How To Sell A Car
We hate to do it, but selling a car is a necessary part of life. Some of us, particularly those who are undiagnosed FB Marketplace addicts, have had to do it plenty of times through the years. This means we've built up a great toolkit of tips for making selling cars easier, and faster.
Below are the four most important things to get right when selling a car. We've used these points for countless cars we've had to move on, and they've always worked a charm.
Take Banger Photos
Too many people upload nonsensical photos to their ad, and then wonder why nobody is enquiring about their car for sale. They need to be well-lit, with a clean car (yes, wash and vacuum), and showing the whole car. At the very minimum you need the following angles: both front three-quarter sides, both rear-three-quarter sides, engine bay, and interior.
Good photos show you care about the car and give the prospective buyers confidence that you're not hiding anything with the car's condition. They will respect you've taken the time to go out and photograph the car for the ad, which helps them trust that you care about the car.
When you go to take the photos (ideally as soon as possible after cleaning the car), a phone camera is good enough but try to choose a nice, neutral background like a well-lit, empty corner of an outdoor carpark. If you have to take photos at night, try to illuminate the car as best as possible, even using the headlights of a friend's car - you want to show the car from as many angles as possible.
If you're selling a project, clear plenty of space around it so you can see as much as possible, and remember details matter. If your car is modified remember to take detail pics of the modifications as they might well make the difference for someone to pick up the phone and enquire about the car.
Research The Market... Thoroughly
Understanding how to price your car fairly is a key part of selling your car. Nobody wants to sell their car too cheap, but pricing it way over the odds is guaranteed to light your inbox up with low-ball offers, and little else.
Try to find comparitive ads for the same car and as close to your year/make/model/spec-level as possible. Ideally you can find cars in the same colour, similar mods and mileage in your local area so you can price your car accordingly. You will have a much harder time selling your car if it's the highest priced example for sale and you can't clearly tell people why.
When researching prices don't just rely on one website: look at FB Marketplace, eBay, sales websites, and speak to anyone you know who sold a similar car recently. Part of the reason for being so thorough is because modified cars appeal to a pretty small window of people, as a buyer for your car needs to share your exact taste in cars and modifications. In some cases you can be better off putting the car back to stock as this can net you a faster sale and better price.
Write A Proper Description
We live in the age of TL;DR, but if someone is going to buy your car you need to give them the very basic information to interest them: year/make/model, what spec it is, what the mileage (kilometres or actual miles), any and all modifications, how long you've owned it, how much registration is left, and any known faults.
You don't need to write every single detail of the car's history, but you should give any potential buyer a good idea of what they're buying. Things like if it was your daily or weekender, whether you imported it or not, how kuch paperwork it has, how often you serviced it (or who it was serviced by), and the like all helps give a prospective buyer the feeling they're not taking a huge risk buying your car as it won't seem like you're hiding anything.
Be Honest
Having the buyer trust you and the car you're selling is paramount to not only a good sale, but to avoid being low-balled like crazy by someone who is thinking they're going to have to completely rebuild the market-priced car they're buying off you. You don't need to explain every tiny fault with a car, but you should be honest so the buyer can trust they're not buying a lemon... and if you're selling a total soggy nugget then they know what they're buying.
If you've explained major and minor faults to a prospective buyer it also gives them less room to haggle on the price, if you've priced the car inside the market value for your example. Hiding faults with a car doesn't actually benefit anyone, as you're unlikely to be making life-changing money by failing to disclose faults with your car.
Ultimately, we're all car enthusiasts and we should look out for each other as much as possible. It's a small world; you'd hate to be ripped off if the shoe was on the other foot.
Sell, Don't Swap
Today we see a lot of people offering to swap their car for one we're selling, sometimes with cash on top, and sometimes asking for cash from us as part of the trade. In our experience this has never worked in both parties' favour.
Someone always gets the worse vehicle in the wash-up, and it's highly unlikely you're going to be lucky enough to have them want to trade you a car you've been dreaming of owning. You're almost universally better off selling your car and then going and finding the car you want, rather than the car randomly being offered.
Swaps nearly always take longer to facilitate, and lead to rushed decisions. If someone really wants your car they'll find the money and sell that car they're trying to offload. Stay the course, sell the car.
