There comes a time when you might find it necessary to sell your car instead of trading it in. There are lots of reasons. You may not know it, but car dealers won't give you "retail" for your car. We can define retail as the well-known book value or an average of prices shown in local want-ads. The car dealers will only give you wholesale, meaning at whatever price they can buy a similar car like yours at the auction. Sometimes they may "show" you that they are giving you retail by adding the discount you would have gotten without a trade to your trade-in value.

Perhaps you may owe too much on your car, and the only way you'll get what you owe is to sell it yourself. But the most common reason is that you want to get the most from your car. Like everything else, you got to have a plan if you're going to maximize the amount you're going to get. On the other hand, you may need to sell it to a dealer, especially if the car is on its last legs or has major wrong things with it. Getting it fixed might be the correct thing to do, but it would take time to get it fixed, and it probably would take a significant amount of cash - so the dealer might be the way to go.

The first thing to do is to get your car ready for sale.

You have to start looking at your car from a buyer's point of view. People often no longer notice blemishes, scratches and other defects their vehicle may have accumulated over time. By simply taking the time to look at your car objectively, you'll start noticing lots of things. So the first thing to do is to clean your vehicle thoroughly to at least give the impression that it has been well taken care of. If you can, wax the exterior and touch up any minor scratches and chips. Have the engine compartment and trunk cleaned as well. Appearance is everything.

The next major step to selling your car requires you to identify any glaring mechanical problems that need attention take care of them.

For example, if your car's muffler is leaking and it isn't quiet, either replace it or if the situation doesn't allow for it,, at least get it patched up. There are several types of patch kits available at parts stores. The point is not to give the prospective buyer any reason to knock down your very reasonable asking price. Remember, the buyer is looking for reasons to knock the price down, and even if they can't find any, you know they are going to offer you less than you're asking for.

Once your car is presentable, you have to decide how to market it.

Word of mouth won't cost you anything. You can let people where you work or your neighbours know that you're selling your car. Park the car in your driveway with a "For Sale" sign on the windshield. This very often is all you'll need to do. If you don't want to sell your car to someone you know, you can post notices at the local supermarket. You can also drive around with a For Sale sign. Or you can place an ad in one of the local advertiser-type papers or websites (e.g. Gumtree). All of these methods work.

One thing to note with an ad is that I can't stand advertisements that say, "Best offer." If I saw an ad that says the best offer and I wanted the car, I'd offer lower than the car's book value. Hopefully, the seller should feel insulted enough and tell you what they want for the car. It's the same thing as going to a car dealer and asking how much is that car and the salesman asking you what you would pay for it?

Selling a car shouldn't be the hardest thing in the world, but taking the time to make your car presentable and determine a fair value for your vehicle, may help you get the best price possible for it.

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Thank you for reading and hope you have a good rest of the day!

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