How To Find The Value Of A Used Car

When selling a used car, it is very important to quote a reasonable price that is accurate to your car’s value and attractive enough to capture the car buyers. If you are not a professional seller, determining the asking price for your used car might be tough. Fortunately, there are now plenty of tools that could help you to determine the price of your car. These calculators are useful but not entirely trustable. These valuation tools determine a car’s value based on some basic parameters such as make, model, registration year, and kilometres driven. However, these factors are not enough to decide accurate selling prices.

To estimate the right price for your car, it is recommended that you should seek opinions from the experienced. If you have no friend or relative with experiences in this area, IndianAuto will lend you a hand. Here is the detailed guideline on how to find the value of a car.

First and foremost, you can use the available online calculators to find the average price. These online valuation tools will give you a rough idea of your car’s value. These tools will calculate the value of the cars using some basic information as follows:

• Make – Model – Variant: Make and model details are key information to evaluate the selling price of a car. Some car manufacturers and models experience less depreciation than others. Usually, the more popular and more reliable a model is, the higher its resale value is. In most cases, there are certain benchmarks for the reselling price depending on the make model information alone. However, this information will only give you a rough idea of your car's value. The real price of your car might vary from vehicles to vehicles even though they are of the same make and model.

• Driven distance: The number of kilometres driven can be an important indicator of your car’s value. The higher the travelled distance is, the lower the price is. For example, there are two cars of the same make model and year of purchase. One car is used for daily A-to-B drives while the other vehicle is used for commercial purpose and driven more often. Clearly, the former will have higher resale value than the later.

• Ownership information: The number of owners of a car is important information that determines the value of a car. A first-owned vehicle will have a higher price than a second-owned vehicle even though the two cars are bought around the same time.

What factor can affect your car’s value?

Damages

Apparently, this is one of the obvious factors that determine the value of a car. The more damage a car is, the lower the price of a car is. Cars with minimal or no damage are likely to receive good resale values. Before selling your car, it is recommended to check the car body to find if there are any stain or scratch. Fixing these small damaged parts will not cost you much, and it can give your car a better resale value.

Service history

The service record is a very important document when it comes to car transactions. It reflects how well the car owner took care and maintained his or her vehicle. A full and reliable record of service is one of the factors that can increase your car’s resale value.

Car colour

In the used car market, car colour can be an important factor that affects the value of the car. Apparently, the more popular and sought-after a car colour is, the higher the resale value is. It also means that a less desirable colour might depreciate the value of a car.

Features

Asides from the condition of the car, the equipment list of a car can be a good indicator to estimate the value of the car. Cars with more additional features like built-in navigation, rear-parking camera, and infotainment system can add more value to the car, hence, increasing the selling price.

Modifications

Car modifications can cost you a good deal. However, these modifications will not help to increase the value of your car. On the other hand, it might lower the price of your car. Buyers would prefer intact cars than modified cars.

How to add value for your car?

While you cannot do much to change the hard facts like the make model and travelled distance of your car or undo the modifications on your car, there are still some small things that you can do to instantly boost the resale value.

Groom your car’s exterior

Cleaning and washing your car is the easiest things that you can do to make your car look at its best. You should clean your car from inside out. Pay attention to the interior: Vacuum the interior, clean upholstery and mats as well as deodorize your interior. These small things can give potential buyers a good impression and can easily add value to your car. Also, make sure to give your engine bay a clean-up since the buyers might want to inspect the engine compartment as well.

Remove small dents

Such small dents might not reflect the performance or the condition of your car. However, you should not overlook these minor defects. The buyers might point out these small blemishes to ask for a markdown. Moreover, fixing these small flow is easy and won’t cost much so why not give it a try?

Fix or replace damaged parts

 Before listing your car to the used car market, you should check if there are any damaged part that needs to be fixed or replaced.