Mechanical
If you are selling the car privately, it is in your best interest to have the car all fixed up, any mechanical issues put to bed and a RWC completed so that the buyer has total confidence in the purchase. This will open your car up to more buyers for two reasons.
a) A lot of buyers won’t consider a car without a RWC as they will be scared of any issues which may prevent a RWC from being done (serious frame damage for example) and they also want to know that the car is costing them X amount. A fixed price that they can see and understand.
b) A lot of buyers are looking for a car that they can take away immediately. If the RWC is done that means they can do an online transfer and drive the car away. No taking the car to a RWC garage and waiting for days. Convenience is valuable to a lot of people. You will be paid for providing it.
If you are trading the car in, obviously this isn’t so important but you should be aware than any mechanical issues that the dealer can see. Engine management light on, bald tyres, oil leaks. This sort of thing will be a reason for them to try to knock the value of your car down. So don’t give them the chance if possible. Some issues are easily rectified.
Presentation
Now that we have dealt with the mechanical part. Its time to think presentation! If you are selling privately, some people will see scratches and dents on your car and just look to the next one. Nobody wants to show a new car off to friends and family with damage on it. Wear and tear we can live with. Scratches to the top of the rear bumper for example. A few stone chips. This is expected on a used car. We would still have them touched up but it’s not always necessary to repaint a panel over something like that.
Significant dents and scratches are unacceptable. Nobody wants a car with damage on it and if they do, they will look for a healthy discount for it. For this reason, you’ll want to have that taken care of. Luckily Fast Panels provide a range of repair options to fix up most minor accident damage at a very reasonable price. Even unsightly scratches to alloy wheels should be taken care of. Obviously how much we repair and how much we touch up is a judgement call made by yourself however ask for our opinion. We have a great ear to the ground on car sales and work with a lot of the leading marks in the industry. We can guide you through this and let you know what we think should be done. Its not the same on every car. If you are selling an 18 month old BMW with a small scratch on the bumper we would absolutely recommend you have this repainted. If the car was a 20 year old corolla with 300,000kms on the odometer we may advise that a touch up would suffice just to take the eye off it.
When trading the car in if there is damage the dealer will exaggerate the repair cost and on top of that they are much more likely to pay up for a clean car that they can stick straight on the lot after a quick clean. As a dealer its all about how quickly you can turn your stock over. The faster you can, the more money you make. For this reason, the dealers like clean stock that won’t require sending to a panel shop for a week or so. This will slow down their reconditioning process. A repair that may cost say $600 with Fast Panels they may try to tell you that it will require $1500 in panel work and so take that off your trade in value.
Now that you’ve had the damage repaired its time to have the car professionally detailed. Its amazing what a difference a good detail makes to a car. Usually for a reasonable price you can have someone give the car a full cut and polish, steam clean and wet vac the interior to remove any of those stubborn stains and. Its well worth the money.
If selling privately, now its all about taking some nice photos (we’d recommend sunset as the best time to do it) Take it to an open place that the car can be the star and shoot away. A well written and honest advert will help too. Highlight its service history and condition of the car overall.
After that its time to advertise the car in the right places. As expensive as it is, Carsales.com.au is still the number one place to list your used car. Particularly if it is something rare or priced north of say $20,000 Other than that we’ve seen great luck with facebook marketplace but be aware. It is filled with time wasters. Be prepared to kiss a few frogs before you find your prince.
Well that’s our summarised guide to preparing your used car for sale or trade in. Follow these steps and you’ll be sure to maximise the value that’s in your used car.
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