8 ways to increase the value of your car before selling it

When the time comes to sell your car, there are several things you can do to increase the value of your car.

A brand new car loses 11% of its value the moment it is driven away from the dealership. After this, the value of the car can depreciate by 15 – 25 per cent each year during its first five years. It is, therefore, important that you are doing everything you can to increase the resale value of your car.

Depreciation is an expected eventuality of owning a car, but that doesn’t mean you have to sell your car for the absolute minimum price. Just like sprucing up your house before selling, showing your car some love pre-sale can make a world of a difference to its resale value.

Here are eight ways you can easily increase the value of your car before selling:

Keep it clean

It may sound like we’re stating the obvious here, but cleaning your car is a must-do before selling. First impressions matter and a clean, shiny car gives viewers the impression that you are someone who looks after their vehicle. A shiny, good-looking car will stand out on the forecourt (or on photos, depending on how you plan to sell your car) and could result in a higher sale.

Research by the Daily Telegraph found that cars that had been professionally cleaned could be sold for as much as £1,000 more than those that had not.

You could pay a professional to clean, wax and valet your car, or you could do it yourself as a way to save even more money before selling your car.

Repair worn car seats

Depending on how much travel time your car has had, your car seats may be in need of some TLC before selling. If your leather car seats are worn, you can easily repair these yourself using some DIY leather seat repair products.

Leather glue is a great, no-mess way to repair tears and rips. For larger holes and cracks you can use The Scratch Doctor Leather Filler. If your car seats just have small areas of fading, you can use a leather touch up pen to restore the colour of faded or worn-looking leather seats.

Meanwhile, the All In One Colourant can be colour-matched to the specific interior leather code for your car. Please contact us to see if we have your exact leather colour match!

Revive steering wheel

Leather steering wheels are prone to damage due to general wear and tear. A tired and worn looking steering wheel can be an instant turn-off for any potential buyers.

Thankfully, you can restore your car’s steering wheel leather at home and get it looking brand new again. The Steering Wheel Repair Kit by Scratch Doctor is an easy DIY restoration kit to make professional repairs to damaged, worn or faded leather steering wheels.

Suitable for all leather car steering wheels, this kit contains everything you will need to clean, recolour, repair and seal your leather. At only £22.95, this steering wheel repair kit is a must-use for anyone looking to increase the value of their car before selling.

Repair any scuffs, scrapes or dents

Looks are important when it comes to selling your car. Anyone looking to buy a used car will be keeping a lookout for any damage to the bodywork of the car, including the alloys and windscreen.

They will want to know you’ve, and any previous owners, have looked after the car well during its lifetime. If a potential buyer spots any damage to the car exterior, it is likely that they will then deduct the cost of repair from the final offer for the car.

If you are only expecting a small sum of money for your car, it may not be worthwhile spending hundreds of pounds on SMART (small and medium area repair technology) repairs to the car bodywork.

However, there are certain repairs and restorations you can do yourself to improve the bodywork of your car before selling.

Alloy wheels are at risk of getting kerbed and scratched and many car owners take pride in having a car with shiny alloys. Replacing alloys can be expensive but there is a more cost-effective alternative. To keep costs low while also increasing the value of your car, you can use a DIY alloy repair kit to professionally and easily repair scrapes and kerb damage on your alloy wheel rims.

If you do a lot of motorway driving, you may notice light scratches and surface marks dulling your car windscreen. Replacing your windscreen probably won’t add enough value to your car to be worth the cost. Instead, you can use a DIY Glass Repair Kit to get your windscreen sparkling again.

Featuring a polishing compound made from cerium oxide, our Glass Repair Kit has everything you need to repair our windscreen at a fraction of the cost of most repair centres.

Find your paperwork

Anyone looking to buy a second-hand car wants to be aware of the car’s history. Be transparent with potential buyers about the history of your car and make sure you have any helpful paperwork to hand.

Ready your vehicle logbook, service book and invoice receipts for any work carried out on the car to show potential buyers that you are an honest and reliable car seller.

Get a service for your car

Buying a used car can be risky. As a seller, you can reduce the risk and uncertainty for buyers by making sure your car has had a recent Service and MOT. This allows the new owners to gain a better understanding of the car’s condition and reduces the worry that the car may need a trip to the garage once purchased.

Keep mileage low

How many miles your car has done can greatly affect its resale value. On average, cars clock up between 10,000 – 15,000 miles per year, with that mileage increasing with regular motorway driving or long journeys.

By keeping mileage as low as possible, you increase your chance of being able to resell your car at a higher price than if the miles on the clock were significantly higher than the average rate. The reason for this is that the more miles your car has done, the more at risk it is of encountering technical issues in the near future.

People buying second-hand cars, therefore, will want to purchase a car that done as few miles as possible.

Sell privately

While selling your car through a dealership seems like the easiest option, it can also be more expensive. Car dealers will often buy your car at the lowest possible price-point to ensure they can make a profit on top of the sale.

By selling your car privately, you can negotiate with the individual, price your car at a more suitable value and work to a timeline that suits you.

Increasing the value of your car before selling

Before selling your car, consider what you can do to increase the value of your vehicle. It may surprise you to know how much you can increase the value of your car through small changes.

Remember to weigh up the cost of repair versus the final sale price to make sure that any repairs made are cost-effective. Many car improvements and restorations can be done at home using our variety of Auto Care and Repair products, helping you increase the value of your car for less.