Helping You to Get The Most For Your Money

Just like selling a home, one of the first things that you’ll want to look at when you decide to sell a used car is curb appeal. No one will even stop to take a look if the car is dirty and they’ll drive right by if they find the ad enticing enough to drop by and then see that it looks less than cared for. The very first thing that you’ll need to do is wash the car so you can see how that original paint looks once it’s been touched up a bit.

When the professionals talk about washing the car they mean cleaning all the exterior surfaces and drying them so there are no chalk white water marks. You should also pay attention to the glass surfaces so there are no streaks left. Remember that you want the vehicle to be as enticing as possible to any prospective buyer—you want it to look as close to new as possible. This is only the starting point for the things that need to be done but the car that you want to sell should already look at least 50% better.

After that there are a few other things that you can do and the next step is to make sure the vehicle is mechanically sound. This means that you’ll want to take it to a mechanic to make sure that there are no real large problems with the engine or electrical system or any of the other features the car needs to run properly. There’s a few good reasons for this. This first is the most obvious—most people wouldn’t want to sell a car to someone they thought was in fine mechanical shape only to find out later there was something wrong. As well, you always get more money for a certified car than one that’s not certified and certification is all about ensuring the vehicle is in at least safe condition.

There are a few other things that are minor but they can make a big difference in the appearance of the car and most of them are inexpensive as well. For example, using a little touch up paint on the scratches or pitted areas will help the car to look newer and applying some product like Armor All to the tires can help bring up their shine. Try wiping down the dashboard and of course clean the ashtrays if you haven’t already gotten rid of them completely. Try shampooing and cleaning the carpets and floor mats too and remember that if the car needs regular maintenance such as an oil and filter change, you should take care of that as well before you put the car up for sale.

There’s one other thing that you can do to speed up the sale. Obtaining a Carfax report will give anyone interested an indication that the title is clear and that the odometer has not been rolled back. “autoprocanada”