When you’re ready to sell your car, you’ll want to get as much money for it as possible. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to increase your used car resale value. Read some tips on how to achieve that, get more bang for your buck, and sell faster.
Whether people move to another state or drive across the country without a car shipping company, their cars will depreciate. These wear-and-tear processes lower the value of cars, which is why it’s important to take care of them after relocations and long-term uses. That will also add some resale value.
If you move your car to another state with the help of a USA auto transport company and its moving services, the value won’t decrease as much. Sure, shipping cars in the USA can be costly, but the higher costs will come when you try to sell your car and realize it may as well have a salvage title.
To assess how quickly your car might degrade and how to soften the blow, you should first determine how its worth is calculated. The popularity of the brand and model, the specifications, trim levels, physical look, mileage, regular maintenance, and operating condition are just some variables affecting value.
Before buying a car, check its resale cost to ensure it’ll hold value over time. Due to their popularity and durability, some brands tend to have better trade-in values than others, be they cars for city driving or big, spacious off-road vehicles.
Find out which vehicle will suit your needs in terms of price, lifestyle, and resale value. To assess the resale value of your current car, use the Kelley Blue Book (KBB,) the leading car value assessor in the country.
Age has less of an impact on depreciation than mileage. The typical annual mileage is 10,000 – 15,000 miles. Your car’s value declines the more you drive it and accumulate miles.
A top-brand car may appear in “excellent condition” if you keep it for several years and don’t put many miles on the odometer. This increases the worth of your car when you decide to sell or trade it in.
If not driving the car is impossible, make exceptions to reduce car expenses. For example, if you need to move, it’s best to opt between open trailers or the more protective enclosed auto transport and choose door-to-door rather than terminal-to-terminal car shipping.
Your car can be categorized as being in excellent, good, fair, or bad condition. One with an exceptional condition rating is difficult to find; according to KBB, “fewer than 5% of all used vehicles fall into this category.”
However, you can get a lot for your vehicle if it looks brand new, in which case it can be classified as good or fair, indicating that it has been well maintained and may only require minor service and repairs.
Your used car‘s worth is often upheld by the engine type, all-wheel drive improvements, seat materials, navigation, a sunroof, and automatic climate control. This is called trim levels, and it’s a bigger process than simply disposing of a bad car battery.
If you’re looking for a new car, find out which trim levels come with the features you want. If you shop at an adequate time of the month, you could be able to afford higher trim-level items for a base cost. While at the dealer’s, bargain for a lower price and stand your ground.
Safety features don’t simply increase resale value; they also keep you safe and you really can’t put a price on that. Look for newer vehicles with safety systems like lane change assistance, collision alerts, blind spot identification, and pedestrian detection, to name a few.
Every car has a different maintenance type but they’re all essential. Just as knowing how often to replace tires is essential, so is a checkup. Look at it this way – if you don’t know how to use a tire repair kit or check your engine, you’ll need a checkup.
When determining the car’s worth, take your driving habits into account. The fact is that they require more regular maintenance the more they get driven. Every 3,000 to 7,000 miles, set aside money for brake fluid, oil, and filter changes to maintain your engine.
Sometimes gas mileage can go up if your tires are correctly inflated. Using the air pump at a petrol station is affordable, and some businesses offer this service free of charge; you won’t have to learn how to change a flat tire.
To prevent tires from wearing out prematurely, rotate, balance, and align them periodically. Investing in new ones will help you achieve a higher trade-in value if you decide to sell your car in the future.
A car’s value goes up if its brake pads are replaced every 25,000 miles. You can adjust your parking brake or whichever it is alone or with the help of a professional. If you’re confident, replacing brake pads will be straightforward and completed at home for only $20 to $40.
Bad spark plugs, unstable brakes, and car thermostats can affect the car’s performance. You can retain its value by doing repairs alone, although you should carefully choose your battles there:
Likely, your neighborhood and state don’t approve of driving with a cracked windshield. This may not only be prohibited, but it can put you and the passengers at risk.
If you want to sell a vehicle with a chip or crack in the windshield, you could lose money. Buy a repair kit on Amazon and repair it yourself, as long as it’s a chip less than an inch in diameter.
The man in the video below shows how to fix a chipped windshield at home and ensure no further damage comes to it.
If you treat your car poorly, it’ll be impossible to keep its value; there are simply things you shouldn’t keep in there. Coffee stains, torn seats, and weird smells can reduce value fast. Keeping your car in showroom condition, whether it’s an imported car or local, will maintain its value for years.
The car exterior should be washed, then waxed. Clean the interior with a vacuum, wipe it down, and wash the windows. Keep your engine spotless, and blacken tires and rims. Contact a detailer to set up an appointment if this sounds like too much work.
In case you get some nasty bird droppings all over the car, remove them as soon as possible. Their acidity can damage the paintwork, believe it or not. That sounds like a great time to use a car wash.
Cars with more mileage have a lower resale value – those are facts. Cars for beginners may potentially have more mileage behind them than others, as beginners make more mistakes overall. This is fine as long as they also understand how to upkeep their vehicles.
Keep an eye on the mileage and distance traveled. To save on these things over time, avoid making repeated or circle trips. Additionally, if you frequently lend your vehicle to friends or family, you might want to reconsider that, as it will reduce your mileage.
Unbelievably, the color of your car could affect its resale value. Not everyone will enjoy driving a car painted in vivid and bright colors or even in two different colors. The color affects the resale value, but you can’t go wrong with anything the manufacturer specifies or recommends.
Most manufacturers and places that color cars claim that certain colors are more popular than others and that these preferences often vary by area. White, black, grey, and silver are all great selling colors throughout the world.
For some reason, hues like maroon and green depreciate the cars in value. Additionally, avoid stuff like racing stripes, prints, and letters when trying to sell your vehicle.
Modifying a car isn’t necessary, but it’s understandable if someone wants to make theirs look fancy. People often modify the exhaust pipes to make them roar as loudly as possible or attach extended spoilers to give the cars a sporty appearance.
However, this can harm resale prices since not everyone finds it appealing unless you find someone who shares your enthusiasm for modifications. A used car’s resale value can be increased by adding high-quality speakers, modern technology, upgraded security features, and tinting.
Head-on collisions with other vehicles and accidents involving pedestrians can be avoided with the aid of forward collision warning systems and automatic emergency braking. The most valuable upgrade anyone can have is to keep themselves and those around them safe.
Automatic high beams, rear cross-traffic alerts, and hands-free Bluetooth speakers are additional valuable safety features. These options might be pricey but will likely be worthwhile later, when you consider selling your car. Although you can’t completely stop a car from losing value, you can add some by contributing to its safety and security.
According to the Kelley Blue Book, after 60 months of ownership, the following vehicles will typically return about 56% to their owners’ bank accounts, which is a significant percentage given that the average return during that time is only 36%.
Maintenance is important if you want the best value for your car when reselling it. By following simple steps, you can be sure your car will retain its value and be attractive to potential buyers.
And since you know everything necessary to get the best possible resale value for your car, all that’s left is to follow these steps and be patient while you wait for the right buyer. With a little effort, you can easily resell for a great price.
