Step Guide to Selling Your Car

Evaluate Your Vehicle

Let's face it, consumers can be fickle. What was once the rage goes quickly out of vogue. The American car-buying public is notorious for wanting the trendiest vehicles with the lowest sticker prices. Take an honest look at the marketability of the car you have for sale. If it's a popular make and model, you'll probably sell your car quickly. If not, be prepared to do a little research to find the best markets for your particular car.

Remember the Chevrolet Corvair or the Ford Pinto? Those vehicles, and others that have fallen out of favor, may be next to impossible to sell unless you offer it to members of a collector's car club. Compact economy cars may be hot tickets if you happen to live around a college campus; muscle cars may sell best near a military facility; station wagons may attract an interested buyer in a bedroom community; and ragtops will sell better at the beach. Knowing your vehicle and who would be most likely to buy such a car is imperative to the successful sale of your vehicle.

Be brutally honest with yourself about the popularity and desirability of the make and model car you want to sell. Take the time to research the going rate for your car through a company such as the Kelley Blue Book. Only then will you know where and how to market your vehicle, and only then will you have realistic expectations of how much money you can get from the sale of your car.

Determine Your Asking Price

Doing a little homework is your first step in deciding your asking price. Spending a Sunday afternoon scouring the classifieds for comparable vehicles or clicking onto used car websites over several evenings are valuable tools to determine the going rate for your make and model of car. Once you have a range of prices for your particular model and year of car, you'll need to factor in a few other considerations:

• Mileage
• Condition
• Special features

Other factors that determine the selling price of a vehicle that some people do not consider are: location of the car (weather plays a big factor on the look and longevity of a vehicle); who has driven the car (young drivers are known to put hard miles on their cars); and gas mileage (more and more drivers are sensitive to this issue for both economic and environmental concerns).

If you have made major cosmetic or mechanical improvements to the car recently, be sure to boost your price accordingly. A new set of high quality tires, a rebuilt engine, a replaced transmission still under warranty, or a top-of-the-line paint job will add to the value of the car and you should be compensated for those upgrades that make your vehicle more reliable and desirable. Locate the paperwork regarding any major work and create a file of receipts (with dates) to show any potential buyers.

Once you have decided on what you plan to charge, remember to boost your figure by a few hundred dollars. That cushion will provide a bit of negotiating room between you and potential buyers.

Also see more Step Guide to Selling Your Car here