You may remember that last month, through our blog Selling and Buying a Used Car – Preparing your Vehicle Advertisement, we explored how to get ready for putting your car up for sale. Well, this month, we are looking at how to navigate the process of selling a vehicle and so following on from last month’s advice, here are some top tips for what to prepare when selling a vehicle and meeting with potential buyers.
Selling a vehicle – Meeting the buyer
For buyers who are interested in purchasing your vehicle, you’ll need to make sure that you have a few details in place when selling a vehicle.
- Ensure that the car is looking it’s best, with a tip top clean so that it demonstrates that you look after it.
- Check the tyre pressures and fuel / oil / screen-wash levels.
- For the viewing, make sure that the vehicle is accessible and that the doors, under the bonnet and the boot lid can be freely opened.
- The buyer will want to see the MOT/Service history so make sure that you have all relevant documents to review.
- Be prepared to answer any questions about the car, how it runs, it’s history, highlight the positives, but also be honest about anything that you are aware of, or that may need further attention.
- The potential buyer will most likely want to take the car for a test drive, so be prepared to go in the car with them or ask a friend or relative to go on your behalf.
The Vehicle Sale
- The buyer might want to negotiate the price, so be clear as to how much you would be prepared to reduce the purchase cost by. If you don’t feel comfortable, then be mindful that you might have to decline if the offer is too low.
- Decide beforehand, how you will accept a payment – cash or bacs transfer or something else? If it’s a bacs transfer, the buyer will need your name/sort-code and bank account number, so make sure that you have these details easily to hand. Check that the money has been received in your bank account before you hand over the keys.
- Prepare a receipt enclosing 2 copies. This should include the sale date, vehicle registration details, the agreed amount paid, names of both parties and both signatures and add the phrase ‘Sold as seen’. This means that, the buyer is clear that they won’t be able to re-negotiate or contest the cost at a later time or date.
- Fill out the vehicle logbook – Within the vehicle logbook there is a section for the buyer to take away and then you will need to fill out the logbook, tear and keep a slip for yourself. Post off the main section of the vehicle logbook to the DVLA – The details for what to fill out and where to post, are clearly outlined within the vehicle logbook. This should be processed as soon as possible so that the DVLA can be notified that you are no longer the owner / keeper of the vehicle. If you don’t have a vehicle logbook or can’t find it, you can apply here: https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-log-book
- Finally, also notify the vehicle tax office that you are no longer the owner of the vehicle. This means that they won’t tax you any further for the vehicle and may even issue you with a refund if you have paid upfront.
Finding Sale Support
Here at Stourbridge Automotive, our qualified and experienced Technicians can help owner drivers to prepare their vehicles ready for sale, through our vehicle servicing facilities for Audi, BMW MINI, Mercedes, Jaguar, Land Rover and Range Rover, including repairs, maintenance and specialist vehicle services.
To find out more and how to get in touch, please contact us.