How to Safely Sell Your Car: 4 Essential Tips to Follow
How to Safely Sell Your Car: 4 Essential Tips to Follow
Posted on December 15, 2022
Selling a car can be an exciting time, however sometimes you can get swept up in that excitement and end up putting yourself in some precarious situations. That’s why we’ve prepared this list of precautions you should take to make sure you’re being as safe as can be when you’re selling your car.
Screen Buyers
One of the most important things to do to safely sell your car is screening your potential buyers, that means weeding out any scammers or nefarious individuals or even just people who aren’t really that interested from the actual buyers who you’re trying to reach.
There’s a couple primary strategies to do this, the first that you should do is set up a virtual inbox, which you can do easily enough with Google. This is an extra step that means you're not giving out your email to strangers.
You should prepare a couple of screening questions, ideally done over the phone so you can better gauge the responses. Asking for their full name can be an easy catch, as anyone hesitant to give it out is to be treated with caution as in the process of signing over the car you’re going to learn their full name anyway.
Public Meeting
When it comes time to meet the buyer in person so that they can look over the car and potentially have a test drive you should always meet in a public location like a car park. This serves dual functions, one is that you aren’t bringing strangers to your house, and the other is that even if someone does have Ill intentions they might be dissuaded in a public space where other people can see them.
Pick a location where you can easily plot out a test drive route, while it may seem the most risky when someone else is driving the car, a real buyer will always want a test drive, and if you think that they’re serious you should provide one.
It’s also advised that you never meet with a buyer alone, both for safety reasons and for negotiation purposes.
Save the Paperwork
Something to keep in mind is that the potentiometer problems may not arise during the transaction but after, a buyer may not have been as legitimate as they said and gave you a faulty check to pay for the car. That’s why it’s critical that you keep track of all the paperwork that passed between you and the buyer, the more proof you can produce, the better your chances of getting the money that you’re owed.
A Better Way to Sell Your Used Car
There is another, easier way to sell your used car but most people don’t even think about it. Your local car dealership would be happy to buy your car and pay you a fair price for it.
Used car prices are high and the dealership knows they will be able to sell your used car. The challenge is finding a price that both of you can agree upon.
What you need to keep in mind when selling your used car to the dealership is they need to make a profit from reselling the car. This is why no dealership can give you 100% of the current value for your car but they will give you something competitive.
If you are truly looking for the safest way to sell a used car, going to your local car dealership is hands down the best way.