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Home / New Zealand

Top tips for selling your motor online

By Mathieu Day
NZ Herald·
1 Oct, 2014 04:00 PM5 mins to read

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Give your car a thorough clean, inside and out, to show it has been well looked after.

Give your car a thorough clean, inside and out, to show it has been well looked after.

Saying goodbye to your old car to make way for a new set of wheels can run smoothly if you follow these seven steps

It is one of the harsh realities of modern motoring - you love a vehicle for years, but for one reason or another you have the often tricky task of moving it on to a new owner when the love is lost.

Sadly, the days where you could pay a pocketful of change to the local paper for a 'For Sale' ad in the classifieds are long gone, and placing your vehicle on the side of a road with a sign can easily end in tears.

So if you want to successfully sell your used vehicle these days you cannot afford to overlook going online.

DO YOUR RESEARCH
Before you do anything it is best to find out roughly how much your vehicle is worth in the current market.

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There are two very good reasons to see what models similar to yours are selling for.

Firstly you don't want to set your price too high and be stuck trying to sell for months.

Secondly, you don't want to price yourself too low and cheat yourself out of a little extra.
We all know that extra couple of hundred dollars can go a long way. Jump online and search for your vehicle's year, make, and model to get a list of what is for sale locally.

old car to make way for a new set of if you follow these seven steps

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Find out roughly how much your vehicle is worth, if you set your price too high you might be stuck trying to sell for months.

COLLECT ALL PAPERWORK
Nothing tells a prospective buyer that a vehicle has been cared for like paperwork. Make sure you have all the relevant paperwork regarding your vehicle's service history and any work done by mechanics.

Place all receipts for work and servicing in a folder for prospective buyers.

GIVE IT A THOROUGH WASH
Next up, give your vehicle a thorough clean, inside and out. When listing your vehicle you will be asked to post photos of it for prospective buyers to look at and judge the condition of the vehicle.

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If the vehicle is dirty and filled with old McDonald's wrappers you could be sending the message to potential buyers that the vehicle hasn't been looked after all that well, potentially hurting your chances of getting what you would like for it.

TAKE PLENTY OF PHOTOS
With your vehicle now nice and clean, take plenty of photos.
You'll want to include the main inside and out shots as well as anything of note.

Things like any noticeable damage, stains or tears in the seats, and even the amount of tread left on the tyres are good things to also include. After all a picture can say 1000 words.

ASK A REALISTIC PRICE
Building on your research you should know roughly how much vehicles such as yours are listed for and selling for.

There can be a significant difference between the two so keeping an eagle eye on online sales can put you at an advantage for a quick sale.

AUCTION VS CLASSIFIED
There are two main options for listing a vehicle for sale online and both have their points for and against choosing them.

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Auctions generally run for a shorter time and can bring you unexpected profit.

The downside with auctions, however, is buyers tend to bid without first viewing (opening the risk for them to try to back out) and if your vehicle doesn't meet its reserve you are left with going through the process again.

In addition you cannot advertise your vehicle in a classified elsewhere while you are running an online auction which can be a hindrance to the selling process if you are after a quick sale.

Classifieds offer a fixed price in most cases with a longer listing period than auctions.
You also set the price you want for your vehicle and prospective buyers negotiate on the final price with you. This is often the more sensible option as it offers you more flexibility as a seller to advertise elsewhere.

Make sure you have covered all your legal responsibilities before the keys change hands

LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES
As a private seller you are not holdable to the Consumer Guarantees Act.

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This means you do not have to offer a warranty on vehicles you sell, unless you are a registered motor vehicle trader.

However, legally you do have a responsibility to sell a vehicle that is in a roadworthy state with a current Warrant of Fitness that is less than 30 days old.

It is also important to note that if your vehicle's registration has expired you are liable to pay for any outstanding fees up to the point of sale.

The need for a Warrant of Fitness can be waived by agreement with the buyer but selling a car with a WoF and rego will make selling it much easier than without. So save yourself the hassle.

Once your vehicle is sold and the cash has changed hands you will need to file a change of ownership with the NZ Transport Agency.

The forms in question (MR13A and MR13B) can easily be filled out online before the buyer leaves with the vehicle, transferring all legal responsibility to them.

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