Do you want to sell your car but don’t know how? Have you tried to sell your car without success? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. I’ve helped hundreds of people sell their cars.
Now it’s your turn to get help. You’ve come to the right place. I’ve been in the car business for over 20 years and sold thousands of cars. I’m here to share tips and tricks that will help you sell your car fast and at the best price. In this article, I focus on selling to private buyers because this way you’ll get the best price.
7 steps to help you sell your car fast and at the best price
1 Prepare for an easy sale of your car
If you prepare well, you’ll make your job much easier. “Work put in at the beginning will result in an easy sale,” said a wise guy. (Maybe that guy is me..) Seriously, when I started selling cars, I made several mistakes that I don’t want you to make. Below are some steps to take to prepare for selling your car.
⦁ Clean your car
It’s very important to clean your car when trying to sell it. Most people will not buy a car, it’s dirty. The seller will then end up selling his car to a car trader, who will offer a much lower price. You wouldn’t show up dirty for a date, the same applies here. Prepare your car so that the potential buyer falls in love with it. Also, a dirty car will give the impression that you, the owner, didn’t take care of your car.
⦁ Make sure you have all the paperwork
To sell your car, you need to make sure you have all the paperwork – unless you’re selling a stolen car, but that’s a different story. This happened to me with a particular seller. When we wanted to close the deal, she couldn’t find all the paperwork. I lived nearby, so I returned to purchase the vehicle back after she found the paperwork, but if I lived far away, I might have even cancelled the sale. Make sure this doesn’t happen to you!
⦁ Check up
Get a tune-up. Sometimes it’s wise to take your car to a garage to ensure that the vehicle is in good condition. This will foster trust with the buyer and convince him or her to buy your car. Don’t do this if your car is old and in poor condition, as i will be a waste of your money. People who buy old cars are aware that the cars might have issues.
2 Take pictures
If you took the above steps, your car should be clean. Now it’s time to take pictures. I can’t stress just how important this step is. Believe it or not, I can say so much about a car and even its owner just by looking at pictures -a nd most of the time, I’m right. Take time with this crucial step. Remember that you have to attract a buyer with these pictures.
Excellent pictures are those in which the car is visible from all sides. They must be bright, so take them during the day, preferably when the sun is out. Unfortunately, it’s not always sunny, so it’s no big deal if the skies are overcast, but daylight is a must.
Don’t forget to take pictures of the interior too!
3 Set your price
This part will determine how fast you sell your car. If you set a low price, you will sell your car quickly; if you set a high price, you might not sell it quickly, if you even sell it at all.
I can hear you think: How do I price my car for selling, then?
The simple advice is to just follow the market. Compare the prices of similar cars and then set your price in the same range. Hopefully, it’s the price you expected, but this is what the market will pay for your car at the moment you want to sell it.
4 Write the ad
What should you write in your ad copy to sell your car?
Clearly, you should mention the car’s specifications, like:
- Make and model
- Year of construction
- Mileage
- Engine type
- Accessories like- air conditioning, leather, open roof…
- You can also add the reason why you’re selling your car, if it’s a positive one. Please don’t do this if it’s not positive, ha-ha. Add reasons why a person should buy your car instead of another similar one. A good example is that you owned the car for several years and it has been well maintained and is trustworthy.
After the pictures, it’s the text that will make people pick up the phone and call you for more information.
5 Decide where to advertise
Now you must choose the best site to list your car. By “best” I mean the one with the most visitors. If there are not many visitors, not many people will see your car.
Sometimes you must pay to list your car. If you don’t want to pay, you can try free options like Facebook marketplace. Don’t forget that there are millions of users!
6 Showing your car
If you completed all the above steps, correctly, you’ll be contacted by interested people who want to have a look at your car.
Make sure your car is still clean. Be friendly to the potential buyers and try to make them feel at ease. Make sure you are ready to answer all possible questions. Most of the time, you will get simple questions like:
- Why are you selling your car?
- Is your car well maintained?
- Are you negotiable on the price?
- Did you smoke in the car?
- …
I’ve heard some of the craziest questions. As a trained salesman, I could answer all of them, but I can imagine that if someone that’s not used to it, they could feel uncomfortable.
7 Finalise the sale
Once agreed on price, you come to the best part of the process, which is receiving the money. Make sure you have a printed copy of sale contracts. You’ll find this online at theaa.com
Golden tip!
Never give the car before you received the money
Conclusion
A wise guy (me again) said that whatever you do yourself, you do it better. Selling your car can be easy and fun.
Prepare your car by cleaning it, take pictures, list it and sell it!
If you have more questions, ask them below or in the forum. I do my best to answer them asap!
For more articles visit www.howtosellyourcaronline.com
HAVE A NICE SALE