7 Fool-Proof Tips for Successfully Selling Your Car Online
Fresh Car Review
- Selling online is different from selling in the newspaper classifieds
- Establishing the right price requires research
- Not responding to every inquiry can prolong the sales process
How to sell a car online quickly while maximizing the transaction price is the question every seller wants answered. It’s indeed not a mystery. It simply requires some elbow grease, a little computer savvy and a bit of time.
Following a few basics will get your phone ringing and your e-mail box packing with inquiries and offers.
Selling a car online is a different brute than selling it through the newspaper classifieds. Most classified sales are local, permitting the buyer to personally eyeball the vehicle, test drive it and even take it to a mechanic for an inspection.
Many by-owner, online used-car sales are long-distance transactions that are finalized without the buyer eyeing or test driving the car. We’ve had one popular online seller tell us that seventy five percent of its auto transactions are across state lines. This means the seller must do a little extra work and be more creative to make his vehicle stand out.
Here are seven tips to get your vehicle noticed and a successful deal done:
Commitment
Treatment selling your car the same way you would a project at work. For a quick, successful sale, you must fully engage in every step of the process. Here’s the dirty little secret about selling a car online: The less effort you make, the less successful you will be.
Successful selling is a process and every part of that process must receive your best effort. Don’t cut corners!
Research
The "right" price isn’t the amount you want out of the sale of the car, but the amount the average buyer thinks is fair and is willing to pay.
Sure, if you have some uncommon collector car, you may not need worry as much about the market price. Chances are, however, your car will be listed against ems or hundreds of similar vehicles on numerous online sites. That means your vehicle must be priced competitively.
You have to do the research to determine not only how much others are asking for similar cars, but the average transaction price of those recently sold.
Be fair with yourself and objective about the vehicle’s condition when setting a price. An unrealistically high price will scare potential buyers, sending them on to the next ad.
Sites like AutoTrader.com and Kelly Blue Book (KBB.com) are reliable sources in determining a vehicle’s market value.
Write a Compelling Description
If you spend less than an hour writing your car’s description, you most likely haven’t done it justice. Be creative; be thorough!
Look at the online ads today; almost every vehicle has power windows, power door locks and air conditioning. Such routine features should never be the lead in your description. Instead, think about the features you love that attracted you to the car. Get excited.
If it’s a convertible, describe how effortlessly the top operates and the joy of driving with the top down on a sunny Saturday afternoon. If it’s a minivan, enthuse over the convenience and room. Write about being able to bring a ping-pong table home from a yard sale. Itemize the cup holders and storage cubbies. Describe keeping the kids entertained on a long journey.
Personalize the vehicle through your own practices. What has it meant to you? On some level most vehicle purchases are emotional; play to that.
Fountain the Headline with Key Words
When advertising on a site that permits you to write your own ad headline or title, the primary objective is to get noticed among the thousands of ads out there. Key words are, well, the key.
When you can, use words in the headline, such as "superb fuel economy," "super-low mileage," "kicking audio system," and so forward.
Use Lots of Photos
Because so many vehicles purchased online are bought look unseen, good photos, and slew of them, suggest potential buyers their only look at the vehicle. Photos are truly an online seller’s primary marketing contraption. There is no such thing as too many photos.
Don’t be lazy when shooting photos. The vehicle should be clean inwards and out. Don’t take the photos in your apartment parking lot or your home’s driveway. On a clear day, drive the vehicle to a well-lighted spot with an attractive background. Position it so the sun is behind you, and take the time to reposition the vehicle as you photograph its various sides.
Be fair with your photos. Don’t attempt to hide the blemishes or harm, and don’t Photo Shop them. A car doesn’t need to be flawless to sell, but being fair about its warts will save you some distress later on.
In other words, the photos need to tell the truth about the car.
Be Responsive
Whether you have potential buyers react by phone, e-mail or some other device, take the call and response the e-mail. Potential buyers have thousands of ads to which they can react. Permitting a caller to go to voicemail or letting an e-mail sit, unopened for a day, can be all it takes for that interested buyer to budge on.
It’s almost always less time consuming to work with the buyer in front of you than to find the next one.
Until your vehicle is sold, selling it is your job. Do your job.
Communicate with the Buyer
This step won’t help you sell, but may well help you avoid buyer issues after the sale.
Vehicles are big-ticket items and buying one online can be tense. Establishing communication with a buyer can ease his anxiety and reduce the chances he will be unhappy once the vehicle is in his forearms.
Call the buyer, thanking him for the sale. Provide a timetable and other details of the delivery. If you are shipping the vehicle, take photos of it once it’s on the truck. This gives you a record of the vehicle’s condition when shipped, as well as photos to e-mail to the buyer to reassure him his purchase is on its way.
Make the extra effort to ensure the transaction is a fine practice for the buyer.
What it means to you: Staying focused and making the effort will get the sale done sooner rather than later.