Preparing a Used Car for Sale – What you Need to Know

So, despite your strong emotional attachment to your set of wheels, the time has come to upgrade and that means preparing your car to be sold. In this short article, we offer a few tips that should lead to a quick sale and receiving your asking price.

Assessing the vehicle

The first thing to do is an honest assessment of the car’s condition; any mechanical faults should be fixed, while bodywork dents and dings need to be repaired, leaving the bodywork with no visible issues. If your knowledge of cars is minimal, you should pay a mechanic to evaluate the vehicle; he can list the faults and advise you on priority repairs as well as the price you can expect to receive.

Car wash & detail

Once you have fixed minor repairs, drive to your local car wash in Oro Valley and have the car washed, waxed and have the interior detailed. It makes complete sense to present the car in its best light if you are selling it and if you are going to place an ad on a website, visit the car wash before you take the photos for the ad, making sure to capture images of the exterior and interior.

Full service history

Known as FSH, if you have all the evidence that the car has been serviced according to the manufacturer’s recommendations; every service should be recorded in the rear section of the owner’s manual, while receipts need to be kept and produced when a potential buyer views the vehicle.

Be prepared to haggle

Almost all potential buyers will try to get the price down, so you should decide the minimum price you will accept and should you be knocked down, declare your minimum price and stick to it. Of course, the goal is to get as much as you can and a lot depends on the potential buyer’s negotiating skills and how desperate you are to sell.

To summarize, if you have looked after the car properly, all you need to do is have the car washed, waxed and detailedin order to receive your asking price.