Posts Tagged ‘how to sell you car’

In every car sale the most crucial stage is when a potential buyer inspects the car they are interested in buying. Even the negotiation of the price will be influenced heavily by what the buyer thinks when they are shown the car. Most serious buyers will want to take the car for a test drive before they decide to buy it or not. Showing the car can be quite a nerve wracking experience for the seller especially if the buyer is a complete stranger. But it need not be.

Check with your insurance agency to find out whether the car’s policy allows for other people to drive your car. If it doesn’t then you need to make sure the buyer is fully covered.

Have a familiar route planned out before the test drive. Ideally the route should give the buyer an opportunity to drive the car on different road surfaces and at different speeds.

Meet your potential buyer during the day and in a public location for your safety. It’s always a good idea to let someone know where you will be and with who. Never invite a buyer into your home under any circumstances.

Just to be on the safe side, check the buyer’s license before they get into the car. It will validate their identity and ensure they are legally cleared to drive your car.

Accompany the buyer on the test drive but only if you feel comfortable doing so. This provides a great opportunity for you to gloat about your car by pointing out all the great features it has.

If you don’t plan to accompany the buyer on the test drive, validate their identity beforehand. Make sure you have more than just a name and a phone number. Have an address and a place of work and check them out. Realistically speaking though, you’ll probably still want to have someone in the car with them, even if it’s a friend or a family member.

Patiently answer the questions asked and be detaermined and think I want to sell my car. Remember that the buyer probably has just as much to lose as you do. Put them ease and earn their trust. It will make the price negotiation much smoother.

Be ready for trick questions during the test drive. One you are almost guaranteed to hear is: “What’s wrong with this car?” It’s an automatic assumption made by most of us whenever we hear something used is up for sale and some sellers at this point think “If i get asked stupid questions like this, I don’t want to sell my car to this person” but this is a formality and all potential buyers will ask such questions. The owner wants to get rid of it ergo, something must be wrong with it. Have your answers ready since hesitation can easily be mistaken for deception.

At the end of the day always trust your intuition. If a buyer makes you extremely uneasy then don’t proceed with the test drive. Tomorrow is still another day with a potential buyer waiting to get in touch with you.