How To Sell Your Car in Singapore And Get The Best Deal

We have already discussed the intricacies of buying a car in a peculiar market such as ours, but selling a car is an often neglected, yet very necessary topic.

There are a few options when you want to get rid of your old car in Singapore:

• The most common one is selling your car to a second-hand car dealer or trading it in for another car. If you are dealing with a reliable dealer, this should be the easiest option. However, bear in mind that you will hardly get the best price for your car if you opt for a dealer. Still, if you are trading in your car, this is by far the easiest option.
• Another less common, but very present option is selling your car directly to a buyer. This way you should probably get a bit better price, due to cutting out the middleman, but it also usually takes longer and requires more time from the seller.
• Lastly, the easiest option is to scrap your car as metal, but this is advisable only for cars that have a really low value.

Let us go through the first two options and give you some ideas as to what you should know and how to get the most out of your sale.

Selling Your Car to a Second-Hand Car Dealer

As we said, this is not the best way to get the best price. A dealer is someone who needs to make money on your car, so the price needs to be lower than it would be for a direct buyer. On the other hand, selling to a dealer takes away all of the perils related to selling a car in Singapore. If the price is right, dealers will buy pretty much buy anything that can be driven legally.

However, do not just sell at the first offer. You should get offers from several dealers and compare them. In some cases, a dealer may be looking for exactly the car you have and you may get a pretty good price. Also, if you are visiting other dealers, drop a hint to the one you are at. If they really want your car and they know you are visiting more dealers, they may give you the best price they can right there on the spot.

You can also trade your car in at the dealer’s. While dealers will love this as they can both buy a car at a good price and sell another one at the same time, you can also benefit from good negotiation skills. With the dealers potentially making money on both cars, you have more room to get a better price for your car or reduce the price on the other one. Remember, the dealer will always be looking to sell, so you have nice leverage there.

Moreover, in this case, you can also use the dealer’s tactics against them. If a dealer is telling you that you have to reduce the price of your car further because not many people are buying cars, the same goes for the car they are selling.

Another benefit of going to the dealer is that they usually handle all the documentation. They have plenty of experience with this and it is a quick task for them. However, this is where we have to reinstate the importance of going to a good, reliable dealer. Relying on the dealer to sort out the documentation also means that you need to trust them, so make sure you deal with reputable people.

Selling Directly to the Buyer

There are several websites where you can post an ad that you are selling your car. We suggest you post the ad on all of them. The most common options include carro.sg, motorst.sg, stcars.sg, sgcarmart.com and sg.carousell.com.

While you will have to deal with the documentation yourself, the process is well sorted out. With all the online resources, you should be able to do it without any issues. However, this does not mean you should be unprepared. Make sure you familiarize yourself with the process and you have all the papers.

The main benefit of selling your car directly to the buyer is the fact that you can probably get more money for it. However, while it is almost certain that you will get some offer for your car if you visit a dealer, it is not the same with direct buyers. They need to find your car, like it and consider buying it and choose it among other offers for the same model. This is neither easy nor fast as going to a dealer.

You will also have to let the potential buyer test the car, have it checked and be on top of the selling process and know the answers to questions. Think about it this way. When you are selling to a dealer, the dealer leads the process. They know the price range, they are familiar with the servicing and repair costs, they have the experience and knowledge other people don’t. They will have the answers to all your potential questions. When you are selling to a direct buyer, you are the one who needs to answer questions.

How to Get The Best Price For Your Car?

Aside from negotiation and shopping around that we have mentioned, there are other ways you can get more money for your car.

Mind you, we do NOT condone tricking buyers by selling them unsafe cars, rolling back odometers or not disclosing serious issues, but some touch-ups can help increase the value of your car in the eyes of the buyer.

For example, if you are one of those drivers who do not clean the interior often, it may look really bad. Moreover, damage to the things like steering wheel, seats, pedals or gear lever makes the car look abused. If your car is in a good mechanical condition, touching up these things for a small price will make the overall impression a lot better and increase your chances of getting a good price and the buyer will get a mechanically sound car with a nice interior.

Cleaning the seats actually makes them clean, so this is what the buyer will in fact get. With things like this one, nobody is getting tricked. While you will need to spend some money to do this, the overall impression can make a more significant difference. Think about it, when was the last time you went to see a car that looks scruffy in pictures.

Similarly, make sure you point out all the benefits. Did you recently buy new tyres? Have you just performed services? Did you buy some additional equipment for the car? Make sure you point out all of these things to the buyer.

Conclusion

If this is the first time that you are selling your car, it can be a rather lengthy and time-consuming experience. But if are patient and do some shopping around before agreeing on the final price, it could mean a few hundred or thousand extra in your pocket.