Tips For Selling Your Used Car – Showing it Off
So you want to sell your car yourself. There are certainly a number of great benefits to doing so, primary being the thousands of dollars you would leave on the table for the dealer if you traded it in. However, there are a few questions most first-timers commonly have:
1. Where do I advertise it?
2. How do I present it well?
3. What should I do when someone wants to come and drive it?
4. What should I do when someone wants to buy it (deposit and payment)?
5. What do I do about all of the paperwork?
These issues can certainly seem daunting, but they needn’t be. Let’s take them one at a time.
Pt. 3 – The Test Drive
Even with the increase in long-distance sales on the Internet, you will likely receive interest from local buyers who want to take advantage of their proximity to see your car in person. There are a few primary concerns I usually hear from inexperienced sellers
• How do I protect my privacy?
• How protect my personal safety?
• How do I protect my car?
When you sell a car yourself, a certain amount of privacy is lost. Unless you use a service like Mota’s Valet Program you will likely need to at least give out an email address and phone number. When you schedule a test drive it’s likely that you’ll need to give out your home address. Keep in mind, however, that none of this information is really dangerous or different than what one can find out about you by picking up a phone directory or doing a basic Web search. Until you start the paperwork process, the buyer will likely have little more than your phone number and first name, after all.
But, should you have an interested buyer meet you at home at a public location? This question doesn’t have a totally clear-cut answer. Many reputable buyers have good reasons for wanting to know more about the person who owned the car before them. They may want to see how the car was stored, particularly for classic cars, and get an idea about how you maintained it. Additionally, some buyers may be nervous about coming to visit in a strange location since it’s possible that they may be carrying cash for the purchase of the car or at least for a potential deposit. Do, however, remove as much personal detritus from the car as possible. A cleaner car will make a better impression and all of that spare change won’t be rattling around in the glove box. But more importantly, you’ll make sure that personal papers, payment books, checks, and other random items that accumulate over the years won’t be giving more information away than you intend to.
My suggestion is to offer a location that’s most convenient and take care of yourself by ensuring that you aren’t alone. If your buyer wants to look at the car during work hours and your place of business is conducive, offer to meet there. I’ve met people at my office on occasion and it worked well. They learned that I was a reputable person with a real office. We even had access to a copy machine so that we could make duplicates of the signed sales agreement. On weekends, home usually works best for me for a very particular reason… some of your prospective buyers are simply not going to show up and you don’t want to waste your time waiting in the parking lot of the local supermarket all day.
This brings me to some general tips about test drives:
• When you schedule appointments, get the caller’s name and phone number.
• Call the buyer the evening before or a few hours before the appointment to confirm.
When it comes to the actual drive, you need to decide if you want to accompany the potential buyer in the car. If you have a bad feeling about their driving ability, for example if it’s a younger driver, go with them to protect your vehicle. This also works well if you have an older or special car about which there may be a lot of operational questions. Typically, however, from a personal safety perspective you may prefer letting your buyer take the car on his or her own assuming that you follow the following procedure:
• Ask to see their driver’s license.
In most cases, the test driving process should be friendly and uneventful. However, remember that this is your car and you reserve the right to refuse a test drive. Follow your feelings, your “gut” is usually correct.
Steve Haas
Stumble It!
1. Where do I advertise it?
2. How do I present it well?
3. What should I do when someone wants to come and drive it?
4. What should I do when someone wants to buy it (deposit and payment)?
5. What do I do about all of the paperwork?
These issues can certainly seem daunting, but they needn’t be. Let’s take them one at a time.
Pt. 3 – The Test Drive
Even with the increase in long-distance sales on the Internet, you will likely receive interest from local buyers who want to take advantage of their proximity to see your car in person. There are a few primary concerns I usually hear from inexperienced sellers
• How do I protect my privacy?
• How protect my personal safety?
• How do I protect my car?
When you sell a car yourself, a certain amount of privacy is lost. Unless you use a service like Mota’s Valet Program you will likely need to at least give out an email address and phone number. When you schedule a test drive it’s likely that you’ll need to give out your home address. Keep in mind, however, that none of this information is really dangerous or different than what one can find out about you by picking up a phone directory or doing a basic Web search. Until you start the paperwork process, the buyer will likely have little more than your phone number and first name, after all.
But, should you have an interested buyer meet you at home at a public location? This question doesn’t have a totally clear-cut answer. Many reputable buyers have good reasons for wanting to know more about the person who owned the car before them. They may want to see how the car was stored, particularly for classic cars, and get an idea about how you maintained it. Additionally, some buyers may be nervous about coming to visit in a strange location since it’s possible that they may be carrying cash for the purchase of the car or at least for a potential deposit. Do, however, remove as much personal detritus from the car as possible. A cleaner car will make a better impression and all of that spare change won’t be rattling around in the glove box. But more importantly, you’ll make sure that personal papers, payment books, checks, and other random items that accumulate over the years won’t be giving more information away than you intend to.
My suggestion is to offer a location that’s most convenient and take care of yourself by ensuring that you aren’t alone. If your buyer wants to look at the car during work hours and your place of business is conducive, offer to meet there. I’ve met people at my office on occasion and it worked well. They learned that I was a reputable person with a real office. We even had access to a copy machine so that we could make duplicates of the signed sales agreement. On weekends, home usually works best for me for a very particular reason… some of your prospective buyers are simply not going to show up and you don’t want to waste your time waiting in the parking lot of the local supermarket all day.
This brings me to some general tips about test drives:
• When you schedule appointments, get the caller’s name and phone number.
• Call the buyer the evening before or a few hours before the appointment to confirm.
- This ensures that the phone number that they gave you works, making it less likely that they have intentions other than a safe vehicle transaction.
- It also gives them a chance to let you know that they won’t be coming before you spend your Saturday afternoon waiting around
When it comes to the actual drive, you need to decide if you want to accompany the potential buyer in the car. If you have a bad feeling about their driving ability, for example if it’s a younger driver, go with them to protect your vehicle. This also works well if you have an older or special car about which there may be a lot of operational questions. Typically, however, from a personal safety perspective you may prefer letting your buyer take the car on his or her own assuming that you follow the following procedure:
• Ask to see their driver’s license.
- Look it over carefully to make sure it’s theirs and that it’s valid and not expired. At the very least, you need to make sure that they are licensed to drive a car… remember, it’s still insured in your name and you are liable for any damage that’s caused by the car.
- Ask to hold on to their license until they return from the test drive.
- If you have access to a copy machine or an all-in-one printer/copy/fax, do what dealers do and make a photo copy of the license before they go.
- Of course, this assumes that it’s actually something of value.
- Alternatively, ask to hold their wallet or keys as some collateral until they return.
- In most cases, 10-15 minutes should suffice for a decent drive that includes a bit of freeway.
- Suggest a driving route that includes a good mix (or even hand them a list of simple directions to follow if they aren’t familiar with the area).
- Make your expectations clear, for example “See you in about 15 minutes.”
- Ask if they have a cell-phone handy and provide them with your number again so that they can call if they get lost or have questions.
In most cases, the test driving process should be friendly and uneventful. However, remember that this is your car and you reserve the right to refuse a test drive. Follow your feelings, your “gut” is usually correct.
Steve Haas
Labels: MotaMouth, Selling Cars, Test Drive
Stumble It!
posted by Miss Mota Mouth@ 10:39 AM 1 Comments
1 Comments:
Great tips!!
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