Pre-sale prep of car - SE based - bit of bodywork/trim ?
Discussion
"Perfect cars sell better"
Nope, they don't in any way, at all.
Everyone wants a deal - everyone wants money-off - everyone wants to feel they got one over the seller - that is when people buy your car, when they feel they'd "won something".
Giving the buyer some wiggle-room is the key to selling a car - they find something, you give them a bit of a discount - hands are shaken...
A perfect car just makes people suspicious and makes it harder to settle a price - no car is EVER perfect anyway.
Of course you don't leave anything which might be 'expensive' or 'complicated' to fix so your bodywork probably does need doing, but the other stuff is usually a waste of time, all cars have marks and dings and someone who expects perfection is NOT the person you want to be selling to (they'll ring-up next week complaining of dust in the glove compartment!)
Nope, they don't in any way, at all.
Everyone wants a deal - everyone wants money-off - everyone wants to feel they got one over the seller - that is when people buy your car, when they feel they'd "won something".
Giving the buyer some wiggle-room is the key to selling a car - they find something, you give them a bit of a discount - hands are shaken...
A perfect car just makes people suspicious and makes it harder to settle a price - no car is EVER perfect anyway.
Of course you don't leave anything which might be 'expensive' or 'complicated' to fix so your bodywork probably does need doing, but the other stuff is usually a waste of time, all cars have marks and dings and someone who expects perfection is NOT the person you want to be selling to (they'll ring-up next week complaining of dust in the glove compartment!)
Edited by 405dogvan on Tuesday 4th November 14:55
Also it's unlikely that you'll get the cost of the "fixes" back from the increased asking price. If you paid an extra £500 to get the wheels refurbed nobody is going to give you an extra £500 on the asking price. Better to give it a good clean, fix anything you can at minimal cost and put it up.
I would always try and make my car appear as if it had been well looked after and prepare it accordingly. As a buyer kerbed alloys put me off as do dents and scuffs except the very smallest car park dings. Occasionally I have bought a scruffy car when I have deduced that the owner is a bit lazy but the service book is fully stamped and backed up by a wad of receipts and the car is sound. In such cases a thorough valet does the trick.
I find that if a car exceeds buyer expectations when they arrive and first inspect then good money follows. I'd rather not give them a reason to chip my price. The tactic of suggesting they go and look at other cars always works for me in these circumstances because I am confident mine will be hard to beat.
I find that if a car exceeds buyer expectations when they arrive and first inspect then good money follows. I'd rather not give them a reason to chip my price. The tactic of suggesting they go and look at other cars always works for me in these circumstances because I am confident mine will be hard to beat.
Just do what you can as cheaply as you can, I have had people picking holes in really quite tidy old bangers and sold quite expensive cars that you get the impression a test drive was just because they felt they should and really didn't look that closely at anything, despite my attention to detail.
My tips are that wheels and numberplate's make a huge difference, make sure they look clean, tyres should look new but not with that shiny stuff, Armor All makes them look like they are fresh from Kwik Fit. Painting wheels is quite easy, get two cants of Primer, two of a normal silver (not wheel paint, too bright) clean the wheels, sand them with wet/dry, dry them off, mask the tyre properly, mask the vale and any other bits, lash some primer on, let it dry, put some colour on and then some laquer, I reckon an hour a wheel, so four hours arsing about, £40 or so in paint/masking tape and on the right car it can transform it
interior should smell nice, Autoglym Odour remover or Febreeze makes cars smell awesome, clean but not overpowering, remove ever evidence that it is someones car, nooks and crannies clean, remove trim if needs be
Anythign metallic and black, whip it off and waft some satin black at it.
Scuffs, buy a quality touch up and just put some on, amazing the difference it can make, especially some thing that is low down, where people dont generally look, they just see even colour even if its a relatively poor job, but a black scuff on silver paint stands out a mile.
Give it a polish, doesnt need to take hours, dont need clay bars and all that to sell it, an hour spent polishing can add a lot of value.
I can take a ropey looking car and make it look great given a day, if that adds say £500 on, that is good wages for time I would be otherwise be not earning anything.
My tips are that wheels and numberplate's make a huge difference, make sure they look clean, tyres should look new but not with that shiny stuff, Armor All makes them look like they are fresh from Kwik Fit. Painting wheels is quite easy, get two cants of Primer, two of a normal silver (not wheel paint, too bright) clean the wheels, sand them with wet/dry, dry them off, mask the tyre properly, mask the vale and any other bits, lash some primer on, let it dry, put some colour on and then some laquer, I reckon an hour a wheel, so four hours arsing about, £40 or so in paint/masking tape and on the right car it can transform it
interior should smell nice, Autoglym Odour remover or Febreeze makes cars smell awesome, clean but not overpowering, remove ever evidence that it is someones car, nooks and crannies clean, remove trim if needs be
Anythign metallic and black, whip it off and waft some satin black at it.
Scuffs, buy a quality touch up and just put some on, amazing the difference it can make, especially some thing that is low down, where people dont generally look, they just see even colour even if its a relatively poor job, but a black scuff on silver paint stands out a mile.
Give it a polish, doesnt need to take hours, dont need clay bars and all that to sell it, an hour spent polishing can add a lot of value.
I can take a ropey looking car and make it look great given a day, if that adds say £500 on, that is good wages for time I would be otherwise be not earning anything.
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