1. Pricing your car
Finding out how much your vehicle is worth is the best place to start, as it'll help you work out how to sell it. A £200 banger is far more likely to sell from a shop window than a £20,000 Range Rover, for example. The easiest way to price your car is to find out what others like it are going for. Get online and search eBay for cars like yours with a Buy It Now price and do the same with Auto Trader, Motors.co.uk and Motoring.co.uk. Make sure you're looking at private ads as dealers will be selling them for slightly more as they'll have to add a warranty. There are also a number of website that offer free valuations too so try these. You'll soon get a good idea of a price. If you want a quick sale lop five per cent off the average price to make yours look cheap. And remember, buyers will always want to haggle, so if you've got a set price in mind make sure you factor this into the cost.
More information:
http://www.whatcar.com/valuation/
http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/used-prices/#
2. Working out where to sell
This can be tricky. Advertising your car can be expensive if you're selling it in the wrong place and there are very few proven methods. Which avenue you choose is really down to personal preference, but if your price is right, chances are it will sell wherever you've advertised it.
Free ads
Bonus here, as the name suggests, is that it's free. These newspapers, often printed on yellow paper, are a popular way to sell cheap cars under £1,000. You'll have a set word count and often leave the ad on an automated service.
Trade magazines and websites
Auto Trader lets you display your advert with pictures both online and in its printed magazine for around £40 for three weeks. You get a certain amount of words and can upload pictures too. The firm's website is often the first place people look for a new car. Enquiries come via email or phone and it's good for cars of all prices. There are countless other online sales websites, but few with as large an audience as Auto Trader.
Online auctions
The biggest and most popular is eBay. You need an account to sell and will have to write a long description of your car detailing its good and bad points. It's best to be as honest as possible to avoid problems. Some people might come and see the car during the course of the auction (usually seven days), but bids are made online. You can set a reserve price for your car to ensure it doesn't sell for less than you want. It's not expensive (around £6 depending on options you choose) and can be very successful, but remember you'll be charged a percentage of the final selling price. All price ranges are suitable – even the weird and wonderful will sell.
Local paper
Local newspapers often have motoring sections, which usually run on a Friday for daily papers. It won't be too expensive and can mean a local sale, but dwindling readership numbers and a predominantly older audience can stop the right person seeing your advert. Good for all price ranges, though, especially cheaper ones.
Specialist magazine
There are specialist magazines for all different types of cars and many have a cult following – and more importantly free classified advertising. Most of these titles offer adverts for readers and these can be a great way of selling your car, particularly sportscar marques or performance modified motors.
Shop window
It might seem a bit 'analogue', but often a simple card placed in the post office window can result in a huge amount of offers. Great for small cars that are suitable for first time buyers, it can be a very cheap way to sell your car too.
Part-ex
If you're buying a new car from a dealer, don't rule out a part exchange. You won't get as much for it as you would if you sold it privately but it's hassle free and can mean you get a better deal on your new vehicle.
Auction house
These aren't just for the traders and are another easy way to get rid of your car quickly. Normally, you'll be charged an entry fee and a percentage of the selling price. As it's mostly dealers and people looking for a bargain that attend auctions, don't expect to get anything near private prices for your car – you'll be lucky to match its trade-in value.
3. Writing your advert
There are a few golden rules to penning an ad: Make it precise, use simple abbreviations and include the essentials. What are they? Well, price is the obvious one, its age, whether it has MOT and any road tax, plus if it has full service history. Be specific about the make and model and list as many important extras as your word count allows. Simple abbreviations – like a/c (air conditioning), 3dr (three door) and e/w (electric windows) – are fine, but don't get too adventurous. Remember to include your contact details – you'll be amazed how many people don't – and try not to specify times for people to call; you'll only put them off.
4. Preparing your car for sale
Clean cars sell. Fact. An afternoon spent cleaning your vehicle inside and out can make a huge difference to the amount of money you can get for it. If you can't be bothered yourself take it to a car wash (hand ones are best) – you'll easily make it back when you sell it. Make sure its sparkling inside too and that the levels are topped up – if it appears as if you've looked after it, people will be more inclined to buy. Dig out the important paperwork from the glovebox and make sure you've got the V5 logbook to hand, a current MOT and any handbooks. If the car's MOT is due to run out (in the next month) it might be worth considering getting a new one, again this can make a huge difference to the price. It's the same with a service – buyers will try to knock you down if they spot it needs work soon, so head them off at the pass. Obviously, you need to weight up the cost of this compared to how much you're selling the car for before deciding if it's worthwhile.
5. Dealing with enquiries
Don't be surprised if the first thing a buyer asks is if 'the car' is still for sale – they've omitted the make or model for a reason to try and find out if you're a trader selling more than one motor. Be prepared for lots of questions and try and answer them as truthfully as possible – you'll only be caught out at a later date if you lie. Be as up-front as possible too: if you're not prepared to budge on the price, tell them. It's better they know now. It's a good idea to keep a list of the names and numbers of those that call, even after you've arranged a viewing; they might come in handy if you later decide to drop the price or if a sale falls through. Try and be flexible with your viewing times and respond to calls and emails immediately, if you delay they'll just move on to another car.
6. Test drives
All buyers will want a test drive – so be prepared to let potential purchasers take a spin. Before you do, ensure they've got insurance that covers them in the event of an accident. We'd even suggest asking to see the certificate of insurance, which might be awkward but could save you a lot of hassle. Ask them to bring it with them when you speak to arrange the viewing and they won't be surprised. Always go with them on the test drive and don't let them thrash it, it's not theirs yet after all. And be careful of leaving the keys in the ignition unattended – thieves have been known to hop in and drive off.
7. Haggling and how to deal with it
If a buyer pays full price they're either stupid or you've priced the car too low: In reality you need to be prepared for your buyer to haggle. As long as you've advertised the car with a bit of 'fat' on top you won't be out of pocket, so think of the lowest price you're prepared to accept and stick to it. Be firm with buyers and don't keep moving your price down – the idea's to meet somewhere in the middle. If you've had loads of calls and have lined up a stack of viewings, there's no reason to cut your price too much. Equally, if the buyer is the only one you've seen in a month and the phone's stopped ringing it might be worth lowering your price to do the deal.
8. Sorting out payment
There are con artists and criminals out there that will try all means under the sun to get their hands on your cash. Don't ever hand over the keys until the cleared funds are in your bank account or the cash is in your hand. Choosing which payment method to accept isn't easy. Cash is obviously the simple one – but if you're selling a car over £10,000 you're talking about a lot of folding. Personal or business cheques need to clear – phone and check the funds have cleared fully too; the money will show in your account before the cash have arrived and the cheque can still be cancelled at this point. A bank or building society draft is safe, but these can be forged, so again phone and check with the issuing bank and don't release the car until the funds have cleared. Bank transfers, such as BACS or CHAPS, are safer, but the buyer will have to trust you not to run off with the cash – which, in this day and age, is highly unlikely.
9. Sorting out the paperwork
Gather all the paperwork you can find for your car – old MOTs, servicing book, handbooks – and bundle it all together. Buyers will love to look through the history. The V5 logbook needs to be filled in by the new owner, but YOU should send it to the DVLA. There's a tear out strip to give to the new keeper in the meantime.
10. Any problems?
If you haven't sold your car six weeks after first advertising it's time to take a look at what you're doing wrong. Try re-writing your advert, a different advertising channel or reducing the price. If you're attracting viewings, but no offers then you might need to think about the car's presentation – does it need some remedial work to make it look more attractive? Or a proper clean? You'll be surprised how few buyers can see through a dirty motor.