Seller's Guide

This guide will help you with selling your car. It covers the main points from cleaning your car, to writing an effective advert.

A clean and shiny car is much more likely to make a sale. Therefore it's worth the little extra effort to spruce up your car.

Pop down to your local store to purchase all the necessary supplies and pick a hot Sunday afternoon.

You can start with a wash, polish and then to top it off, a wax. This will leave your car gleaming in the sunshine.

If your car has alloy wheels it's worth getting some alloy wheel cleaner. Alloy wheels are a big selling point on any car so it's worth making the most out of them.

Now clean the windscreen with concentrated glass cleaner to remove all those flies and tough marks.

You car should now be shining in the sunshine. It's important that the car is roadworthy and proof of this will help you sell your car.

You can do a basic service yourself by checking the oil, water, brake fluid, lights, and tyres.

Your advert is what the potential buyer will see before anything else. It's important that the advert is accurate and detailed. List all the car features including electrics, bodywork, and interior.

Make sure you mention how much Tax and MoT is left on the car, and whether the car has had a valid HPi check. If the car has only had a few owners this will help you sell your car.

Service history is very important to a buyer. If the car has a history and in particular a manufacturer's history make sure you mention this.

Upload a photo of your car to help your advert stand out. The majority of buyers will not be interested unless they know what the car looks like.

You will find a Glossary of Terms which may help you when writing your advert. This is available in the Web Site Help section.

Have a look at similar cars with similar mileages to help decide on the correct price. Remember to take into account service history, condition, extras (CD player, alloy wheels etc.). Look in the local paper, newsagents or on the internet for example cars.

If you're looking for a quick sale set the price slightly under the average. Do not go too low as buyer's may think there's something wrong with the car. Remember to take into account the buyer will almost certainly offer below the asking price.

If you are unsure about the value of your car there are various guides available. These include Parkers, Glass's, and Alliance & Leicester Car Price Index.

This can quite daunting if you're inexperienced so it's always worth having someone else there with you. Things to look out for include time wasters, professional hagglers and criminals.

Never let the buyer take the car out for a test drive on their own and make sure they are insured to drive your car. Never leave the keys in the ignition when swapping seats.

Car inspections are becoming increasingly popular and you shouldn't have a problem with this. Inspections may take a few days to organise and as a gesture the seller should provide you with a report of the vehicle from the inspecting body.

Expect to be offered a lower price for you car. As a result you should increase the selling price when placing the advert. Be realistic when pricing you car. You should have a price in your head which you would be willing to accept and DO NOT go below this. Remember you do not need to sell your car to that person and there will be others.

In an ideal world the best payment method for you is cash (making sure it's not a forgery). Other payment methods are cheque, bank transfer, or bankers draft.

Do not hand over the keys until the funds have been cleared. The buyer may ask for some guarantee such as logbook until the funds have cleared.

Once the payment has been received remember to send off the new registration document with the new owners address details.