Don’t be a mug when it comes to selling your car – and don’t give potential buyers a bargain unless you’re feeling generous. When you’re selling your car, it pays to be prepared. A few hours getting your motor looking and running its best will help you get the best price possible. Here’s how to make your car stand out for all the right reasons.

Spring Cleaning

Washing your car, vacuuming the interior and clearing out all the old crisp packets is obviously a good idea. But you can go further with your cleaning in order to raise the resale value of your car. Look carefully and see where dents and scrapes can be repaired, or whether cracks in the paint need looking at. Repair scuffed and damaged bumpers. Make the decision whether you can do this maintenance work yourself – some jobs are best left to the professionals. For example, it is not advisable to try to erase the marks made by other cars’ doors or the scrapes you get when parking because the careless use of paint can wipe value from your car. But you can remove the unsightly marks you get from parking under trees, or touch-up small chips from stray pebbles.

Paperwork in Order?

A good spring clean goes further than your car’s exterior and interior. Make sure the paperwork for the sale is shipshape, too. You will get a much better price when you can prove that your car has been well looked-after with regular services and repairs when needed. Make sure everything is recorded and also ensure that your MOT is up-to-date and isn’t due to expire in the next month.

Prime Time to Sell

When you’ve got your car and your paperwork in order, don’t minimise your sale chances by putting your motor on the market at the wrong time. Certain times of the year are good for selling certain makes and models – for example, a convertible is less likely to go for a good price in January. There are other factors which affect the price of a car such as the volume of cars on the market and how many people are looking for your car at any one time. It can be difficult to find out this information. If you want to maximise your sales potential consider using an online sales tool which has a built-in market reader.

Take a look at your car from the perspective of a car buyer – while the average buyer is not looking for perfection, he or she will be looking for quality. Making an effort to present the car and the paperwork in the right way can make all the difference to making a sale and making an impressive sale – you’ll be glad you did it when you reap the benefits.

Photo by Nicholas Eckhart