How do you go about selling your car in one week?

Step 1. Research

Figure out exactly who is selling comparable cars to yours in your area. You need to know exactly what’s out there for competition. So if you’re selling a mid-model 2008 Hyundai Elantra, you want to know every Hyundai Elantra between 2007-2009 that is for sale in a 100KM radius. This can easily be done through searches online in Craigslist or kijiji or similar.

Find the selling price of these vehicles and KMs and anything else that might make them attractive to customers.

Step 2. Pricing

Make sure your vehicle is priced competitively. If the average price of the vehicles for sale is $8000 and your asking $10,000 no one will ever buy your vehicle. Forget what you paid for it, or what your neighbor tells you it’s worth – the market dictates the price. If your neighbor thinks it’s worth $10,000 maybe he’ll buy it? — you get the point

Step 3. Presentation

Have your vehicle be the cleanest vehicle anyone goes to look at. You can spend $100 on a detail and you will probably get $200-500 more for your vehicle and sell it quicker. People shopping for a car unfairly have the tendency of devaluing dirty vehicles.

Step 4. Advertise

Take some of the best photos you’ve ever taken. Show it from the front, the back, the side, and every where in between. Celebrate it’s perfection and embrace it’s flaws. That means if there is a small scratch on the back take a picture of it and mention in it in the ad. Wording such as “This is a small scratch on the back bumper – I was going to pay $200 and get it fixed and charge $200 more for the vehicle, but the next buyer can decide if he wants to fix it or would rather save the money”.

This does two things – let’s them know ahead of time, so there are no last-minute objections when they come look at the car, and gives them the idea that they’re saving money instead of buying a flawed vehicle.

Write a descriptive article about your vehicle and mention everything great about it for options etc. Don’t be cheap either – if there’s an option for $10 for a top ad or a featured ad – DO IT!!! You’ll sell your car quicker and probably for more money – Spend $10 – Make $200 More?? I think so…

Step. 5 Close the Sale

When someone comes to look at your vehicle – if you’ve stated everything that is right and wrong about it, they should only be coming to test it and buy. People typically don’t want to shop for vehicle for weeks, and months and years.

“Are you ready to buy it?”

Seems simple, but it can be tough for people to ask for someone’s money. You don’t have to feel like you’re pressuring someone, your time is worth something and you want to do them a favor and stop their shopping and let them get on to better things like enjoying your used vehicle!