Seller’s Guide: Everything You Need to Know About Selling Your Car

You’ve been eyeing the new 2022 Ford F-150, but before you can get behind the wheel of America’s best-selling truck, you have to figure out what to do with your current vehicle. Your search for “how to sell my car” brought you to the experts here at Newton Ford South, where we’ll buy your vehicle and help you find the Ford of your dreams all in the same day! Now that’s something!

Before you sell your car to us, it’s essential to know your options and what the process entails. Sure, we’ll help you navigate the process and give you top-dollar for your car, truck, or SUV, but it’s good to be prepared and have everything ready to go when you get here. That’s why we’ve put together this comprehensive guide that provides everything you need to know about selling your car.

Your Options: Sell Privately or Sell to Us

You have two options for selling your car: you can sell it privately or sell it to a dealership. The easiest and most efficient option is selling to a dealership like ours because you can rely on our expertise to handle the deal and process the paperwork. Plus, we aren’t in the market to nitpick your vehicle to negotiate a lower price; we’ll offer you fair market value every day of the year.

Selling your vehicle yourself requires a lot more work and, in many cases, additional expenses. Since first impressions mean everything, you want your vehicle to look its best when you start advertising it or showing it to potential buyers. This might mean spending hours deep cleaning your car or spending a little extra to have it professionally detailed and restored to its like-new condition. You’ll also want to fix obvious issues like a broken taillight, a cracked windshield, or the culprit behind that pesky Check Engine light. These repairs mean spending even more money that you may or may not recover in a private sale.

There’s also a significant investment of time when you sell your car yourself. You’ll not only have to spend time making sure the vehicle is clean and in good working order, but you’ll also spend time advertising it, fielding inquiries, and scheduling test drives with potential buyers. This investment can mean spending anywhere from a week to several months before finding a buyer.

The Benefits of Selling Your Car to Us

We live in a world of instant gratification where two-day shipping is often not fast enough. That’s just as true in the automotive industry. When a new model catches your eye, all you can think about is getting behind the wheel. Selling your car yourself delays that gratification. So, why wait when you don’t have to?

Instead of spending days, weeks, or months trying to sell your car, you could sell it to us and be back home in a new vehicle in a matter of hours. All it takes is driving over to the dealership, where we’ll inspect your vehicle and give you a top-dollar offer based on the fair market value. From there, we’ll explain how you can use your trade toward your next purchase, which in many cases, means affordable monthly payments on a brand new Ford.

Doing Your Homework: What It Takes to Sell Your Car

Now that you’ve decided to sell your car, what do you need to do? First, we encourage our customers to do their homework before venturing to the dealership. Sure, we’ll value your trade even if you don’t do your homework, but we find that customers have greater confidence in the sale and their next purchase when they spend a little extra time preparing.

Know Its Value

This preparation starts with gathering the vehicle identification number or VIN from your car, truck, or SUV. You’ll find the VIN printed on a sticker in the driver’s side door or on the bottom of the dashboard visible when standing near the windshield on the driver’s side. You’ll use the VIN and sites like Kelley Blue Book, Consumer Reports, or the National Automobile Dealers Association to find the value of your vehicle. Kelley Blue Book is one of the most reputable sources for this and bases the value on the condition of the model and your geographic location.

Get the Title or Final Payoff

Do you own the vehicle outright, or are you still making monthly loan payments? If you own the vehicle, you’ll have the title in your possession, whereas, if it’s financed, you’ll need to get the final payoff amount from the lender. The final payoff is important when selling or trading a vehicle because it tells you how much you need to get for the model to satisfy the loan. If the offer is lower than the amount owed, it’s called negative equity, and you are responsible for making up the difference. On the other hand, positive equity occurs when you get more money for your vehicle than the final payoff amount, which puts more money in your wallet that you can use toward your next vehicle purchase.

Make a Good First Impression

We purchase all types of vehicles, but those that are clean and make an excellent first impression typically grab our attention faster and fetch a higher offer. To get the most for your trade, we encourage you to clean it inside and out. Drive through the local car wash and take the time to vacuum the interior, removing all your personal items as you go. Then, do a final walk-through of the vehicle, looking at it from a prospective buyer’s eyes to ensure everything looks good and that items like the owner’s manual and any warranty or maintenance paperwork are present.

Negotiate and Finalize the Offer

Knowing the value of your vehicle and the final payoff on your loan gives you a starting point for negotiation. Yes, we expect you to negotiate when you’re buying a vehicle and when you’re selling. The automotive industry thrives on negotiation, and we encourage our customers to always speak up about what they need to get for their vehicle to mitigate financial burden or overwhelm. Our goal is for each customer to leave knowing that they got the best deal possible, a deal that keeps them on the road to financial freedom.

It’s Your Money, What’s Next?

When you sell your vehicle to us, there’s no commitment to buying your next car off our lot. Instead, you can walk away with money in hand and the freedom to spend it however you choose. This is great if you’re not in a hurry to find a replacement.

Most customers sell their vehicles to us as trade-ins because they’ve found the perfect vehicle for all their driving and budget needs right here on our lot. Our “out with the old and in with the new” style of business means arriving at our dealership in your old car and leaving in a new model. In this case, we treat each part of the process–trading in and buying–as separate transactions so that you have a clear idea of what you’re getting for your vehicle and what you’re paying for your next purchase.

Whether you choose to sell your vehicle to us and walk away with cash in hand or you want to use your vehicle as a trade, both options will save you a tremendous amount of time and a significant financial investment. Selling your car privately might seem like a good idea, but it’s an extensive process that requires time, money, and knowledge of the state’s automotive buying and selling requirements. Why spend months navigating the murky waters of a private sale when you can buy and sell on the same day with a dealership like ours? After all, that new Ford you’ve been eyeing is just begging to be driven.