There comes a point in every love affair where the “honeymoon phase” ends. Things become boring and stale, the things that used to excite you no longer give you that same buzz, and sometimes, some people start looking elsewhere for something that will give them that feeling again.

I’m of course talking about the love a person feels for a car. We’ve all been there: the longing stares, the fantasies about driving the car, and maybe even changing how we live our lives in order to get inside it. And when you are finally able to drive away in that car, the euphoria is palpable.

Eventually however, you’ll start feeling like maybe you need a new car. The first step towards getting a new car is getting rid of your old one, and one way you might want to do this is by selling it. If you’ve never sold a car yourself, you might not know what you need to do to sell it. So here are a few things you should do if you want to sell your car yourself.

Find Out How Much Your Vehicle Is Worth

You need to decide how much money you want to make from selling your car, but you need to be realistic about what your car is worth. There are plenty of resources to check the market value of your used car. We even have a tool where you can check the value of your car online! Sometimes however, the value of your used car might not be what you expected, and it might be easier for you to use it towards trade-in value at a dealership.

When dealerships price their used vehicles, a lot of work is put into the process. We use a specialized tool called V-Auto that scrubs the market for similar vehicles and generates an average price for that specific vehicle. We then determine what our prices should be based on that price and other factors such as demographic and other analytical tools. This means that when we buy your vehicle from you, we do a lot of research to determine a fair value to offer you.

Also keep in mind that having a good service record will help boost the value of your car. People like the idea of a car being taken care of, especially when the seller is a private seller. If you have proof that you have a good service record, it will definitely increase the value of your car.

Collect All Documents

When you have decided that you want to sell your car, it’s a good idea to collect all related paperwork right away. This way there is no scrambling at the end of the deal to make sure you have everything. In Ontario, you need to buy a Used Vehicle Information Package for your vehicle. This package will have all the details about your vehicle and will give you all the processes you need to sell your car privately. You will need to present this package to any prospective buyers.

You will also need to find your Application For Transfer form. This can be found on the back of your registration permit under “vehicle portion.” When you do sell your vehicle, you will need to fill this out so that the vehicle can be legally transferred to your buyer.

Clean Your Car

When you start showing off your car to buyers, you want to make sure you’re presenting a nice product. Having chip crumbs and dust everywhere will dissuade people from looking further into your vehicle. So clean out your kids’ crayons and any loose change you have lying around so people can have a clean feeling when driving your car. Run your vehicle through a good car wash & wax to give it a shiny look and gloss. People like shiny things, it’s a scientific fact.

If cleaning your car is too much of a chore for you, selling your vehicle to any of our dealerships will take that task off your hands. We’ll clean your car for you.

Take Good Pictures

Once your car is clean, you want to show the world how beautiful it is. This will attract potential buyers to your listing by advertising the vehicle and everything it has to offer. Make sure you take multiple angles of the main selling points of the vehicle which are: the exterior (The front, sides, and rear), the interior (the seats, dashboard, and trunk), the engine and the wheels. Choose the best photos of these points and place them in your ad for the car. There has been an insane amount of research done by dealerships over the years about what angles pictures should be taken at and how many pictures should be posted, so refer to our dealership pages for insight on photography to use.

Choose Where To Sell Your Car

There are plenty of places you can choose to sell your car. The most effective place to sell your car nowadays is probably online, and there are multiple websites that you can choose from to sell your vehicle such as AutoTrader.ca or Kijiji.ca.

If you prefer doing things the old-fashioned way, there are other options such as taking out ads in newspapers or even just sticking a “For Sale” sign in your window. Having a For Sale sign in your window while driving around will actually generate quite a bit of attention as it will expose your vehicle to other people on the road who may not frequent the internet.

There’s also the option of selling your vehicle to a dealership. WEINS Auto Group’s dealerships will actually take care of most of these things for you. You won’t have to worry about taking pictures or cleaning your car. We’ll buy your car from you as it is.

Just remember that no matter where you choose to list your vehicle, you include details about the car, a number where buyers can contact you, and your asking price. Many people won’t follow up with you if you are missing that key information.

Negotiate

Once you have your ad setup, hopefully you will start receiving some bites on it. This is where your silver tongue will come into play. You will want to convince your potential buyer that your car is the one they need. Detail to them what the features of the car are and why it is better than other cars being sold out there.

Also be willing to wiggle a bit on your pricing. It’s a good practice to have a starting price that’s higher than what you want, so when the buyer gives a lower price, it won’t disappoint you. You should also have a price in mind that is the absolute lowest you will go and stick to it.

Even when you’re selling your car back to a dealership for a trade-in value, there are still negotiations that can be made on how much value can be put into your trade-in.

Finalize Your Sale

Once you and your buyer have settled on a price and any other factors that you need to negotiate (i.e. warranties/delivery), it’s time to finalize the sale. Sign the Application for Transfer form and give the buyer the Used Vehicle Information Package and the “vehicle portion” of the registration permit. Complete a Bill of Sale that includes all your personal information and selling price and give that to the buyer also.

You are required by law to remove your license plate from your vehicle. Make sure you keep your license plates and the “plate portion” of the registration permit. You will need these if you decide to register those plates on another vehicle.

After all this is complete, it’s the buyer’s responsibility to transfer vehicle ownership into their name at ServiceOntario. You should, however, follow up with them that the transfer has been completed, as any infractions involving the vehicle could come back to you.

Conclusion

Change can be scary, but change can also be good. While there are a lot of things that need to be done in order to sell your vehicle, at the end of the day there are tough decisions to be made in life. Saying goodbye to something you might have had a lot of good memories in will be difficult, but it will allow you to make new memories in a new companion.

Also remember that if going through all these processes seems too daunting for you to handle, there are other things you can do with your car. For example, all of WEINS Auto Group’s dealerships will buy your car from you so you don’t need to go through all these hassles. You can even use your car as trade-in value at our dealerships. After all, it seems like you need a new car anyways.