How to keep a high resale price for your car?

As Indian people shift their perspectives from seeing a car as a luxury asset to a necessity, the demands for used cars are on the rise. While the market is growing strong and used cars are selling in enormous numbers, the cost of used car goes down. You should keep the depreciation value of your car as low as you can so that you are able to sell it for a good amount. Below are 5 tips to keep, or even increase your resale price.

1. Choose the right car from the beginning

The resale value is decided from the moment you choose what car to purchase, so before determining what you will drive home, do some investigation on which vehicle has the highest resale price and the least depreciation. Maruti Suzuki being India's leading auto company for more than 2 decades is partly because of this reason.

A rule of thumb is to choose a make that has good demand in the market - Maruti, Hyundai, and Honda are highly recommended. After that, choose the right car. Our top recommendations include Maruti Swift and Hyundai Grand i10. Next, look at the fuel type of the car. A diesel-fueled car usually costs 1 lakh extra, but it certainly is cheaper to purchase the fuel in the long run and has a good resale price as well.

Also, some additional features such as power windows, power steering, or music system can reduce the depreciation cost and bring you some extra resale money.

A Maruti Swift is in demand and can bring you some good resale money

2. Pick the right colour

Some car companies offer as many as 40 colour options. A car buyer would appreciate that more choices allow a better chance to find a colour that suits them and stands out from the crowd. But the problem is who else wants that color? According to the leading paint manufacturer, DuPont, the buying colour preference for used cars is white, silver, and black. This does not say that you should not choose a colour that you like that is not among those three, but that you need to take into account how much depreciation a green car attracts over a white car.

Colour white is the most  favourable  for used cars

Also read: 
>>> Black, Red, White or Silver? Car Colours And Its Representation

3. Drive it for longer

This is how car depreciation works: the car depreciates 20% in the initial year, 10% in the next couple of years, then 5 - 7% in the following years. So if you do some simple calculation, you will see that half of your car value is lost in the first 5 years, then the rate of depreciation will slow down gradually. That being said, it is not recommended that you keep the car for too long because of the possible maintenance cost incurred during that time.

4. Maintain the car properly

First thing first, mileage is the number one thing a car's value depends on when it is resold. Despite how new and beautiful a car looks, the price will mostly be decided its mileage.

Second, follow the maintenance schedule as written in the owner’s manual. The better the condition a car is in, the higher the resale price is, so make sure the car is always at its best. If there is any problem with your car, no matter how small it is, check with a professional to see whether the cost is worth the trade - in value and make repairs right away if necessary.

Last but not least, save all the documents of the maintenance and repair works. A well-documented repair and service record means that the car owner takes good care of the car and savvy used-car buyers are always willing to put in some more money for that reassurance.

Being well-maintained keeps the resale price high

Read more tips and guides from IndianAuto:

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