Things You'll Need:
- a Little extra cash
- Elbow Grease
- Motivation
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Step 1
It's TIME to sell. Where do you begin? Buy an ad in the newspaper? Advertise FREE on the internet? Park out front with a "FOR SALE" sign? Drive to your local car lot with title in hand? WHOA....... back up!
Before you even THINK about getting rid of that beauty, there are several important steps to "Getting The Most For Your Car"!
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Step 2
First, try to get an idea of what YOUR car is worth. Go to Kelly Blue Book, NADA, etc. to check value. NO.... your car is probably not in #1 exceptional condition. Try to be honest and look at Trade-in value AND retail.
Next go to AutoTrader.com , Cars.com , Craigslist , etc. and look for similar models, take notice of the mileage.
Take out a notepad, write all of this information down (prices, miles, etc), and build a base value. This should give you a rough idea of what YOURS is worth. Remember, there are cars Priced HIGH, Priced LOW and Priced TO SELL.
Now that you have the information, go outside and evaluate YOUR car. Walk around, open doors, hood, trunk or hatch, and LOOK.
It is dirty, the paint faded, scratches, body damage? Look closely.
Reevaluate YOUR vehicles value. Overall, add up damage, wear and tear to decide which level of value your car fits in. Finally, take that value for both Trade-in and Retail and subtract it from #1 Perfect condition.
That amount is how much money YOU will leave on the table if you sell your vehicle as is!
If your vehicle is in Tip Top shape, has decent mileage (12k a year average) and YOU feel it's worth top dollar, PLEASE skip ahead.
Just be very careful about setting your value, too low and you throwing money away. Too high and you better not mind keeping it!
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Step 3
Now it's time to put everything into Tip Top shape. It's the first thing a dealer does when they take an AVERAGE car in trade. The Used car manager evaluates the car and decides whether to Wholesale the car or recondition it.
First thing: make note of broken lenses, cracked glass and missing hubcaps or mismatched tires. Also, take time to schedule maintenance. I know it sounds ridiculous to spend money to sell a vehicle, but it's worth it in the end. Just try to spend as little as possible!
I'll put it this way: Spend $500 to make your vehicle worth $2,000.00 more!
Don't spend more than the difference between the assessed value and TOP value, but DO your best to recondition your vehicle.
Oil changes, tune up, etc are all basic maintenance and a GOOD idea. If you are on a budget, do the least possible, change the oil, get the vehicle running good and have matching tires with decent tread if new is out of the question.
Next replace broken lenses, cracked glass and repair damaged upholstery, maybe even new carpet or a shampoo.
The better the car looks and runs, the more you'll get.
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Step 4
Get ready to REALLY CLEAN. Gather cleaning rags, paper towels, glass cleaner, upholstery cleaner and conditioner, q-tips, etc.
A trip to the car wash is also an EXCELLENT idea, Coin operated or otherwise, do your best. Try to go over everything several times. While you are at it spend several dollars vacuuming.
As an alternative consider paying $100-$150.00 for a Professional detail instead of the Do-It Yourself route. Their work is usually guaranteed.
Next you should wax the car. There is a special wax available that has color dye in it and the stuff actually works. It covers small chips and scratches with the dye as it polishes.
Finally, remove EVERYTHING from the vehicle that does NOT belong. For example: papers, scrapers, umbrellas, stuff from all of the hiding places: Glove box, doors, storage bins, etc. Even check the trunk. Wipe everything down and even buy an air freshener.
Being a car sales veteran, when a customer comes in with a Car or Truck with no personal effects and single keys on a ring, I know they hold all of the cards and WILL buy somewhere. In other words, they are SERIOUS!
The vehicle should look like it's ready for the front line at your local car lot!
In fact if you do your job, it will go straight from the parking space when you trade it in to the front line!
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Step 5
Stand back and admire YOUR vehicle. Time to gather any paperwork, like title, insurance card, maintenance records, extra keys, etc, etc. You might even put them in a folder, or manila envelope. Just make sure that Social Security numbers, home address, etc are blacked out or cut off.
In Conclusion: Where to get rid of your vehicle depends on YOU.
If you are a Wheeler Dealer type... throw a sign in the window, park it somewhere with lots of traffic and place an advertisement.
If you don't like confrontation, consider trading in. Most dealers are fair and are in business to make a fair profit.
If you don't want to buy a vehicle from a dealer consider getting a "Buy-Bid". A "Buy Bid" is a bid from any dealer that wants that vehicle. For example you take your Jeep to a Toyota dealer and they call their buddy at the Jeep dealer or a used car lot that specializes in that type of vehicle. The other dealer wants that vehicle where as the Toyota (or wherever you are) feels they are taking a risk. If you can find a nice dealer that's willing to call one of his buddies and get a buy bid, maybe you'll grease his palm for the trouble. I have seen buy bids come in at $3,000 more than the original dealer offered. You could also bypass that process by driving to those dealers yourself.
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Step 6
Selling your vehicle is just a minor inconvenience in the way of your next new vehicle. It's not rocket science, if you were looking at cars to buy which would you prefer? Dirty or Clean? Needs work? Or Running like a song?
Follow this advice and you should get top dollar for your ride!
Better yet... you might decide to keep it!
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Comments
zanon said
on 4/2/2009 Very detailed. I would recommend placing links to those websites in the resources section.