When you go to sell your car, it’s only natural to want the best price for it. However, your car’s resale value is dependent on many factors, including car model, trim, mileage, and car condition.
While many of these factors are hard to control, there are several things you can do to improve the resale price for your car. In fact, the tips we’ll be sharing here today are DIY tips you can do at home! No trips to the workshop needed.
Without further ado, here are five DIY tips you can do to snag the best resale price for your car.
1. Clean Your Car
A clean car makes for the best first impression with potential buyers. A shining, gleaming older car will almost certainly get more interest from buyers than a grubby-looking newer model.
Cleaning your car at home is an easy job. Even just hosing it down and drying it with a microfiber cloth will produce good results. But if you want a better shine, you can use car shampoo to really get the dirt out, followed by a polish and wax to keep that like-new shine.
Read More: Car Polish or Wax – How to Maintain Your Car’s Shine
2. Clean Your Car’s Interior
As the saying goes, it’s not just about what’s on the outside but also what’s on the inside that counts. A dirty interior will hurt your car’s resale price as well.
Luckily, cleaning your car’s interior is not difficult. A vacuum will do most of the work, followed by a wipe down of the hard surfaces. Stubborn stains on car seats can be removed using baking soda and warm water, scrubbing the mixture in with a toothbrush to loosen the stain. Finally, bad odors can be removed with a car deodorizer or sanitizing spray.
Read More: Tips on Cleaning & Disinfecting Your Car’s Cabin
3. Touch Up Chips & Scratches
Most buyers will look for any excuse to lower the price. Chips and scratches in the paintwork are easy targets for them to focus on.
Normally, car paint is very hard to restore to showroom condition without a dedicated body and paint specialist. But there is a quick-fix DIY version for small dings or scratches. Touch-up paint pens are ideal for touching up slight paint damage (such as chips caused by stones). These pens are available online, in a wide variety corresponding to manufacturer color codes.
Read More: Busting Used Car Myths
4. Remove Small Dents
Dents are obviously unsightly blemishes that are immediate price slashers. But you can repair minor dents that don’t have paint damage. You can use an ordinary plunger to pull dents on the metal back into shape. For dents on plastic, like on the bumpers, you can use hot water to loosen the dent, then reach behind it and push the dent out with your hands.
5. Depersonalize Your Car
Before you let a potential buyer see your car, you would want to remove personal items from the cabin, such as any decorations or personalized accessories. If possible, you would also want to remove any accessories from the exterior as well.
The goal is to get the car back to its stock showroom look, as this will attract a higher resale price. It’s also a psychological trick. When you depersonalize your car, you are presenting it as something that isn’t “yours” per se. This will make it easier for buyers to accept a higher purchase price for your car.
Snag the Best Price for Your Car at CARSOME
When it comes to selling your car, it may be a hassle if you sell it the traditional way. This is why many turn to CARSOME, where you can sell your car with ease.
Selling your used car through CARSOME is extremely convenient and you can also expect to get a higher resale value (especially if you opt for live bidding) compared to selling your car the usual route.
Here’s how you can sell your car to CARSOME.
- Appointment booking: First you will need to book a free inspection online. Just schedule your appointment online at carsome.my/sell-car or via our mobile app. A CARSOME representative will call you to confirm your details and schedule your inspection at your nearest CARSOME Experience Center.
- Professional inspection: Attend your scheduled inspection and our skilled inspectors will conduct a 175-point inspection on your car before offering you a price.
- Get an offer: After inspection, we will offer a price for your car on the spot, or you can opt to put your car up for live bidding where our dealers nationwide will bid for your car.
- Hassle-free process: Once you accept a price, we will handle all the paperwork and you can expect to be paid promptly once the selling process is completed*.
When you’re ready to sell your car with CARSOME, we’re ready to help. Book your inspection appointment with CARSOME now!
*Terms and conditions apply.
