How To Prep Your Car For Sale

We’ve all been there. Gone to take a look at a car and it isn’t clean, there is a slightly musty smell in the interior and a gift from the skies in the form of bird poop on the windows. The car might be a collector’s item, it might even be a great price, but the chances are you walked away. Sometimes the lazy attitude of the seller for this aesthetic items can be an indicator that under the hood might not be as healthy as it first appeared. When you come to sell your car, you should do your four-wheeled friend a solid. Here are some things you should do before you sell your car:

Clean it. Get it taken for a good detail, or you might choose to get the vacuum and polish out yourself. Make sure you spend some time taking care of minor marks and any rust too. It might sound simple, but having a clean car makes it easier for the buyer to picture themselves and their family inside it. It also gives the car a chance to speak for itself. Check all of the potential spaces that there might be dust of dirt.

As soon as it is clean and shiny – take the photos. You might think you’ll do them tomorrow but what happens if it is raining? Take plenty of pictures and a 360 video of the bodywork. Be sure that you take photos of any dents, scrapes and rust spots – so the buyer will have no illusions that the car is in perfect condition. It is worth taking it to Certified Car Care too, to make sure that under the hood is just as sweet as the outside.

Know what the price of your car on the current market is. If you are looking for a quick sale price the vehicle just under the average asking price because buyers do their research too. If you have time to wait, you could price it a little above average and wait for someone to come along. If none of that appeals to you, you should also spend a short time checking out what you might get for a part-exchange at a showroom.

When you are putting your ad together, you should be as details as possible. People don’t have the time to take a gamble on an advert for a car unless there is enough information there to get them interested or to answer any technical questions they might have. Use the manuals (if you still have them) to answer the basics and online research to fill in the rest of the tech spec. When it comes to how it drives, you’re the actual judge of that so be honest. Is it bumpy between gears or on a frosty morning? Tell it like it is.

Get your documents in order. Before you start adding information to listings, make sure you have all of the paperwork both you and the buyer will need to complete the transaction. You might like to also prep a receipt or bill of sale with a blank space for the buyer to fill in.