6 Useful Tips on How To Sell a Used Car

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There can be a lot of reasons for selling your old car but your goal is to get rid of your car as quickly as possible and get as much money as possible. Car sale is not as simple a process as it might seem initially. Whole books and educational films are devoted to the art of selling, so there is no pattern that will be suitable for every situation. Still, some simple advice can help you when selling your car.

In this article, we have gathered sex useful tips on how to sell a used car.

1. Evaluate the vehicle correctly

Before you publish an advertisement for the sale of a car, you need to understand how much money you can get for it. This is a logical step but it is a little more complicated than it sounds. The reality is that when evaluating your car, you need to be guided not by a personal sense of the value of the car but exclusively by the situation on the market.

Do your own marketing research. Look for advertisements for similar vehicles on the internet. Consider the model, year of manufacture, mileage, and condition of the car. You should also pay attention to body damage, the number of owners, equipment, and options like navigation, leather interior, or climate control.

In this way, you will understand how much your car really costs. Such a simple method will allow you to clearly determine the price of the car on the market and protect you from possible disappointment in the future.

2. Prepare documents and other papers

Nobody will buy your car without documents. That’s why you need to prepare not only the car itself but also the paper for sale. First of all, of course, the vehicle passport and registration certificate. Be sure that buyers will definitely pay attention to these documents.

If you have documents that show the history of your car, it will be a good advantage. For example, printouts from special sites that check the legal cleanliness of cars will help demonstrate that everything is clear with your car and there is nothing to hide.

3. Clean your car thoroughly

It is obvious that used cars in good condition cost much more than cats that are in poor condition. That’s why you shouldn’t underestimate the appearance of your vehicle since it plays an important role in the first opinion towards your car.

If you want to sell your car, you should prepare it for sale. Wash the body of the car and polish it. If there are small chips and scratches on the car, it is better to reduce them since they can become a reason for price reductions. However, it is better to visit an auto collision center for repairs instead of trying to fix them on your own.

Additionally, it is important to clean the car interior thoroughly. You may not notice dirty rugs or unpleasant odors but such trifles can scare customers away. That’s why you need to take care of the interior of your car. There are many special tools that can help ease the cleaning process.

Don’t try to rejuvenate the car artificially or hide obvious flaws. For example, the braid on the steering wheel will certainly make the buyer want to see what is hidden under it. Additionally, it may seem strange that the interior is worn but the car mileage is little. That’s why it is better not to deceive the buyer.

4. Take good photos

If you want to sell your car faster, you need to take good photos. But the main problem is that this point is often not taken seriously enough. After all, the very first thing a potential buyer will face will be exactly the photo of your car on the classifieds website. Good photos can help the buyer decide whether to consider the car further or not.

If you want to have good photos of the car, you need to take pictures from all sides of your car and from different angles. Additionally, it is essential to take photos of the car’s interior, as well as various details. Moreover, good pictures don’t mean highly artistic photos. But some general principles are still worth observing.

For example, the background of the pictures should be neutral. It means that there should be no trash cans or ugly garages behind a car. It is better to choose a one-color wall or a parking lot as a background. It is better to avoid pictures that have other cars in the frame since they will inevitably distract the attention of potential buyers.

Don’t forget that you need to prepare for the shooting of the car. For example, choose the day and time, wait for good weather conditions, and wash the car. But taking a professional camera for the sake of photography is not always necessary. Indeed, some modern smartphones can take photos at a fairly high resolution. So it is not so important what gadget exactly you will use to shoot your car. The most important thing is that the photos are of high quality.

5. Write a detailed ad

Nobody knows more about your car than you do. So make sure that your ad is as detailed as possible. Don’t forget to indicate not only the most important characteristics (like a year of manufacture, engine volume and power, mileage, etc.) but also less significant nuances (for example, the presence of heated seats and steering wheel).

Additionally, it will not be superfluous to mention the features of the operation of the car, as well as honestly consider the shortcomings, if any. Regardless of the details, your ad should contain information about the price of the car and precise contact details. Without these data, no one will ever call you.

6. Negotiate

So you’ve made a great ad and you’re ready to post it online. But you need to understand that there is one more important point and if you miss it, you can lose money. This is the definition of the minimum price for which you will sell the car.

In the first paragraph, we talked about the assessment of the car. This means the market value of your car. But now you need to determine the minimum price of the car in correspondence to that price, below which you are not ready to go down. Taking into account possible bargaining, set a price that will be a bit higher than this level.

This is quite important because the opportunity to bargain attracts potential buyers. Even if you set a fixed price, they may try to convince you to lower it by finding flaws. That’s why it is better to slightly raise the price in order to take a small step back if something happens. Finally, you can clearly define the border that can’t be crossed, so it will be much easier to negotiate.

When it comes to negotiation, it is essential to be confident. If you think that you can easily sell a car a bit cheaper, maybe it is worth doing it? It will also be useful to come up with small “bonuses” and “gifts” for the buyer if they agree to buy a car quickly. This is the best way to sell your car.