Selling Your Used Car

You will get the best price for your car if you sell it privately the process can be time-consuming. Don’t forget you have to be around to take phone calls and meet buyers for inspections and test-drives. Also, advertising can be costly (unless of course it is with us), particularly if your car takes a long time to sell.

If you want to maximise the value of your car you're going to need how much it's worth too. try our online valuation service by clicking value car.
Look at other adverts on the site so that you don't stick out like a sore thumb with a particularly high or low asking price.

Remember that if your car is in a particularly good condition and has covered fewer miles than average, it'll be worth more, Unfortunately, a higher-than-average mileage means you'll have to deduct some cash from the asking price if you want to get people interested.

Be honest with yourself about the condition of your car. If it's a little battered, you'll have to adjust the price accordingly if you don't want buyers to walk away the moment they see it.

In general, special and limited editions aren't worth much more than the basic model they were based on unless they're absolutely packed with extra equipment. Even then, you might only be able to add a few hundred pounds on.

If you're lucky enough to have a highly desirable model that other motorists are clamouring to buy, you might be able to sell it to them for more than the list price so they can jump the waiting list.

Getting your car looking its best before buyers come to see it will help you realise its potential and sell it with the minimum of fuss.

Give it a thorough clean. If it looks the part, you'll be half way there when the buyers turn up. Use professional cleaning products to give it a good shine, and consider sprays that bring back lustre to plastic body parts and tyres.
Spruce up the interior. Removing all of your clutter and giving it a good vacuum and wipe-down is the minimum required, but you might want to rejuvenate surfaces with a dedicated spray.
Get rid of any smell of cigarette smoke or evidence of dog hairs. If you can't be bothered to clean the car yourself, get it done by a valet company. You could spend between £15 and £50, depending on the service, but if you sell the car quickly, you'll save on having to re-advertise it.

Change the oil so it's clean when the buyer checks.

It's often worth getting dents and scratches removed from nearly new or prestige cars before putting them up for sale. Knocks on older cars are expected, so you're unlikely to recover the cost of getting them put right. Covering over stone chips with some touch up paint can be cheap and easy, however.

Collect together all the relevant paperwork for your car, including the V5C registration document, servicing schedule and MOT certificate. If you have receipts for work done, so much the better, it'll show that you've cared for you car.

Wording your advert the right way will draw the buyers in. Get it wrong and you could be left sitting by the phone waiting for it to ring.
Include all the relevant information but be precise, accurate, honest, avoid cliches such as 'first to see will buy', or 'one careful lady owner'.
List the exact model, its year of registration and plate number (eg 1999/T), mileage (76,300 miles not 76k), whether it has a full service history, colour (in plain English), number of owners (if it's low for the age of your car), list of equipment/features, price, colour photograph and contact details.
There's more scope for pictures too, so take advantage. A picture can speak a thousand words.
Avoid abbreviations. It's easy to scan over them and many buyers won't know what they mean.

Once the deposit has been taken and the deal sealed, and before you say goodbye to your car, make sure you fill in all transfer documents.

You must inform the DVLA of the sale by filling in and sending off the form on the vehicle’s V5C registration document.

Click this link to advertise your car now.