How to sell a car privately

There are various things you need to do to prepare yourself (and your car) when selling a car privately, as detailed below.

Knowing how much you car is worth

There are a few ways to find out how much your car is worth. One is to simply look around in the paper and on the internet to see how much similar cars are selling for. This should get you a "ball park" figure to help you price your car accurately.

Another method is to consult an industry guide that will tell you exactly how much your car is worth, and what you should expect to get for it. These guide books cover all makes and models of cars and come in handy pocket size. Ok you need quite big pockets to put them in mind you!

Such a guide is the Glass's Guide. Normally getting hold of these guides is strictly for traders, but you can pay a small fee and find out the guide price for your car directly from their website. At the time of writing, their price for an online instant valuation is £3.50. Not bad for an instant industry valuation is it?

Preparing your car for sale

Basically, the better and cleaner you can make your car look, the more chance of selling it you have.

Give the car a good wash and polish
Washing your car needn't be a massive hassle. There are really good car washes that do a good job, and even better are the "hand wash" ones where you pay someone to wash it for you.

Give the interior an good clean and scrub if need be
Don't go over the top though. There is nothing worse than viewing a car that has had every inch of plastic covered in silicone spray! A damp cloth with a little washing-up liquid is usually fine.

Keep it clean
You never know when someone will pop round to view it. If it's always clean, there's no rush when someone is on their way round for a viewing. Simply keep it in a garage or give it a quick wipe down each night.

Touching up paint chips and general paintwork
All cars get the inevitable paint chips on the bonnet and roof etc and these should really be touched up as you spot them to stop any rust setting in. If however your car is old and the paintwork is faded, there are excellent products on the market to rejuvenate the paint. Products such as "T-Cut" and "Colour Magic" will do the trick.

MOT Certificate
If there is only a couple of months left on the MOT it is almost essential to get a new MOT test done. This will show the prospective buyer that your car is in good shape, at least for another year anyway.

Tax Disc
The same goes for the tax disc as the MOT really. Get your car taxed for another 6 months if it is due to run out in the next month or so. It's one less expense for the prospective buyer if you have a full MOT and 6 months tax on the car.

Where to sell

On FindLocalVehicles.co.uk of course! We are now offering free listings. Simply register for an account.

There are countless other places to list your car as well, some free, some not. These include:

• Your local paper
• Classified ads in magazines
• Online auctions
• Offline auctions
• Sell your car direct to a dealer for cash

Paperwork and what you need to do

When you've found a buyer and agreed on a price, here are the various bits of paperwork you need, and what to do with them.

Registration Document
This is the most important document relating to your car and is also called a "V5" form. It shows who owns the car, and when you are selling it, it details exactly what you need to do, such as filling in the new owners details and sending off the form to the DVLA.

MOT Certificate
You should give the current MOT certificate to the new buyer, as this proves that the car is road legal

Tax Disc
You should also leave the tax disc in the window because this is only valid for the car it was purchased for.

Maintenance Manual
You should give the car's maintenance manual and service records so the new owner can keep the service history etc up to date.

A final word of advice

Never hand your keys and documents over to the new buyer until you are satisfied that you have been paid. If you get paid by cheque, simply wait until it clears in your bank.