Up
There is no bigger deal breaker than trying to sell your old vehicle when it doesn’t run correctly. If a car has a hard time starting, idling, or driving properly, forget about it. Unless your potential buyer is a mechanic and is looking to talk you down in price, they’re moving on.
A common tune-up at your local mechanic shop, a brake job, new tires, shocks and struts if needed is a great selling point. People like to know that when they buy a car, their first stop won’t have to be at a auto shop.
Research the Price of Similar Vehicles
Find out the make, model, and year of your vehicle, how many miles it has on it and a rough estimate of what kind of shape it is in: excellent, good, average, poor. Then look at other vehicles that are similar to what you are selling and see what the price they are asking. You should be able to come up with a pretty good estimated price of what you should be asking.
If you have the time and the space to deal with having an extra vehicle hanging around then you can ask on the high side of an average price, but if you want to say good-bye to it really quickly than ask on the low side. But never low ball yourself. You will know what a fair price is and the right person will come around. You might get some fast talkers that will try to talk you out of a few hundred or even a few thousand bucks, but stand firm and just tell those people to go away. The longer you listen to them the better chance they have of getting you to agree to something way under what the vehicle is worth.
Keep Plates and Insurance Current
It may not be possible, but if you can keep your vehicle legal to drive, it’s another great selling point. By letting the potential buying drive the vehicle, you are showing them that you are not trying to hide anything from them. And with your cards on the table it makes it easier to ask a higher price. This also offers the driver a chance to get the vehicle home legally after purchase before going to the DMV. But you MUST make sure after it is safely at the new owners home that is the last place it goes while in your name. The best thing to do is just follow the owner to their place and remove your license plate in person.
Advertise in the Right Place
Put some effort into where you advertise. One thing I see a lot and have tried myself is to post a for sale sign in your vehicle’s windows while you drive. This is a bad idea. Not only does it distract you, but it also distracts others and in the end I have never sold any one of my vehicles this way. About the best two ways of selling your old vehicle is to put it into the correct auto-trader or the correct online posting such as Craiglist. Something along those lines will get your car in front of the right people.
Even leaving your car in a populated parking lot or a parking lot that faces a main road is a bad ideal. Putting a car on display unattended is just asking for someone to steal it. Even worse a vehicle for sell gives reason for suspicious people to be around it.
Following these steps should help in the process of selling your old vehicle faster and also give you the ability to ask exactly what your car is worth maybe even more.
