Online Car Salesman Shares Secrets Of Successfully Selling A Car Online

So it's time to sell your car. Maybe you already have a new car and just need to get rid of the old one. Maybe not. But there's more to selling a car than simply throwing an ad up online with a few photos and calling it a day. I mean, you could definitely do that, and plenty of people do, but that's also a recipe for your car either taking forever to sell, only getting lowball offers or both. If you want to actually sell your car quickly at a fair price, how do you do that?

Nothing is ever guaranteed, but it definitely helps to listen to the folks who do this kind of thing much more frequently than you do. While you may only buy or sell a car a few times a decade at the most, people who sell cars professionally have a much larger sample size to draw from and know what does and doesn't work. A great online ad won't magically turn a $20,000 car into a $200,000 car, but at the same time, you can definitely pick up a few tips and tricks that may add a few thousand dollars to the selling price or draw in a lot more interest, allowing you to get that old car out of your life even faster than you would have otherwise. 

Recently, the channel Curious Cars took a break from posting reviews to share some tips they've learned over the years about selling cars online, and it's all great advice, so let's take a look at what Bill the host has to say.

It may sound like common sense, but his first tip is to either clean the car yourself or pay someone to do it. Yes, that involves washing the exterior, but you're also going to want to thoroughly clean the cabin, as well. If you've seen ads showing dirty cars, you get it. It may be annoying to really get in there and give your car's interior a deep clean, but it's also worth it. You don't necessarily need to have it professionally detailed, but at least give it a real, honest try. I mean, would you want a car that looks like the windows were wiped down with a raw chicken thigh?

In that same vein, if there's anything you can fix or pay someone to fix for relatively little money, go ahead and do it. Replace that missing OBD port cover. Yank out those dings. Pull off any ugly stickers. Recondition or replace your cloudy headlights. Heck, even look into what can be done about the curb rash on your wheels. After all, the better your car looks, the more it's going to sell for.

Next, take the time to actually photograph it somewhere decent. No one wants a car that looks like it's sitting in a junk yard, and they actually want to see the entire thing. That also means actually showing the entire car in the photos you post. Sorry, boomers. I know it's exhausting pulling the ladder up behind you and then setting the country on fire so your kids and grandkids won't have anything nice left to enjoy, but even you can look at the listings on Cars & Bids and try to make your photos look more like those instead of posting three of the worst photos anyone has ever taken. Videos showing what works and what doesn't work can also help.

In that same vein, if you have both keys, original documentation and service records, be sure to post at least one photo of those as well. It isn't just about the records. It also shows you care about stuff like keeping maintenance records. Can it be annoying to track all that stuff down on top of cleaning and reconditioning your car? Sure, but it's worth it if you want an advantage when you post your ad.