How to prepare your car for a new EOFY

If you are planning to trade your car at the end of the financial year, you should consider the following points.

You have probably heard or even guessed that now is the best time to buy a new car.

Sales are falling in this time of crisis and extreme financial caution, and while car dealers are allowed to stay open and operate as normal as possible, many people don't realize this is the case.

And as EOFY approaches—always a time when car dealers strive to long and hard hit their yearly sales goals—there will only be more pressure to close deals.

You have probably heard or even guessed that now is the best time to buy a new car.

Combine all these factors and it's fair to say that car dealers are far from hitting the quotas they were a year or even a quarter ago, so they're especially motivated to sell and offer great prices on any car you're looking to trade if it is. going to help them make a sale.

This, of course, doesn't mean you don't have to put in the effort, because anything you can do to make your used car look and feel brand new will still greatly increase its perceived value. Yes, it can take time, but fixing your used car to the best of your ability - whether you're looking to trade or sell it privately - is truly one of those things where time is money.

If you want to know at a glance what field you might be playing when it comes to your current car's trade-in or resale value, you can use Cars Guide price tool.

The best-selling cars are the ones people want, whether new or used, so they tend to have a higher resale value.

The main decision, of course, is whether to do this deal in a car park, which is a quicker but possibly more stressful option, or to sell your car privately, which means going through the entire marketing and sales process yourself. photographs, writing ads, talking to tire fitters and test drivers, and then negotiating a price.

Yes, it's true that you usually get a slightly better price by selling privately, but it's more work and it will always take longer. And keep in mind that our current circumstances are not normal, so while the dealer will always try to maximize margin by lowering your exchange price, he may not be as aggressive with this approach when he is very interested. make sales.

Getting the best possible resale value for your vehicle

The point, of course, is that the process of making the most of your used car is not as simple as properly cleaning and detailing it before you attempt to sell or trade it in. It's a process that began a long time ago - when you chose your car, its color, equipment and specifications - and then continued every day while you owned it.

If you insisted on parking it where bats like to poop and not in the garage, and you weren't as anally attentive as you could be when it came to keeping it clean - and guano free - all the time, then you'll already have hurt your resale value.

This should be taken for granted, but it's also a very good idea to never smoke in your car, as this is a smell and stain that will cost you in the long run. For the same reasons, we advise you not to drive with a shedding dog in a car. Again, this is a smell you can never get rid of, and this dog hair seems to have an almost unnatural attachment to the interior of a car.

The big decision, of course, is whether or not to make the deal at the car park, which is a faster but possibly more stressful option.

If you have a time machine handy, it might be worth going back to revisit some of your original decisions (or, more sensibly, consider those factors for once). It will be problematic at first to buy a little-known and little-loved car brand or a particularly little-known model as part of a well-known one.

The best-selling cars are the ones people want, whether new or used, so they tend to have a higher resale value. The cost of this cheap Chinese car could plummet in a year or two.

Also worth considering in today's market is the relative risk of buying a diesel engine rather than a gasoline one, or a manual transmission compared to the much more popular and therefore marketable automatic options. Think seriously about the color of the paint. Strange, gaudy colors are not for everyone. Or even many people.

Once you've chosen a car that will sell well in the future, it's important to take good care of it, and that means more than just parking it under a carport and cleaning the inside of it regularly.

It's also very important to be able to present an up-to-date logbook with a detailed service history that shows you've always done the right thing at the right time to keep your car in perfect working order.

Not surprisingly, cars that have been serviced by dealers are considered more valuable in exchange than those that are not serviced.

Not surprisingly, cars that have been serviced by dealers, and therefore worked with people best trained for that brand, are considered more valuable in exchange than those that are not.

Cars that have also been cleaned and vacuumed and their skins regularly treated when necessary are also valued higher by private buyers and professionals alike.

"You can tell if they've been poorly cared for and then given a brief before selling," said one wholesaler. Cars Guide.

It's also clear that the fewer minor dents and scratches your car has - and the fewer scratches your wheels have - the more attractive it will be in terms of resale or trade-in value. The advice from dealers is that it's better to use car insurance to fix these things, especially if you're fully insured, and then let the buyer talk you into lowering the price because your car looks a little beat up.

“Why people don’t use their insurance to fix these things I don’t understand,” one dealer told us.

Mileage matters

No, you can't roll the odometer back on your car, but if you're thinking about swapping or exchanging in the near future, consider getting it done as soon as possible, not later. A car with over 100,000 km miles instantly feels significantly less valuable than a car with 90,000+ miles or so. It doesn't make sense, but that's how psychology works.

The fewer kilometers, the better, and also be aware of any major services that may be coming soon. Well-informed buyers will be aware of this and lower the price if something expensive like a new timing belt comes out in the near future.

The process of getting the most out of your used car started a long time ago - when you chose your car, its color, equipment and specifications.

Always, always check the price of the transition

It seems like a simple trap, but it works too often. Beware of a car dealer offering you an unbelievable trade-in price, much more than you hoped for, and check the trade-in price before you sign any deal.

It may happen that you are offered a very good price for your car, but then the dealer adds a commission to the price of a new car, and suddenly you pay more than you bargained for.

What you need to ask is the price of the transition; the exact amount you will pay for a new car after the trade-in transaction has been taken into account. This is the only number you need to know so that you can accurately compare different offers and deals.