How to sell a car

When it comes to selling, the first step is to determine in what state is the car you want to offer. Is it a banged up rust bucket, or is it in mint condition? Probably, it's something in between.

The biggest question is, can you do anything to raise the value of the car? Raising the value of the car is like walking on thin ice. If you leave it 'as is', you won't get that extra money you could get by fixing it. If you spend too much, you'll end up loosing money, because every car has it's maximum sale value. And, if you fix it up too good, you'll start thinking about keeping it.

On the other side, if you stick to cheap fixes, and just mask bad things, you'll scam the new owner. So, what now? Read on, and I'll give you some advice on how to REALLY fix the car with a minimum budget. The key here, is, that you do all of the work yourself. When it comes to fixing up cars, mechanic labor is the most expensive part...

OK, what's next?

Potential buyers will want to know some basic information about the car, even before they come to see it. Do your homework, so you'll have answers when they call or e-mail you. Read the next list of questions, and find all of the answers... That should give you the general idea about the state of the car.

NO!

Don't lie. Lying about your car is scamming. I already told you that it's not worth it. In the end you could end up with a lawsuit on your hands. You don't want that, now, do you?

The facts you can't change are, of course, Make, Model and Year of production. You can change almost everything else. There are some other facts that you should always be true about - like mileage.

Of course, a lot of car dealers temper with mileage, forge service history records... In the end, customers get suspicious about every car they set their eyes on. If you are honest, potential buyer will see it, and that almost guarantees you'll sell.

P.S. Here's mine personal experience as a buyer:
I was looking for a 3 series BMW E36. I had two favorites: one with 150000 kilometers on the clock, and one with 270 000 kilometers on the clock. I bought the second one. Why? The one with less kilometers just didn't feel right - i had a feeling like it was a car with almost 400 000 kilometers. After all, both of them were 15 years old when I was looking at them - and the one with more kilometers had a perfect service history. Every bill, receipt, from the day it was bought new. I bought it from the third owner, and he provided me with first two owners phone numbers and addresses. The owner of the first car stated, that he was the second owner, and that his dealer didn't give him any bills for the
maintenance done on the car. Fishy, don't you think? (Yes, I did a little research and, in the end, found out that the car with 150000 km actually had 450 000 kilometers, and 5 or 6 previous owners... huh.)

There are only two things you MUST do in life. You MUST wash the car before sale, and you must die. OK, I'm being too dramatic here. But, I'm not joking about washing your car. No one wants to buy a dirty car, and, when potential buyers come to see it, it will certainly turn them off if your car is dirty. Inside or out. Washing a car is free. (Well, almost free - if you do it yourself) Even if you take it to a car-wash, it won't cost a fortune either. A nice little tip - if you're like me, and you like to smoke in your car, take it to a good car-wash, where they can clean your car's interior with steam/chemical vacuum. That will not only clean the car more thoroughly than your home vacuum cleaner, but it will remove the cigarette smell from the carpets, upholstery... If you have leather interior, spend a couple of bucks on leather-care products. It will make your seats look soft and shiny. Right, don't forget to wipe the dashboard, and car windows (inside of the car). And, if you do smoke in the car, don't forget to take out the ash-trays and give them a proper cleaning. If you're lazy, just trow them in your dishwasher. (no dishes, please) ;)

On the outside, wax your car. You don't need to waste a lot of money on professional car wax and accessories - just buy a cheap one which will make your car shine. This is not cheating - if the new owner wants proper car-detailing, let him do it after he buys the car from you.

And remember - FIRST IMPRESSION is what counts wen selling a car! :)

What can you do if your car is full of dents and scratches? You can fix some of them, but probably, not all. Fixing everything in a body shop is too expensive - and you do want to get as much money as possible. If your car's bonnet and/or front bumper is chipped from the sand and small rocks, you can 'mask' them with touch-up paint. It comes packed in a little bottle and with a little brush. Like the name saids - you just need to 'touch' the damaged part. Obviously, if your car has like 2000 chipped dots, it make sense to respray the whole front end, but, that would cost you too much money, and I don't advise it.

Do your side-skirts and fenders show rust?
(Take a look on the picture)
Believe or not, you can fix this. Take a angle grinder, or a wire-brush... Anything that can help you remove the rust. Make a straight line on the car side(both) with a masking tape, and brush everything below it. It doesn't matter if you take off paint or, even, if the rusted parts come off and make a hole. Just be thorough enough to clear all the rust. Than, buy a spray can with some primer. You can even buy a anti-rust one. After it dries, fill the holes with body filler, or even with that foam that's used to put windows on houses. Using some sand-paper, level everything out and spray it with primer once more. After that, you cover everything with some under-body seal. Spray everything over with some spray paint...

Do the same on the other side of the car, so it'll remain symmetrical. :)

Now, this was a real quick DIY. If you want detailed DIY, let me know, and I'll write one. :)

If you were the buyer, wouldn't you like to see that the car you want to buy was serviced properly? Of course you would. And it would be even better if the car was serviced just before you buy it - so you could drive it for a couple of thousand miles without having to worry about anything... Well, that's true, but, a lot of buyers don't believe the seller when it comes to service. But, in the end, that's not your problem. If you have a service history book, bills, and other proof that the car was taken care of, you have a huge advantage. If you don't, the only thing you could do is to service the car, and to keep the evidence. What kind of service should you do before selling? Obviously, not an expensive one, so, just do a basic service:
Here's what you need to buy:

• Oil


• Oil filter


• Air filter


• Spark plugs

The car I was selling had worn out front brake pads and discs, so i replaced those too. It also had a crack in the exhaust pipe, but, since I have the right tools and know-how, I repaired it myself. Of course, I had to weld it. It solved the problem, and it was almost free.
I do all of the servicing myself. I don't lie about it to the buyers. I always keep the bills for the parts, and I present them as evidence. I also keep a nice record of service history for every car I drive and/or service. In most cases, that's enough. A basic service, will cost you about 50$ in parts, and you could do it at home, with some basic tools. (Even if you don't have the tools, you can buy everything you need for about 25$.) Of course, the cost of parts varies from store to store, and from one car brand and model to another. But, no one said you have to buy the original parts. Non-original replacement parts perform the same, if not better, than original ones.