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Joe Kenwright1 Feb 2008
ADVICE

Selling your car: How to deal with prospective buyers

Some tips on how to increase your chances of a successful outcome when selling your car

If you're selling a car, you'll need to deal with prospective buyers. Here's the Carsales Network's tips on increasing your chances of a successful outcome.

Inviting a total stranger around to your house then letting them drive your car down the freeway is not something you would normally do. It's something that's hard to get around, though, assuming you really want to sell your car. In most cases, things will turn out fine but it pays to take a few precautions and be alert to what can go wrong.

How do you minimise the risk? The Carsales Network talked to the people who know all about car theft -- members of police stolen car squads across this wide brown land. Here are their suggestions...

THE PHONE CALL
Be patient and polite to enquirers. Have all paperwork at hand ready to answer questions. If you don't like the attitude and feel uneasy, end the call. Don't disclose too much about yourself when the questions about the car can lead you into giving away information you shouldn't. Make appointments during daylight hours.

If there is something that people need to know about your car like a small blemish, some extra wear or a missing badge, let them know. It can tell buyers that you are genuine and realistic.

Callers can get nasty if they travel long distances only to find the car is sold or it is nothing like you said. Make it clear that if they don't turn up at the designated time, you reserve the right to sell it to someone else after that time. Ask for a return number in case the car is sold in the meantime so you can let them know or if a deal falls through later.

If someone gives you their number at this point, it's a good indicator that they are a genuine buyer.

Keep potential buyers separate so you are not trying to watch several buyers at once. Think carefully before giving a caller 'first refusal' on your car. Some buyers will use this to get you to hold the car at their convenience and force you to drop your price after you have put off other callers.

Don't be pressured into dropping your price until you give the ad time to work. Don't give out unnecessary information over the telephone.

Treat the car as sold only when you have received a deposit and even then keep your options open in case it falls through.

THE VIEWING
For a start, if you're selling something exotic or otherwise desirable it's best to do the deal on neutral turf -- so potential 'baddies' don't know where the car lives. Make sure someone knows where you are and what you are doing. Enlist a friend to be around if you don't feel comfortable doing it alone.

Otherwise, show the car on your own ground, but if you live alone and are vulnerable, consider showing it from a friend's house then disclose your address only when the deal is done.

Or have a friend around. Don't give anyone the keys. Don't let anyone wander around your house.

This might sound basic, but don't leave anything valuable in the car, such as the service records (think about it) and the rego papers. Some cars also have a code number on the key. Remove it and be wary of anybody who takes an unhealthy interest in it.

Some so-called buyers are shopping for a car and your household effects except they don't intend to pay and instead are using the visit to check out security systems and keys. Be wary of someone who is more interested in your movements and where the car is kept than arranging how they are going to pay for it.

Be aware that key codes are often stamped into the key or listed in the owner's manual which can allow a caller to get their own key made and take your car later. Remove key codes from your documents.

THE TEST DRIVE
Many buyers will want a test drive but you are not obliged to give one. Is the buyer really interested or just wants to hoon around in your car? Buyers who don't take the time to fully check out the car before a test drive are rarely genuine.

Do they have a current driver's licence? You also need to make sure that your insurance will cover the other driver.

Never let the car out on a test drive without you in it. Who pays for the speed camera fines or can vouch for what happened in a crash?

By all means accompany the test pilot, but never get out of the car before the keys are back in your hands. Many's the seller who's been asked to check a tyre the driver reckons is going flat. The seller steps around to the back wheel and guess what? Yep, that's the last they ever see of their car.

Don't accept the keys to the potential buyer's car as security, either. You wouldn't be the first person to be left holding the keys to a stolen car parked in front of your house while the 'baddies' are miles away with your wheels.

And we shouldn't have to say this, but don't do a deal where the buyer gives you half the money now and half later, "but I'll take the car now".

Be very clear on the terms under which you will hand over the car and stick to them.

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Written byJoe Kenwright
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