What Is My Car Worth?

The question you ask when selling your car is, 'How much is it
worth?' Well this question is actually incomplete. You have to
add three parts and you get three different answers.

How much is it worth when I sell it to a:

Dealer

Private individual

Dealer as a trade-in
You can answer these 3 questions by going to online valuation web
sites such as: Kelly's Blue Book in the United States or The Red
Book in Australia. You can get these prices for free.

The other way to value your car is to see how much they are going
for in the classifieds.

Neither one of these ways is entirely accurate for the following
reasons.

Classifieds may have only one or two cars of your type and they
could be overpriced or underpriced. The quality of your estimate
depends on getting a good range. It's a good idea to check the
prices over several weeks if you can.

Online Valuation services may have inaccuracies for particular
models and should not be relied on exclusively, just because they
seem to be the authorities. Their valuation is only as good as
the data they have to go on. Since a large number of transactions
bypass their data collection you can only consider it an
estimate. It could be out by as much as $1000 easily.

Seasonal demands influence the prices of cars. Convertibles sell
for higher prices in the summer time. These swings can exceed the
ranges given in valuations.
There is one more factor that overides all the above. The final
price you get is not it's worth. It's worth is it's value. A
good, reliable car with no rust, that has been maintained can be
sold for more money. It is worth more than a newer car that has
been poorly maintained. If you have such a car then you
absolutely can sell it for a good price because you are giving
value for money.

Graeme Sprigge
www.90minutecarsalesman.com


Graeme Sprigge is the author of The 90 Minute Carsalesman and
lives in Sydney, Australia. His professional background is
residentential direct sales in the telecommunications and energy
sectors. He now writes books and buys and sells cars for profit.
He is currently working on developing joint venture partnerships
with related businesses.

Copyright 2005 Graeme Sprigge - All rights reserved
www.90minutecarsalesman.com