There comes a time in everyone’s life when we must make changes and say goodbye to familiar things, and so it is when it’s time to sell your car. You might have had some good times in your car, or maybe you didn’t if you are a commuter, but if you are like most people these days you probably spent a lot of time together, and it can be a bit hard to say that final farewell!  Don’t worry, you will feel a lot better once you sign the papers and have that big wad of cash in your hands!

There are several ways to go about doing this, you can sell your car using a helpful service which is well worth it, considering they do all the work for you, but if you insist on going it alone we have a few tips to help you close the deal:

Paperwork – It seems like no matter what we do in life there is always paperwork to do first! Gather all the important documents related to your car and prepare them for the sale. These include your records of car maintenance and repairs, the title, and any other official documents your local government may require. If you want to look like a pro put them all in a nice binder instead of just handing them over in the old grocery bag you have been keeping them in until now.

Clean Up – This should be obvious, but we have test-driven a lot of dirty, smelly used cars and needless to say we are not a fan. You want your car to look (and smell!) its very best so give it a top-notch cleaning job inside and out! Start by removing all personal belongings, including decorations and bumper stickers! No one cares if your kid was an honour student or who you voted for, and they will choose their own dangly air freshener for the rearview mirror, thank you very much! Scrape that stuff off and throw it away! You should probably make a small investment in having the car washed and detailed by a professional service that can give it a good scrubbing and make the old paint job look new with one of those ceramic coating treatments, it will all be well worth it when the new owner forks over the cash!

Set Your Price – It’s time to do some research, check around the internet to see how much your car’s make and model is fetching on today’s used market, then plan on getting less than that. You can try the old trick of setting your initial asking price a bit higher than the market value so they can negotiate it down, but we just say, “this is the price take it or leave it”, and get points for honesty!

Marketing – It’s time to get the word out that your wonderful previously owned vehicle is now available for new ownership! (It’s important to talk like that, people usually fall for it!) After you have it washed it’s time to take some attractive photos of it to advertise with. Take the pictures in the early morning or evening sun for the sweet light, and try to capture its best side, if it has one. You will also have to list the make, model, year, and mileage. It’s best to be honest about any cosmetic or mechanical problems.

Just a reminder, here is the Queensland Government’s webpage dedicated to all the things you need to do to sell your car (remember when we talked about paperwork?) as an example. Make sure to check the rules wherever you are, you don’t want any official entanglements, just the cash, please! Good luck unloading, we mean, selling your old car!