Are you planning to update your current car? or are you simply trying to sell your old car for cash? The reasons for wanting to sell your car are endless. Most importantly, you want to get the best price for your car. To do this, you need to make it look as good as possible for perspective buyers. Our experts at Belgard Sales have put together a list of ways you can increase the value of your car.
Make Your Car Look Newer
The first thing you need to do is give your car a good all over cleaning. In some cases, a clean car can increase a car by as much as €1000. You can do this yourself, or depending on your budget, you could get a professional clean. A professional car clean usually costs anywhere from €50 - €110 in Dublin. However, you should make sure you go somewhere with good credibility.
Again, depending on budget, it might make more sense to clean the car yourself. See the following on cleaning the interior and exterior.
Clean Your Car’s Exterior
First impressions count! So you should make sure you make the car as shiny as possible as the outside of the car is the first thing your perspective buyer will see. At the very least, you should give the car a good wash before showing it to a potential buyer.
If your doing the job yourself, a good car paint cleaner goes a long way. Using household products may damage your cars paint.
Clean Your Car's Interior
A clean interior is very important. When a perspective buyer sits into the car, you want them to be impressed. You should make sure that you give the carpets and seats a good hoovering – even consider buying some new mats. Give the cars dashboard and interiors a good polish and don’t forget to clean the car’s windows from the inside as this is something often neglected. Finally, get a nice smelling air freshener, especially if you smoke. Doing all of these things will help you raise the cash for your car.
Check The Electrics
It’s important that all electrics in the car are in good working condition. If there are any faults, it is important that you note them to buyers as honesty is the best policy.
Check all of the lighting, widows, car wipers, mirrors, air conditioning, the battery, USB and AUX sockets. Also check the car's fuses, bulbs, and radio aerial, these are often cheap items worth repairing.
Check The Mechanicals
Investigate any warning lights on the dashboard. If the water, oil, or washer fluid is low, fill them up. If there are any more warning lights signaling a problem with the car, you should bring it to a mechanic. You can compare the cost of sales to the cars selling price and, in some cases, it will make sense to do the repairs.
Treat the car as if it is going for an NCT test. If it is due for an NCT, you should consider getting a new one as this is a hugely attractive feature when it comes to selling.
Organise Your Paperwork
Make sure you keep all service history reports, any work carried out, car manual, NCT reports, and the vehicles registration certificate. Being able to present all of this paperwork to your prospective buyers will increase their trust and confidence in buying from you.
Value Your Car
You’ll want to get the right valuation for your car. Most importantly, the price needs to be competitive. You can refer to a few resources online such as adverts.ie, buy and sell pages, and other car selling sites. These will give you a good idea of what your car is worth. You could also take your car to a dealer to see what price they would give for it. But keep in mind, they will always give you the lowest price as they need to make profit for it themselves.
Too Much Work
It takes a lot of time to do all of these things when getting your car ready to sell. Then comes the hard part – Selling Your Car. This often involves a lot of calls, arranging meetings, no shows, as well as avoiding scam buyers. You can take the hassle out of buying buy getting in touch with ourselves at Used Car Buyers. We offer fast cash for cars (link to home page with cash for cars as anchor text) in Dublin, and Nationwide
Our buying process works in three easy steps – Inspection, car valuation, and a cash offer. Get in touch with us today for a free car valuation.