According to recent studies, vehicle values depreciate faster than before, and several owners struggle to sell their cars for the most value. Even if they do, it takes them a while before finding the right buyer.
⚠️ If It's Broken, Don't Fix It - Get Paid Cash for Your Vehicle ⚠️
Selling used vehicles takes time, and things get more challenging if Your vehicle is older and not in great condition.
Despite these challenges in the used car market selling, you can implement some smart tips to get the most value out of your car and sell it fast.
This article provides you with the results of our intensive review about best practices and selling used vehicles. We will answer your question about how to sell your car fast.
How to sell your car fast? 10 important secrets
If you're looking to get the most value and sell your car fast, here is all you need to do:
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Do your homework
Since you decided to sell your car, it's very important to collect as much information as possible about your vehicle because any buyer will ask you a detailed question.
You need to familiarize yourself with important features about your vehicle like the fuel economy performance, safety features, any previous recalls, any major problems, etc.
Keep in mind that you need to be prepared for a long wait. Selling any used vehicle usually takes a couple of weeks, if not months, depending on the platform you decided to go with.
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Collect all important items
The last thing you would want to do is leave important paperwork not ready until the last minute. It's very important to familiarize yourself with the required paperwork to finish the deal.
For example, you might need to use a specific bill of sale depending on your state. Also, if you have a vehicle title, you need to have it present simultaneously. On the other hand, if your vehicle doesn't have a title and your buyer is aware of that, you might need to show additional paperwork to prove ownership, like your photo ID and valid car registration.
Sometimes if you have a warranty, it's good to have it ready, and also, you might need a release of liability.
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Understand your vehicle's value
It's very important to be realistic and honest with yourself. Understand how much your vehicle's worth, so when you request apprise, it's reasonable.
There are many online tools to evaluate your car, depending on its type, mileage, and additional information about the condition.
Some of these tools are available on the Kelley Blue Book website. Check out what these tools are telling you about your car and consider additional information that the tool doesn't consider two best put the desired price.
Some people might spend additional time and effort to evaluate their vehicle's worth. They might take their cars to a professional mechanic and do a pre-sale inspection. During the pre-sale inspection, the mechanic can tell you what problems your vehicle is suffering from, and he might assist you in determining how much you could request for this car.
Once you understand how much your car is worth, you can confidently argue with the buyer and understand where and when you have a good deal versus you do not have good money.
You can also have a confident background of your vehicle's condition. When the buyer brings his professional mechanic to evaluate the vehicle and points out some problems that do not exist, you can have your point.
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Enhance the first impression
The most important tips and secrets for getting the highest value and making your car selling fast are to enhance the first impression.
When the buyer sees your car for the first time, He will judge your vehicle's health based on its overall look.
That being said, it's really important to take care of minor problems like fixing a broken mirror or painting or fixing a small scratch on the exterior. While this might take you a little bit of time and effort, it can enhance your chances of selling your vehicle fast while getting the most value out of it.
Keep in mind that your vehicle's overall look indicates the health of what's under the hood.
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Choose the right price
Now you have a good understanding of how much your vehicle is worth. You probably got a minimum and maximum value from Kelley Blue Book or other online tools. It's time to price correctly.
Automotive experts recommend that you don't want to price too high or too low. Choose a value somewhere in between. While you can be firm in your price, it doesn't hurt to have a little wiggle.
Be prepared for negotiations because customers will not come and accept your vehicle's value immediately.
You must have some points to support your arguments that your vehicle is worth this money. Something related to good features about your vehicle, probably it's color or its performance. Or even a high demand for this vehicle.
There are many good tips about doing successful negotiation in the car selling process, and we've talked about them in a different article here.
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Consider high-quality pictures
If you decided to go with online markets, you must know that people judge your vehicle heavily based on the pictures you attach.
Therefore, it's very important to have a good time and effort taking nice, high-quality pictures for your car.
When you take these pictures, you need to highlight the overall situation of your car, honestly. You don't want to only show the good stuff about your car; otherwise, you waste your time and the buyer's time.
Make sure everything is highlighted about your car. Take good pictures of the interior, the exterior, the front, the back, etc.
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Use best practices for ad writing
When you create your advertisement online, you need to be precise while covering the most important information the buyer is looking for.
For instance, you need to include these items:
- Your vehicle's make, model, and year
- High-quality photos
- Whether your vehicle is second hand or not
- An overall description of the vehicle's status (e.g., running, starts, has a title, etc.)
- Any additional repairs, upgrades, or improvements
- VIN
- Your desired price
It's very important not to overwhelm the buyer with too much information in the ad. Sometimes, the pictures are enough to cover certain items.
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Post your ad
Now it's the time to get your word out there. It would help if you decided on which platform you would like to go with. For example, you can go with classified websites like Craigslist or eBay Motors, or others. Other people prefer using the Facebook marketplace.
Once you decide on the platform, you need to learn how to create an ad, rank it on the first page, and monitor customers' questions.
Depending on the platform type, some people might need to pay money to create paid ads instead. Because of the high number of posts, you might find it challenging to rank on the first page, and therefore, you might need to wait for a long time before finding the right buyer.
By investing in paid advertisements, you increase your chances of getting in touch with the right buyer quickly.
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Consider cash payments
Many people get scanned in the car selling process online. There are a lot of criminals and scammers out there who can easily get people in trouble.
As automotive experts suggest, the best buyer would be the one who pays you in cash instead of checks that you don't know about them. You don't want to risk chances of checks balancing back from your bank account.
You might need to consider reaching out to junk car removal companies. If you don't know what those companies are, they come to your house or office and remove your vehicle most of the time for free and handle cash payments.
For example, our company is one of the top car removal companies in the nation. We guarantee to buy your vehicle and offer you the top cash your vehicle deserves. While our company's name suggests that we only buy bad vehicles or vehicles in bad condition, we also purchase perfectly running vehicles. We are willing to pay up to $15,000 for the right vehicle.
To get more information about our company, you can navigate our home page or get in touch with our team by phone.
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Complete the sale after negotiating the price
Once you find a potential buyer, be prepared for some negotiation. As we mentioned earlier, the buyer will not immediately pay what you asked for, and they will try to negotiate as much as possible to drop the price down.
Having some background about your vehicle in mind, you can stick to your offer or have some room for wiggle a little bit.
You also want to be flexible enough to make the buyer feel that you choose a price that favors both of you.
After you decided on a final price, it's very important to complete all the necessary paperwork and save copies to yourself in a safe place.
It would help if you also informed your DMV office that you sold your vehicle to avoid any liability about what happens to this car.
Finally, it's recommended that you inform your insurance company that you also sold the vehicle and cancel any active policy.