Tips to get the best price when selling your car to used car dealers!

There are many ways you can sell your car, and for the most part, selling your car here is a frustrating process. So, one of the simplest and quickest ways for many is getting a dealer to buy it from you.

But the easiest solution has its downsides, and there are many common mistakes car owners make when selling to dealers. While dealers can sort out any outstanding loans and have the car out of your hands as soon as possible, you typically get a lower value than what your car is really worth.

They're other points car dealers consider, too. Including what brand of car you're driving, to even the colour. With that said, here are further tips you need to know...

1. Know the car's market value

The easy way to go about doing this is heading over to sgCarMart's Used Car pages, and search the exact make, model and specification of your car.

From there, select the car that is closest to your date of registration. Scroll down and take a look at the price chart to see an average.

It is also a good idea to monitor the listings for a few days, to see if there are new cars added or being sold. That could give you an idea that the car is in demand.

With it, you can roughly gauge how much your car is going for, and how much dealers will probably be listing your car for. But it doesn't mean car dealers will be offering you the price that is listed.

2. Get your PARF and COE rebates

Did you know that you can get rebates upon deregistering your car? But it might be a little confusing to some.

It is best to find out how much your car is worth in terms of 'paper value', or the culmination of COE and PARF (if applicable) rebates.

You don't need a dealer to help you find out this figure, and you don't need to whip out a calculator, either. As an owner, you can retrieve this amount from the Land Transport Authority's One Motoring service, under Enquire PARF/COE rebate.

Why is this important? Dealers will use the rebate amount as a baseline figure to quote your car.

If you're being quoted an amount below the rebate, that's a bad deal. You're better off deregistering the car yourself and receiving that rebate from the government.

3. The difference of the two

So with the paper value almost guaranteed in the form of rebates, it is now about how much the dealer is willing to offer on top of it. This is where the car's perceived resale value comes in.

A dealer will never quote the list price of your car. It has to make some profits, and if there are any repairs or touching up to do before putting it on the market.

Plus, they might be settling your loan, along with the work of selling your car off on the market later on.

A car with a larger difference between the two would likely mean it has better perceived resale value. It is always wise to ask for more.

4. Bad price? There are always alternatives

By selling your car to a car dealer, you'll only be working with one party. A good idea is to compare, but that takes time and effort.

An alternative is to put your car up for auction, where used car dealers can bid for your car.

One such platform is Quotz. With over 500 car dealers on its service, you'll be able to receive the highest selling price for your car within an hour. You can take a look yourself at the prices cars have transacted at, too.

Plus, there's no obligations. With a turnaround time of two weeks upon accepting an offer, it is possibly the easiest, most value-for-money way to sell your car quickly.

This article was first published in sgCarmart.