8. Parking your car at the right place.
When selling your car, make sure you find a spot where your car can be seen and also allow a potential buyer to pull in, get out, and walk around your car comfortably.
Hold on! Before you park your car somewhere, be sure to check with the owner of that property or parking lot and make sure it’s okay to do so. There are many places that may not be marked and do not allow you to park — these guys will have your car towed!
Better to ask up front and save yourself some time and money in the tow.
7. Create an attractive sign to hang on your car.
Sometimes a simple 1 page sign is not enough. What has worked well for me, may not work for you – but it does have some validity so I’ll share it.
First of all, you have to realize when you park your car for people to see it’s for sale, they have to actually be able to see “for sale” written somewhere. That’s pretty tough to do while driving and you only have a piece of paper with those printed words on it.
I took a quick trip to the copy store, purchased some hot-pink paper (about 20 sheets to cover my entire windshield) and printed in the largest black letters I could “FOR SALE”. Previously my car had sat for 3 weeks with my 1-page sign. With the new super-size hot-pink sign I had a buyer within a couple hours.
6. Find an online listing service to help sell your car.
There are many local online communities around the country that help promote and list your car for sale. You’ll also find a couple who do this at a national level. Be careful of those places that want to charge you $40 or more when you could be posting it for free. Here’s a couple resources I have personally used and recommend:
Vehix.com has a Free Sell Your Car program.
Cars.com
5. Know your car and it’s problems (if any)!
If there’s anything that bugs me worse in the car buying experience, it’s having a salesperson not disclosing the faults of the car. I’m not here to play 20 questions just so you’ll be honest with me as a potential buyer, so do yourself (and your buyer) a favor and be prepared (and upfront) if your car has any problem areas.
4. Have Used Vehicle Value report on-hand.
Although this may seem obvious – print out the Kelly Blue Book value for your car and keep it handy. Many times you’ll have these old farts who are still living in the 70′s come up and want to buy your car for $500 bucks. Now you’ll have an independent price suggestion that you both can feel comfortable working with.
If you’re not sure where to get your Used Vehicle Value, I’d suggest going over to Vehix.com and using their tool there.
3. Get a Carfax Vehicle History Report
This is a very important step since many people recognize the value of having this report to help with the buyer’s evaluation. You want the buyer to be comfortable about your car in knowing you’ve taken care of it throughout the years – trust me, this is a huge deal. Carfax Vehicle History Report.
2. Ensure your car’s basic’s needs are met.
Check out your fluids! If it’s been a while, you might want to get that oil change you’ve been putting off the last 8 months. The last thing you want your potential buyer to see is dirty oil.
Ensure you have plenty of washer fluid (your potential buyer will want to see this work). Same goes for your engine coolant – make sure you top it off if needed.
When was the last time you checked the tire pressure? Take your car for a quick spin up the your corner gas station and get them checked / filled – you want your car to look and ride it’s best.
Finally, you’ll want to take a look at your exterior lights – make sure they at least work so you don’t have to add yet another item to your disclosure list for your buyer.
1. Have your car professionally cleaned.
You need to put yourself in the “buyers” shoes – would you want to test drive – or purchase – that car that looks like you’ve been living in for the last 7 years? Oh, and the smell!! This should be common sense for people, but it’s rarely done.
A professional auto service will typically charge between $100 and $200 for a deep cleaning, detailing, and wax. Many times this will add 10% or more to your asking price (In my case, I was able to get another $1,100 for my vehicle).
I hope you found this list useful. Feel free to leave a comment if you liked or disliked, I take criticism very well.
Related posts:
- Top 10 Tops to Save Money on Car Insurance
- Still thinking about a new car? Listen for your local auto dealer incentives – they’re out!
- Ralley Fighter by Local Motors – Concept to Design to Production
- Video of the day > Toyota Camry
- Most Fuel Efficient Cars of 2009
