So the decision has been made to sell your car. "How do I get the highest value for my car?" -- is a question that resounds throughout the ranks of those selling their chariots on a daily basis. First, get off the horse of emotion when ascribing a value to your car. Many people develop emotional attachments to their vehicles. While this is understandable, emotion has no place when it comes to vehicle pricing. Once you adopt that frame of mind, get your hands on a pricing guide and price the car realistically, taking into consideration year, make, model, condition, equipment, and mileage.
There are certain things the buyer of a car looks for when considering a vehicle:
- Service History
- Exterior and Interior Condition
- Mileage
- Equipment
Service History: The service history is much like the pedigree papers received when buying a purebred dog. The buyer is looking for consistency in maintenance practices and any major repairs that have been done on the car. It's a good sign when the maintenance schedule established by the carmaker has been followed, i.e., oil and filter changes every 3,000 miles, transmission services every 25-30,000 miles, regular tire rotations and wheel alignments -- all these things indicate that the car has been conscientiously maintained. The buyer is also looking for any major repairs that have been done and why. If a repair such as half-shaft replacement keeps popping up frequently, this could be an indication of an underlying root problem, such as a bad transmission, or shifted or broken motor mounts. This could steer the would-be buyer away from the car. Bottom line -- keep the car maintained and in good working order with supporting documentation to get maximum resale value.
Exterior and Interior Condition: Common sense reigns here! If the car's interior looks like it ought to be condemned by the health department -- french-fries ground into the carpet, cigarette burns, stains of unknown origin (you get my drift) -- or the exterior would make it eligible to enter an ugly-car contest with the likelihood of winning -- chances are you will not realize the best value if the car was clean! Research done by the National Car Care Council based on national auto auction statistics indicates that an "extra-clean" vehicle may be worth half again as much as the same vehicle in "average" condition, mileage and equipment being the same. You might want to spend the money for a professional detail if the car is dirty.
Mileage: Today more and more vehicles are going beyond the 100,000-mile mark. In days gone by, this was certain death to the resale value of a car. Not any more! There's a market for high mileage cars out there! The average age of the cars on the road today is 8-12 years old. Even if the car is only driven 10,000 miles a year, that's a minimum of 80,000 miles! To get maximum value out of a high mileage vehicle,have supporting documentation proving that the car was maintained throughout its life.
Equipment: Very often equipment and options can make the sale, but they must be in good shape and working. What good is having air conditioning if it doesn't work? The car's got a great radio, but the faceplate is broken and there's a lot of static when it plays. What good is that? Want maximum resale value? Then make sure all the equipment is in good working order.
In summary, a car that has been well maintained, clean both inside and out, with all its equipment working, will bring maximum resale value to the seller!
Til next time -- keep rollin'
