(P.S It isn’t as scary as it sounds)
Selling your car doesn’t have to be a complicated process. Here are 8 steps on how to sell a car quickly and safely!
1. Name your price
Just how much is your car worth? You don’t want to have to go back and re-advertise your car because you’ve missed the mark on your selling point. Or worse, sell it for far less than you could have gotten for it.
There are various websites online that will help you to calculate the retail value of your car based on the year, model or any issues the car has. This will help guide your decision and gain an accurate understanding of how much you should sell for. You can also look through online marketplaces and find out what other sellers are asking for cars like yours.
It’s a good idea to boost your price a little to make room for negotiation – this way you can lower your price if necessary but still sell it for a profitable price.
2. Get your paperwork sorted
It’s important to make sure you are organised beforehand. You can’t just sell a car like you would sell a second-hand pair of golf clubs. It needs to be more official than that. Here are the documents you need to get ready:
- Title
- Bill of sale
- Notice of transfer and release of liability
- Vehicle history report
- Warranty documents/As-is documents
Without all of these in order, you won’t be able to legitimately sell your car and you could get into serious trouble.
3. Spruce her up
Do you know what doesn’t sell very well? A messy, crumb-riddled, dusty vehicle. You’re trying to make your car as appealing as possible. The interior and the exterior need to be in tip-top shape, so make sure you’re:
- Waxing and washing the exterior
- Vacuuming the floors, mats, and seats
- Taking all personal items out of the car
- Deep cleaning your tyres
- Fix small issues like low fluid levels or broken indicators. It’s better to fix these things before selling as you can ask for a higher price.
4. Advertise the sale
Now it’s time to get your car out there! Long gone are the days of printing a poster and sticking to your local library notice board. You can reach a wider audience of buyers by posting your car online.
That being said, you can reach buyers by including as many advertisements as possible. You could stick a poster on the back window of your car – you never know who may be interested.
For online advertisements, take lots of good pictures to paint a clear picture of your car. If you have a blurry, singular photo of your car we doubt you’ll get any serious offers. You’ve worked hard on your car clean up (hopefully) so show her off! Take pictures from all angles including the interior.
The more detailed your description, the better. Include your asking prices, recent repairs or upgrades, current mileage and accident history. Remember, your buyer will have access to your vehicle history so don’t be a time-waster by leaving out important details!
5. Prepare for meet-ups
You’re going to have to include in-person meet-ups to secure the sale. This part is all about keeping yourself safe from weirdos and time-wasters. Before meeting in person, have a chat on the phone. This way you’ll get a good feeling about their motives.
Find out what their full name is and ask them to bring a form of identification. This isn’t to be scary, it’s to make sure you aren’t meeting a scammer or thief. Your car is a valuable item and you never know what people have in mind.
Agree on a form of payment. Preferably, cash is the way to go. This way you avoid EFTs that never come through or cheques that don’t go through.
6. Test drive and vehicle inspection
Test drives should be reserved for serious buyers only. Just because somebody has come for a meeting with you, that doesn’t mean they need to drive your car right away. Once you know they’re definitely interested, you can organise a test drive. We would recommend this is conducted in a public space and you have somebody else with you.
You don’t want them to drive your car on their own (for obvious reasons) and you may not want to be alone in the car with a stranger. This is also the time to make your final sales pitch on the car. Remind them of all the elements that brought them in in the first place.
7. Price negotiation
Now, the fun part. If you’ve set the price of your car a little higher than the usual value, you can accept some lower offers. However, you need to have the lowest possible price in mind and be strong enough to walk away if the buyer won’t meet that price. Trust us, you’ll find a buyer out there who is willing to pay the right price.
Bear in mind that down payments or monthly instalments are a BIG no-no.
8. Signed, sealed, delivered
Once you’re here, congratulations are in order! In this stage you will:
- Complete your bill of sale
- Fill out a release of liability form
- Sign over the title
- Hand over the keys, baby!
And that’s all there is to know about that. Good luck with your car selling journey, and don’t forget to make sure you have comprehensive car insurance when you get your new set of wheels!
Read next: Do you need car insurance before you buy a car?
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