photo credit: Nemo
Planning to sell your car? But don’t know where to start? Well, you’ve come to the right place to get some useful tips that will assist you to turn your car into cash. There are a lot of decisions to be made while selling a used car – whether to sell directly or advertise somewhere and many more.
Get the details right
Before making your car available on sale, you have to get necessary details about so as to satisfy potential buyer’s queries. You should know the car’s model, make and year of manufacture and purchase. Note these details down along with registration documents, insurance papers etc. Don’t keep any issues hidden, or else it will create a problem later on when the buyer will find out about it.
How old is it?
You can’t do magic and make it look new but you should get your car properly cleaned either by yourself or by seeking professional help. You must look at it from a buyer’s perspective so as to make you car more appealing to them. If your car is in a real bad condition, getting a new paint job won’t be a bad idea unless you can recover the cost from selling price.
Check your options
You’ll have various options on how to trade your car. You can either directly sell it to an individual or you can sell it to a trader. One can also auction on various websites or on traditional auction houses. The trader would give you a price on its own valuation but it is likely to be less than what you could’ve got through a private sale. However, you will save on time and effort along with advertisement costs.
Close the deal
It is advisable to have knowledge about market rates of similar used cars. It will help you fix your selling rate. Private buyers will bargain, so fixing a low price won’t be a good idea. Don’t wait too long in expectation of getting a higher price; you may even loose a good deal by doing so, rather do have an idea at below what price you can’t go down further.
Keep the car’s paperwork ready, and be prepared to draft a contract. If you don’t have any idea on how to draft the contract, you can take help from websites offering contract templates. Clarify the mode of payment with the buyer.
If the buyer is paying cheque then wait for it to clear before you hand over the keys. Make two copies of proof of sale, keep one with yourself and give the other to the buyer. Ask the buyer for some ID, address and contact number to be on the safe side and be aware of those who try to escape from furnishing such details.
Inform the authorities
Once the sale is done, inform the concerned authorities that you’re no longer the registered owner of that vehicle. This is very important as it would ensure that you don’t get charged with any fines incurred by the new owner.
