Automobile Information Prepping Your Car For

Speaking, or rather writing, as a car sales professional, allow me to share with you some of the “do’s” and “don’ts” of preparing your car for it’s maximum sale price. The two main reasons to fix up your car before trying to sell it are: (1) to get the maximum price for it, and (2) to make it easier to sell. The mistake many people make is that they think every dollar they spend on the car will increase it’s value by at least that much. This is about as far from the truth as you can get. Consult the internet, newspapers, etc to find the range of prices being asked for your particular vehicle. The word “range” is key here. You will soon see that the same year, make, and model of car can differ in asking price by thousands of dollars. Numerous factors affect the pricing of the vehicle, such as mileage, options, model (SE, LE, LS, SS LTZ, etc), warranty, and general condition of the vehicle. An average of these asking prices should give you a rough idea of what to ask.Generally speaking, buying new tires or getting a paintjob will not result in a positive return on your investment. In other words, you won’t increase the value of the vehicle by as much as you paid for the tires or paintjob. Expensive repairs or accessories will usually not get you back as much as they cost you. If your car needs tires, consider a good set of used tires instead of new. They will still pass a safety inspection and cost you only a fraction of the price of the new tires. You can likely get a decent set of four used tires for the cost of one new one. If you clean them up and use some tire dressing on them, they can appear like almost new tires.If your car needs body or paint work, consider just getting the damaged areas touched up, rather than going with an expensive full paintjob, since you will never recover the cost of a full paintjob. Also, if you’re getting paint work done, take “before” pictures, so it doesn’t look like you’re trying to hide serious accident damage. You can show these pictures to a potential buyer to show you’re not hiding anything. People tend to shy away from cars that have had accident damage.A thorough clean up of your car may be the best way to increase it’s value without costing you much to do it. You can make your car look it’s best and spend very little to achieve those results. Wash the car, spend some time giving it a good coat of wax, and apply tire dressing to the tires. Vacuum the carpets, including the trunk, empty out all of your personal belongings as the potential buyer will see that as clutter or junk, which gives the wrong impression. When cleaning your car for the purpose of selling it, don’t forget the engine and the under-hood area. You can do this yourself by buying a spray can of engine shampoo. You simply follow the directions on the can, it’s easy and the result will probably surprise you!Most customers will look at the oil dipstick to see not only if it’s full, but more importantly, if it’s clean. Clean oil implies you have performed regular oil changes. If you had done regular oil changes, you probably kept up with the other maintenance items every car requires. At least that will be the perception. If your car is due for an oil change, ask yourself how long it’s been since it was done. If it’s been far too long and the oil is really dirty, get an oil flush done with the oil change. It’s only going to cost you a few dollars more, and will be well worth it because your customer will see nice clean oil on the dipstick. Also, if it just had an oil change, that will be one less thing the new owner will have to do.If you follow these tips, you may find that your old car looks so good you may rethink selling it. Category:Home › Home • Will higher gasoline prices mean lower sales for new cars? — part 2 • Will higher gasoline prices mean lower sales for new cars? — part 1 • Should the crew of the Sea Shepherd board whaling ships? • Which makes a better pet: A dog or a cat? — part 13 • Grandparents: Can blogging chronicle your genealogy? • Which makes a better pet: A dog or a cat? — part 12 • Are teachers unions the cause of public school problems today? • Which makes a better pet: A dog or a cat? — part 11