Smoothdriving

When selling your car or truck to a private party, as opposed to trading it into a dealership, consider the following to see if including a warranty is right for your situation:

First and foremost is your pre-owned car or truck currently covered by the manufactures original warranty or do you have an extended vehicle service contract (aka extended warranty) for your car or truck. If so then be sure to mention that prominently in the ads that you place. There are many free places online to market your vehicle. You can view this article about free online advertising for selling your car or truck to get some ideas.

When selling your car or truck think about the sale from the buyer’s perspective. Would you be more likely to buy the car if the car came with a warranty? If you say no, then providing a warranty with the sale of your car is probably not right for you. This goes to selling something that you do not believe in, if you are not willing to buy the product yourself, how can you convince someone else that the product has value.

If you would be more inclined to purchase a pre-owned vehicle because the seller included a warranty or to purchase a pre-owned car from a car dealership, then ask yourself how much more you would be willing to pay for that used car or truck to have the peace of mind that comes from having the warranty protection as opposed to the price you would be willing to pay for the used car without a warranty.  You should add this dollar amount to the selling price of your used car if you are including a warranty.

People tend to purchase used cars from car dealerships instead of private individuals for a couple reasons. One is ease of purchasing a used car from a car dealership. No need to worry about trying to find a buyer for current used car or truck since the dealership will give you money for it when you are buying from them. Secondly, the knowledge that if something happens to the car after you purchase it you have a business to go back to and try and resolve the problem. You pay a premium for the ease of use and “security” of knowing you can go back to dealership if there is a problem with the vehicle. The “security” you pay a premium for at the dealership is no different than paying a private seller a premium to have a warranty included when you purchase a car from them. One other thing to keep in mind when buying a used car from a dealership without a written warranty, is the dealership does not guarantee that they will fix the problem, whereas a written warranty from either a dealership or a private seller provides you with specific rights and protections. If a private seller or a dealership says the used car includes a warranty make sure you get it in writing, you can also read this article on what to look for in a vehicle service contract or warranty to make sure you are getting quality coverage and not just a piece of paper.

So what are the benefits of including a warranty to, you, the seller of a used car.

Make your pre-owned car stand out from the crowd.

When selling your car, including a short term warranty will make your car stand out from other similar cars that are for sale at the same time. Think about it from a buyer’s perspective, would you be more willing to purchase a car that had a warranty over one that did not? Would you be willing to pay more for a car or truck that had a warranty over the same car or truck that did not have a warranty?

Make more money from the sale of your used car.

By including a warranty you can increase the asking price of your used car or truck. Why? The same reason people pay extra to purchase a used car from a dealership or pay for an extended vehicle service contract. You are giving them peace of mind and people are willing to pay a little extra when they can be reassured that the used car that they are purchasing is not going to cause them any problems and if it does cause them a problem it will be taken care of for them. This is good for both the buyer and the seller. The seller is able to make a little extra money from selling their car and the buyer receives peace of mind.

Protect yourself and your buyer from unknown problems.

When you sell your pre-owned car you know what kind of condition it is in and unless you are unscrupulous you disclose any problems to the buyer of your used car. But what happens when there is a problem that you really did not know about and the buyer of the vehicle comes back to you saying you sold them a vehicle that had a problem and they want you to pay to fix it or take the car back. You can protect yourself from this situation by doing a couple of things. First you must ALWAYS use a bill of sale when selling a pre-owned car and on the bill of sale be sure that it states the car is being sold “as is”. That will help you if the buyer tries to take you to court over the matter. Secondly you can include a warranty so that even if the car has an unexpected problem, the buyer will not have to contact you about it. Instead the buyer simply takes the vehicle to a repair shop and has the repair shop deal with the warranty administrator as opposed to contacting you about the problem. You can find a bill of sale here. The DMV is good resource for information on the process of selling a used car in your specific state as well as any state specific documents that you may need to use to transfer the title of your pre-owned car.  We have also included links to the Department of Motor vehicles for each state.

Thank you for taking time out of your hectic life to read this article, We hope it has provided you with some insight on how to sell your used car faster and for more money. We wish you the best of luck in selling your next used car or truck.