Selling A Car Privately

Selling your car privately can be much more hassle than it’s worth. Hence the reason for thousands of people opting to use sellyourcar2jack.com as we are a professional car buying service and do all the hard work for you.

Here are 8 reasons why you should avoid selling your car privately.

Cost to advertise

The cost to list an advert for your car online for 2 weeks is approximately £40 for a basic package. If you wanted a premium ad you could pay in excess of £100. If your car has not sold within this time, guess what, you pay again, with no guarantee of selling your car.

Pre-sale car preparations

With a huge choice of cars out there you need to make sure that your car is up to standard. Scratches, bald tyres, MOT due are all good enough reasons for a potential customer to walk away and see another car. You will need to spend money on getting your car up to retail standard if you want a quick sale. If not, people will turn up, waste an hour of your time and probably not buy your car due to a “number” of things that need repairing.

Time consuming

On average it takes 34.5 days to sell a car privately. A month to sell a car seems like an age, but in reality there’s a reason why. There are 1000’s of cars out there for sale, just like yours, giving customers a wide variety of choice. If your car is shortlisted, you can guarantee that after viewing it they will want to see the others on the list too, taking up more of your valuable time (not to mention the time it takes to write an advert).

Strangers in your home

Would you invite strangers into your home usually? No. When it comes to selling a car, you really don’t have a choice. The motor trade has many undesirable characters ready to take advantage of the unassuming individual. You never know who you are dealing with, not to mention if something was ever to go wrong with your car, would they come knocking?

Test drive

A few things to consider... First of all, do the potential buyers have insurance to test drive your car? If your car is SORN off the road, are you prepared to break the law to provide a test drive? And the most important of all, are you safe with that person in the car? Many major dealers have been held to ransom and had their car stolen whilst they are in it – scary stuff!

Confirmed payment?

Could you spot a fake note? Without dealing inside the bank, you are at risk of taking fake notes if it’s a cash payment. Furthermore, the person who has just bought the car knows you have the money in your house. This could easily lead to a snatch and grab style robbery later on that evening. Also, online payments and scams are rife on AutoTrader and eBay with spurious PayPal notifications and fraudsters trying their luck – read Jack’s blog on the 419 Nigerian scam for an insight.

Outstanding Finance

A whopping 70% of new cars on the road are funded via finance agreements. Having outstanding finance on your car can scare a lot of customers. There is only 1 real way of selling a car privately with outstanding finance. That is to clear the outstanding finance with your own cash so it does not show on HPI or Experian checks. Of course, if you don’t have the money you are in a sticky situation and may face paying another 1, 2 or 3 months rental due to the lack of interest in the sale of your car.

Peace of mind

Many people “worry” about buying a car privately off someone’s driveway. It’s not like a house sale which is controlled by solicitors, you’re very much on your own. This is why private sale’s can be slow as your potential buyer has more piece of mind buying from a reputable dealer. At a dealer they have the reassurance of a safe environment, there is usually a warranty provided and the dealer can offer a no hassle part exchange on their old car.

These are just 8 different scenarios that you may face. Wouldn’t it be easier to Sell Your Car 2 Jack? What next? Simply arrange an appointment with your local, trusted car buyer and get paid within 30 minutes.

No hassle, safe and an all round pleasant experience!

You can also read about more reasons why you shouldn’t sell your used car privately.