Most people will at some point in their lives be in the situation of selling a car. Before you sell it there are a number of things you can do to make sure you get as good a price as possible for your old motor. It is relatively easy these days to find a website or even mobile phone text messaging service to find out the approximate value of the vehicle. This is worth doing if you are selling privately, negotiating with a used car showroom or if you are buying a new car from a manufacturer, knowing how much your car is worth will be a help if its being used as a trade-in

Give your car a good clean using cleaning products that give the car a good shine, and definitely consider spending a little cash on sprays that bring life back to plastic body parts and your tyres.  Remove all of your rubbish such as food papers, empty cans of soft drinks and cigarette packets and then give it a good vacuum either at home or at a petrol station. An Oil change does not cost too much and will look good when the buyer looks under the bonnet. When doing the oil change, check the brake fluid, and windscreen washer levels and fill if needed. They are only little things but could make a difference of a few hundred pounds when it comes to bartering, especially on a private sale.

When it comes to wording an advert, don’t try and save money by using abbreviations, a lot of buyers will not know what they mean, but if you have to use them, just stick to the most common one’s such as VGC, A/C, and try not to use phrases that are on every advert, like one careful lady owner. Do put whether
your car has a full service history, its colour, and number of owners, also list the car’s equipment, what features it has and most important its price. Do not forget to include a picture and your contact details.

When the advert is placed in newspapers and magazines or even shop windows, the people interested will soon by phoning you to come and look at the car. It a sad fact but thieves will pose as buyers, so never let the buyer go on a test drive on his/her own and don’t leave the buyer alone with the keys in the ignition. You can ask the prospective buyer for some form of identity and ensure they have adequate insurance cover before you allow them to test drive the car; they won’t have been included in your motor insurance quote so you don’t want to be left with a bill to pay for any damage. If you are paid in cash, it’s always best to get it put into your bank as soon as possible just in case you are paid with fake notes.