This is a common question. Usually there are a number of factors when determining what a car is worth however value and sale price can have little to do with each other depending on how you intend on getting rid of your vehicle.

Selling your car usually makes you reflect on the day you first purchased it; whether it was financed or if it was paid for with your hard earned cash. If you still have finance over your car or if you own it outright will also impact on what you do next.

Motor vehicles are generally one of those items you buy that depreciate in value the moment you drive it out of the dealership. Unfortunately, there is very little you can do to add value to the car.

If you intend on selling privately, it’s a good idea to know your stuff. Check out your competition on other sales platforms – used car yards, sales websites like car sales or trading post show the current prices that cars are selling for or redbook can help with giving you a guide on the value of your car, or even just drive around your neighborhood as there’s usually a few sitting on the side of the road with the big ‘FOR SALE’ sign in the window. Be realistic with your car and see the imperfections that might bring the price down. The next buyer doesn’t care that you bought it for $30,000 or that you spent $10,000 on it, they just want to buy the car as is at a fair price.

Car dealers, on the other hand, will always try to give you an embarrassing figure as a trade-in to make you feel down and disheartened. The car dealers are trying to win your business and to maximise their profits for the dealership by showing you that your current car isn’t worth anything but they can still put you in a brand new shiny vehicle.

Car dealers are looking for the work they have to do in buying the vehicle and then making it look good enough to sell it quickly. Don’t worry about fixing small issues before trading in as it usually has little bearing on the trade in value – remember, they have access to a lot cheaper parts and labour to get it looking great again. If you were to pay $100 to fix something, they could probably do it for only $20.

JBS Salary Packaging has a few tips to help maximise the value of your vehicle when it comes to sale time:
• Keep the car serviced as per the log book with the details up to date in the book
• Your registration needs to have about 6 months to go before it is due to expire
• Polish the car at least every three months as this will assist in removing any road contaminates eating into the paint work, but particularly when you are ready to sell
• Keep the interior of the car clean and fresh
• Minimise the number of kilometres traveled in the car, (ideally if you can do less than 10,000 km per year) the dealers will give a little more.

However you sell your car, make sure you are comfortable with the process and the price. Make sure all the paperwork is completed correctly and you retain a copy to ensure that you don’t end up with any speeding or parking fines on a car you no longer own.

One of the biggest tips when selling your car, particularly if privately, never let someone test drive your car without keeping something of theirs as collateral or identification to ensure they don’t just drive off with it. I’d suggest that if they drove to meet you, keeping their car keys and drivers license as a minimum.

If you have any questions about selling your car or you are looking at purchasing a new vehicle contact the team at JBS Salary Packaging for some great deals.