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Step 1
Make an honest assessment as to the condition of your car. You may consider it to be a cream puff, but any potential buyers will be looking for flaws to justify a lower purchase price. Look for any obvious problems and defects. Is the windshield cracked? Are the tires worn out? Is the interior worn and dirty, or clean and in good condition? Are there any mechanical defects that need to be corrected? You may not think that the dangling turn signal stalk is a big deal, but to a potential buyer, it could be a deal killer. Condition sells.
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Step 2
Get the accurate mileage for the car. This may seem obvious, but many people pay little attention to their odometers and have no idea how many miles are on their cars at any given time. A car with fewer miles deserves a higher selling price, but determining how much more isn't always easy. Also, a car with higher mileage commands a lower selling price in the marketplace, but determining the deduction in value can be more difficult than determining the value added in a low-mileage car. Online guide-books can be helpful. Even though the valuations posted by Kelley Blue Book and NADA can be remarkably different, their adds or deducts for mileage are generally fairly close. When in doubt, average the two. Occasionally neither valuation guide is correct, but this typically occurs when the vehicle has very high mileage. In this instance, the true reduction in value can be as much as double what the guide books indicate.
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Step 3
Double-check the model year. The title will have the model year listed on it, as will the registration. You can also look at the VIN that is stamped in several locations on the car. It is most easily found at the base of the windshield on the driver's side. The tenth character from the left represents the year of manufacture. For cars built since the year 2000, the translation is simple, the tenth digit equals the model year, i.e., a 7 represents a 2007 model year vehicle. For cars built before the year 2000, the tenth character is a letter. There are websites that will decode the VIN for free, giving you not only the model year but also make and model and in some instances the trim level.
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Step 4
Determine the trim level and engine size. Most cars have the trim level listed on the trunk of the car, i.e., LX, DX, Limited. Generally, if no trim level is indicated, it is a base model car. Trim level can have a significant effect on the valuation of a used vehicle and should be determined if you want to arrive at a fair valuation. In the case of a vehicle that has multiple engine size options, the engine size can significantly affect the value. You can determine which engine your vehicle is equipped with by looking under the hood for a tag that lists the engine displacement.
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Step 5
Put it all together. Now that you've gathered all this information, you need to arrive at a reasonable asking price for your used car. Visit both major car valuation websites, which are listed in Resources below, and input the data about your car. Jot down those values. Then do a search at several of the online auto classifieds and do a search for a car just like yours. Most classified sites list cars priced from highest to lowest, so many dealerships list their prices unreasonably high so they can get top billing. Look at comparable cars in the middle listings for a more realistic asking price range. Compare the average prices on the online classified sites with the used car valuation websites. If the numbers are close, then that should be a fairly accurate estimate of a retail price for your used car. If not, then averaging the two data sets should be a fairly accurate starting point.
