The Complete Guide to Selling A Used Car

Selling a used car can be as easy or as difficult as you make it. Here’s what you need to make it work in your favour, and what to avoid too. There’s an awful lot that goes into it if you really want to make sure that you do it well, and even more if you’re looking to turn the biggest profit too. You need to know all of the tips, tricks and steps you need to take to get it done in the most effective way possible, and the whole thing can really feel like a bit of a minefield. That’s why we’re here to help.

As experts in looking at cars that are up for sale practically all day, every day, we learned a thing or two about the best ways to get it done and keep yourself safe while doing it too. We’ve broken down the process into 4 simple steps for you to take to make sure you do exactly that, and you don’t put yourself at risk in the process. Let’s walk through it. How to sell deceased person’s cars.

Step 1: Describing Your Used Car

Step one is to make an advertisement for your car. Realistically, maybe even several depending on where you’re choosing to sell it. You’re pretty spoiled for choice after all, especially when you look at marketplaces like eBay, gumtree, Autotrader and more. You might want to make an online ad for your car to get more visibility, put signs inside it for passers-by, or even advertise in local papers. They’re all viable options for you to take, but there’s a lot more to it than just deciding where you want to put them.

You need to really nail all of your descriptions too. Write down everything that you can about your car to make sure that you’re not leaving your buyer in the dark. No detail is too small, and it can save a huge amount of time for you and the buyer when it comes down to getting more info. That’s the best way to make sure you’ll close the deal and not just attract people to the car. Interest is only half the battle after all. Companies who buy cars.

Make sure you include things like:

  • Make
  • Model
  • Colour
  • Mileage
  • Age
  • Engine
  • Issues

They’re all essential things that’ll save you time and keep you in the clear even after the car is sold, but we’ll come onto that later.

Step 2: Pricing Your Car

Once you have your ad in place, it’s time to take things to the next level, and that starts with finding the right price. It’s hard to do since again there’s just so much involved. You need to really know your stuff to make sure you’re not being unreasonable and you’re not going to get ripped off by someone else that does. It’s also a good time to note that there are steps that you can take to make your car worth more money too, even without changing these.

All cars are worth different things, and some of the biggest affecting factors are things like we mentioned above. The age, mileage, make and model are most prevalent, as well as the condition of course. The combination of them along with the history of the vehicle is what gives your car its value. Ask a sensible price and you’ll get sensible offers. Sell low for a faster offer, and high if you feel it’s worth it. The ball is in your court. Take a look around and see what others are offering, or even get a valuation.

Step 3: Selling it Legally

Before your car goes anywhere, you need to make sure that it’s legal to do so. Again, there are a few things involved here as well. You need to make sure that you have the right to sell the car for example, as well as the right documentation to do it. In fact, there are a lot of documents out there that can really be useful here and help increase your vehicle value. You’ll find a V5 useful here, for example, to list the car in the buyer’s name so it’s no longer yours, as well as needing the handbook and any other documents that are required.

You’ll also need to make sure that the car is road legal on top of all of this. MOT’s are the biggest factor in this one, as, without one, the car can’t go anywhere but the garage. That’s not much use to anyone unless you advertised it like that (never to mention the effect it’ll have on the cars price in the first place). Tax isn’t as important since tax is non-transferable and you’ll get a refund for whatever is left that you’ve paid for anyway.

Step 4: Knowing Consumer rights

One huge thing that not many people talk about when it comes to selling a used car is the consumer rights that are involved in it. We’ve written an article about this already, and it’s a big deal. There’s a lot of things that can go wrong when you’re selling something as complex as a car, and you need to make sure everyone is in the right.

To keep everyone’s rights protected, it’s a good idea to get a receipt of purchase with as much information as you possibly can do in it. That way, you’re covered if you both sign it. On top of that, it’s essential that you tell the buyer everything you know. If you hold out on any issues, it’ll come back to haunt you later, and you could well be liable for it. Again, check the link for more.

The takeaway

Ultimately, selling a car means that you are responsible for pretty much everything involved. It sounds daunting, but you don’t have to go it alone. There are services out there like CarExamer to help make sure you know everything that can about your car and make sure that you’ve done the homework so that you’re 100% safe. Can I sell car without insurance?

Learning how to sell your car always comes down to the same thing at its very core. Make your ad, value the car, negotiate it, and finally, exchange all of the paperwork to keep it all above board. There are smaller details like we’ve outlined, but all in all, that’s the general gist.

Keep yourself legal, and the rest is up to you. Good luck!

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