The Comprehensive Guide to Selling your Car

Chapter 1: Do the Research

Before you start selling your car, some research work is needed, as you first step is to find out how much your car is worth. Go online to the various car classifieds websites such as automart, and find the range of prices for your car.

It’s not only the make and model that decides the price of a car, other factors include

Year of Registration	The age of the car, older means cheaper for most cars.
Mileage	This tells the buyer about the wear and tear of the car, and also when the next major service is due, as the more expensive car services are at the higher mileages. Low mileage cars will sell for a higher price than a similar car with higher mileage.
Extra Options	Air conditioning, electric windows are becoming more and more standard, so do not expect a much higher price if these are present on your car. The hot features nowadays are satellite navigation and Bluetooth connectivity.

Therefore try and find cars that match you car by make, model, age and mileage, with some adjustment for features. Also the area where you are planning to sell, could make a difference so buy some local papers to compare prices.

Before finalising the price, allow for some haggling room. Don’t advertise at the exact price you want to sell, as buyers will always want to negotiate the best price they get. So if they end up paying the quoted price, it’s a bonus for you, if it is lower, it won’t be a terrible loss.

Used car dealer prices always end with 995, such 12,995. There is a lot of psychology in setting prices, as a product at £10 may take a while to sell, but at £9.95 the same product could be a big seller, even though it is 5p cheaper. On the other hand, you do not want to seem like a car dealer, so more rounded prices may make buyers more at ease.

If you are planning to trade in your car, the trade in price is usually much lower than what you could get if you sold the car yourself. Remember the dealer will have to resell the car for a profit, so they will always offer less than market value.

This is also a good time to find as much information about the car, such as the mile per gallon of petrol it consumes. Also make sure you locate all documents you will have to pass onto the buyer such as the log book (V5), and MOT certificate, and history of services. The buyer will also need to know the duration of the MOT and Tax Disc.