Being a Savvy Seller When Selling Your Used Car
Remember to present yourself in a friendly and honest manner. Potential buyers are going to be evaluating you as well as your vehicle. If you present yourself as a responsible and detail-oriented person, buyers with gravitate to that and not shy away like they would from a high pressured salesman.
Arranging appointments where potential buyers can view and test drive your vehicle can be intimidating, but it keeping it simple will keep your potential buyer at ease, as well as yourself.
When scheduling an appointment with a potential buyer, suggest meeting in a well populated area such as your local grocery store or shopping center. This is a completely acceptable practice that you should enforce. If the interested party does not want to meet you in a populated place then you should choose not to show your car to them; plain and simple.
If safety concerns are a big issue for you then we suggest that you take a friend or family member with you when meeting prospective buyers. It never hurts to be too careful.
When going for a test drive it is a common practice to ask to see the potential buyer’s driver’s license. Don’t be afraid to ask to see it and ensure it’s valid. Another consideration for the test drive is whether your insurance allows other drivers to drive your vehicle. If they do, then go on the test drive. If they do not, you should ensure that the buyer’s auto insurance will cover them in the case of an accident. Don’t be afraid to deny someone the opportunity to test drive your vehicle; remember if there is an accident you may be liable for the damage.
Many people refer to Kelley Blue Book (www.kbb.com) as the end all; be all of used car and truck valuations, and we may have agreed with you a few years ago. However, KBB’s current pricing model makes us scratch our heads and say, “What happened?”. With this knowledge in hand you may need to combat (verbally) a buyer who has come to see your car with a KBB pricing estimate in an attempt to get you to lower the price of your vehicle. If you are prepared you can show them the “actual value” of you vehicle from Step 1 of this guide. Do not let a potential buyer dictate the value of your vehicle based on a single reference. It is always a good idea to print out alternative value statements from other sources and have them available when showing your vehicle. There will always be negotiation, but just make sure that you can show the potential buyer all the paperwork that fully justifies your asking price.
Savvy buyers will often ask if they can have your vehicle inspected by a mechanic of their own to perform a diagnostic, this is a completely acceptable practice when buying and selling used vehicles. If you are comfortable to have the potential buyer drive the vehicle to his or her mechanic, then do so. This only builds more confidence in the final decision to purchase the vehicle. If not, arrange a time when you can provide the vehicle to his or her mechanic of choice. Either way, you can rest assured that you are getting very close to successfully selling your car.
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