What Steps Should I Consider When Selling a Car?

tanniesjunk on 08/03/2020 - 20:05

Fair to say I'm a late bloomer to the car world (got my P's at 32).

Need to sell our car (and not purchase another).

What steps should we be going through to offload it?

It's a 2017 with 18k kms.

In my head I'm thinking
1. get absolute lowest price by going back to dealer and getting 'trade in' price
2. do some research on carsales to try to create a comparison and list it on there
3. make sure we get the drivers licence from anyone who wants to test drive it

What else should we be doing? Is it worth doing a pre-emptive car inspection at NRMA? Or is that at buyers expense?

What other gotchas do we need to be wary of? Accept a bank cheque only? What do we do to transfer title so we don't get hit with tolls and speeding tickets etc after sale?

Thanks!

Automotive

Comments

  • TEER3X on 08/03/2020 - 20:09

    Leave the inspections to the buyers. You will need to supply a RWC at some point, they are only valid for 30 days.

    Bank cheques can bounce, maybe payID is the way to go. I think others can chime in on that.

    Be sure to list no accidents, always serviced on time with full history, rego date expiry, etc (if those are applicable)

    • resubaehtgnolhcs on 08/03/2020 - 20:16
      +1

      OP is in NSW so no RWC needed (as long as it is registered)

      Also, if people want to test drive, go with them (don't let them take your car without you)

      You can transfer the title online at MyRTA or in person at Service NSW. Use your rego papers as that has a transfer of title form on the back of it - you keep one section for yourself and the other section you give to the buyer. You can then go into a Service NSW centre and hand over your section of the form, or go online and fill out an online form with the details you have on your paper form.

      • Davo1111 on 08/03/2020 - 20:35
        +1

        if people want to test drive, go with them (don't let them take your car without you)

        also work out if your policy covers test drives

    • md333 on 09/03/2020 - 13:22

      I just bought a car, and thought PayID was going to be a great solution to this. Unfortunately the bank decided it was a suspicious payment and blocked it. Took them about an hour to call up and tell me, so wasted a heap of time trying to re-do the PayID with lower amounts etc before giving up and doing a bank transfer.
      Really annoying, I don't know if its possible to notify the bank in advance so they don't block it, but might be worth trying. Applies to the seller rather than the buyer though.

  • Caped Baldy on 08/03/2020 - 20:18

    I recently sold my car. Tried gumtree but didn't get my interest. Ended up selling a few weeks after being on carsales. I got quite a few lowballs so know what number you want.

    Condition of the car and inspections is the buyer's expense. If going for a test drive you should make sure your insurance covers them.

    Assuming you're in NSW, you can submit a transfer of ownership (for you notice of disposal) on the RMS website. You will need the buyer's details like name, address, license number. If they're out of state you will have to go in person to a service centre. So won't really have to worry about driving offences. My buyer lives out of state, the guy at the service centre said that they backdate the transfer to the form's date(on the green slip from memory).

    Make sure to cancel your insurance, you may get a refund for unused time. Likewise, the buyer should buy it before they leave.

    Make sure the log book is up to date.

    Cash only, or ask for the bank transfer for the full amount (assuming they meet at your house, unlikely you'll steal it from them).

  • DrRalph on 08/03/2020 - 20:19
    -3

    Do not accept a bank cheque. It is not a secure instrument. EFT or cash only.

    • djkelly69 on 08/03/2020 - 21:53
      +6

      Sorry, this is absolute crap. Bank cheques are accepted all day everyday for property sales worth 100x what the OP's car is worth.

      No payment method is infallible or without risk, but the risk of an inexperienced seller being scammed with (for example) a faked EFT would be way higher than the chance of them being provided with a fake bank cheque or real bank cheque which is somehow cancelled after it is given to them.

      As anecdotal evidence of this, how many threads have there been on here of people scammed by an EFT, versus how many threads about people having been scammed with a bank cheque?

    • Numlock on 08/03/2020 - 22:27

      cash the bank cheque at the bank then

  • spackbace on 08/03/2020 - 20:56
    +2

    Trade in price - pointless. It's not difficult to work out market pricing on Carsales to know what a fair sale price is.

    Clean it properly, take 15-20 photos in clear light.
    Highlight any positives of your car compared to the competition.
    Always go with the person on test drives, Just verify they have a license first.

  • Euphemistic on 08/03/2020 - 21:45
    +1

    What Spack said. Good advertising will help you sell.

    Make sure it is clean and tidy. Take good photos both inside and out and write t up. Don’t be a smarty pants and spin a yarn, just spend a little time describing the good points. Listing poor points (within reason) will help a buyer so they don’t get a shock when they arrive. Make sure you clearly list wether auto or manual, year model, engine type and other info relevant to the model.

    People who lost with one blurry photo and ‘PM for details’ are just wasting everyone’s time.

    In NSW make sure you fill out the back of the rego form with the buyer (it has instructions) then once they drive off fill out a ‘Notice of Disposal’ form online to transfer the rego our of your name. They still need to go to the registry to complete the transfer, but it will not be your problem anymore.

  • Ugly on 08/03/2020 - 22:24

    Search out some of the other sites that buy cars and see what offer you can get.

    I sold a car about 18 months ago to Hello Cars (hellocars.com.au), who gave me a better offer than the trade in I was offered at a dealer. They came out to me and did their own inspection at nil cost to me.

  • modsec802 on 08/03/2020 - 22:24

    Sold our 2018 polo recently - sold on first weekend on first enquiry from Carsales.

    Some tips:

    1. Make sure you price it well - find the lowest comparable example on Carsales and put it a few grand below that - a lot of listings on there are old and overpriced
    2. Take good quality photos
    3. Delete the auto generated garbage text by Carsales and write your own. List key points of interest - don’t put stuff like has airbags - der.
    4. Check someone’s license before test driving and go with them
    5. I took PayID - it was nearly $17,000 and commbank hold first payments for ‘up to’ 24 hours - it took 1.5 hours to get from commbank to ANZ
    6. Don’t let someone take the car until the money is cleared

    What make/model of car is it?

    • Hardlyworkin on 08/03/2020 - 22:55
      +5

      Telling OP to sell it for a few grand less than what it's worth and asking for make and model…. You trying to snag a sneaky bargain there DC?

    • cala90 on 09/03/2020 - 09:47
      -1

      If they’re going to price it a few grand less than the cheapest on Carsales, they may as well use the “Instant offer” part of Carsales and not have to deal with private buyers.

      • modsec802 on 10/03/2020 - 08:02

        Not necessarily. Depends a lot on how much the car is which is why I asked what the car is.

        We sold our comfortline polo recently. Instant offer was $14k, sold it for $17k to first buyer, cheapest comparable car was $19k. The $19k is still listed for sale a couple of months later.

  • Downvoter on 09/03/2020 - 16:02

    Sold both my last two cars to the first people that have looked/test driven. Depends how valuable your time is to you. I list it for a decent price just to sell the thing rather then deal with multitudes of tyre kickers and test pilots that take up my weekends and free time.

  • blutek on 09/03/2020 - 16:41

    Just sold on Facebook Market Place in one week to the first to inspect. At above "average valuation". Be prepared to get many offers from people who have not even seen the vehicle. The same probably happens with CarSales and other sites.

    • TEER3X on 09/03/2020 - 20:30

      Doesn't mean they won't be legitimate offers. I made an offer on a car sight unseen, and it was accepted on the condition that I get it inspected.

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