If you have a car you need to sell, the internet is going to be one of the first places you look. Not only is the internet a great resource for listing cars for sale, but it is also a great place to find advice on how well you could expect your care to sell, the best asking price for your specific vehicle, and you can learn some great sale techniques as well. So, if you no longer need your wheels because you’re buying a new vehicle, moving somewhere where you won’t need one, or you just need the cash, read on for some tips to ace your car selling online.
Make Sure Your Car is Clean and in Good Repair
The best thing to do when selling your car is to make sure your car is worth buying. That is, buyers would prefer to purchase vehicles that are clean, well-kept, and have no major mechanical or maintenance issues. Consider heading to a mechanic and getting a clean bill of “health” for your car to show off to potential buyers. A clean car will be more attractive off the bat and will look better in any photos you post to social media.
Use True But Tasteful Language in Your Listing
In the description of your vehicle, you should always cover the basic information: make, model, year, number of miles, color, and VIN. This is the information that buyers will always ask of sellers regardless of what platform they are buying a used car from. Additionally, you should provide a paragraph description of the car, including any cosmetic defects or non-life-threatening mechanical issues.
Make sure you are truthful in this description without being negative. Perhaps instead of saying there is “cosmetic damage on the rear passenger side door” you could say “slight nick on the rear passenger side door.” Make sure you also include your asking price so that your buyer is not entering the negotiation blindly, and explain why you even want to sell your car at all. Extra tip: don’t be too off-base when you list your price; check with Kelley Blue Book to find the correct range to list.
Consider Selling at an Auction, or Buying to Sell at Auction
If you’d rather not list your car on social media or Craigslist, you could always try to sell it at an auto auction. These auctions aren’t always in person. Nowadays, people can bid on vehicles and auction cars online, like on autoauctionmall.com. Many collectors or people who buy for parts purchase cars at auction, so it may be a good route to take if you have a vintage or rare car, or if you’re trying to sell a real junker.
Take Good and Well-Organized Photos
A picture is worth a thousand words, and that definitely applies to the world of buying cars online. That is why you should take high quality, in-depth photos of all parts of the car you want to sell. Include both interior and exterior photos, and make sure you keep all your pictures organized. This is especially important if you want to sell multiple cars online. If you really want to stay organized, it could mean better measures are needed that a simple USB drive or stashing them all on Google Drive.
Invest in a cloud storage smart photo manager like ibi by Sandisk. Sandisk’s ibi device syncs all photos you take automatically to all your devices and makes it easy to post them to multiple social media accounts if needed. This could really come in handy if you want to post multiple cars for sale on Facebook Marketplace, on Instagram, and potentially on Twitter.