BUY AND SELL YOUR CAR 101 : eBay Guides

BUY AND SELL YOUR CAR 101

These are My first hand experiences that brought me to success in the Automotive Buy and sell Industry.

For me Buying and selling a car is not all about the money. Its the Passion of getting the car Back to its former glory!

I have this passion for cars since i was a kid, I started this Business because i like fiddling with cars that i like, so buying your first buy and sell  vehicle should be the car of your dreams, In that way you will enjoy working on it and making the most out of it. Buying and selling a car for me is like I said is not all about the money, Its the Passion. So i bought the car of my dreams ofcourse the one I can afford and work on it, for me its not really the market demand but ofcourse it is a great big factor in this line of business.

SEARCHING FOR THE CAR

Searching for the car to buy is a tricky business, you can look at the websites, specialized magazines and through your friends and people from around the business for a long time.

If you already see the car that you like Please please please! DO NOT BE AN IMPULSIVE BUYER! Take your time, look for the best offer you can find, sleep on it and then think about it first.

The first time that you'll be buying the car is going to be exciting i know and i've learned the hard way, so let me be an example!

Ok, lets pretend that the car is already in front of you, Start off with Inspecting it thoroughly start with the :

ENGINE BAY

The engine is the heart of your vehicle, You should check for leaks knocking sounds and too much Vibrations. Please note that there should'nt be any oil outside the engine, it should be inside!!! you may find some vehicles that has a dirty engine but thats ok, you can blame it as to how the owner kept the vehicle, as long as you see no traces of oil its fine!

Check for knocking and squeeking sounds and leaks with in the engine bay, the also check the  smoke from the exhaust, Its better that you can smell a bad odor of a burnt gasoline from the exhaust rather than a lean smell of gasoline. It means that the combustion is not complete and less power is produced. knocking sounds are to be treated seriously as the engine is built with a synchronized moving parts that should not make  knocking sounds, and if you notice that indeed there is one, turn around and walk away from the vehicle.

While your in the engine bay try to check the frame that surrounds the engine, specifically the frame just right above the headlight, there is where you can see if there is any history of a frontal collision with the car. Also check for fluids such as power steering fluid, coolant or radiator fluid, ATF (automatic trans fluid) if available and the Break fluid. these fluids are only circulating within the system and they are not to be topped up frequently, that means you have an engine leak on your hands and needed to be treated seriously too.!  

EXTERIOR OR BODY OF THE CAR

It would be a best practice to look at a car where there are an ample amount of light in which the surrounding reflects the light through the body of the car, Check the Paint for cracks and scratches as well as dents, Dents is more likely to be detected through the reflection of the surrounding light, remember that its a "best practice to look at the car where there are ample amount of light" ? heres how you will make use of it!

Check for the headlight, turning signal lamps and tail lamps if they are all working and in good condition, while checking take note of the interval of the on and of of the signal lights if they are two fast it means that you have a broken bulb or a short circuited wiring harness.

Check the wheels and tires if they are of the correct size (offset)  size of the wheel may alter the accuracy of your speedometer, not such a big deal, but in the other hand if you really  want you car to be at its best! even small things that affects the performance of the car does matter.

Tires should also be inspected as every tire has its own thread ware indicator located at the middle of the tire chunks or threads. 

INTERIOR

The interior is somewhat as important as the outside of the vehicle, you spend more time inside than the outside, obviously the interior should be in a good state.

Dashboard- Should be nice and clean louvers, or air con vents instrument panels lights,switch and gauges should be at the right place and ofcourse functioning!

Door Panels and trims- Should be fresh and properly fitted as this contributes to the design and functionality of the interior.

Seats and Center console- The seats is where you will be spending most of your time obviously , so check for the sogginess,rips and cleanliness of the seat, why the center console would your utility area that would contributes to the cleanliness of the interior belive it or not!

Sound system and Air Conditioning- the stereo is not much of an importance when it comes to the function but is a very high factor when it comes to selling points! a good sound system means more comfort and style which is like i mentioned A good selling point. While the air conditioning is not only a necessity but a mandatory to all vehicle, with out this functioning properly , you will have a hard time using and selling your car.

Please note that its best to test the Air Conditioning during the middle of the day where the sun is up to its highest intensity, due to the fact that is hot and you will be able to determine how strong your air conditioner is. 

So there I think we covered it already now lets move on in Fixing the car!

FIXING AND PREPARING YOUR CAR

Fixing the car is sort of like fixing your self, you would want the best of everything but at the lowest price ! right ?

When fixing your car I suggest that you start from the inside, try to take your time in fiddling with the small detailed thing one by one and take your time doing and perfecting every peice as "perfection is a group of small detailed materials".

After perfecting your Interior move to your engine bay, It would be best to have a professional do it for you as there are some parts and areas in the engine that is delicate to water and can affect your engine performance.

But if you want to do the engine wash your self  make sure you cover up the following components tightly sealed with plastic so that water wont go through.

ALTERNATOR- because this is where all the electric current generates. It produces the static and 12Volt electricity of your car.

DISTRIBUTOR-connected from the alternator, the distributor distributes electricity to your high tension wires and other components such as the interior instrumentation throughout your car.

COMPRESSOR- Although the compressor is a part of the cooling system it still generate static electricity while this is connected to the belt from your your engine and create stored electricity within its components.

Basically You should cover all electronic components as water is also a conductor that could lead these electrical components to have a short circuit. But wait not only the electrical systems needs a tight fit cover but also your air intake system.

Cover your CARBURETOR or FUEL INJECTION THROTTLE BODY OPENING because water might sip in that will cause a catastrophic effect!  well may be not catastrophic but MIXING WATER WITH OIL IS NOT SUCH A GOOD IDEA ! specially when it comes to combustion engines, and there is also a big possibility that the sensors inside your fuel injection system can be damaged.

ENGINE WASH

Start off with covering the critical areas as described on the top of this article, then spray it with a degreaser or a substitute for it is (kerosine gas) or any of the same kind, once applied, you can now apply and scrub your engine out with soap or a strong detergent.

Start of on the hard to reach area's going to the easy reach one's. Then spray it again with the degreaser and then water.

After doing so it is better to let it dry first or if you have a turbo fan or compressed air will do just fine. Make sure that the engine bay is already dry and the covered components are already uncovered before starting your engine.

If the engine already started, turn it off again once the running temp. reached its running temperature. Then start applying the engine dressing. ex. armour oil or similar to its kind. Now your engine is nice and shiny then your good to go!

INTERIOR DETAILING

Start off with fixing the broken parts with in the dash board, more often than not louvers or airco vents are the one's that are more likely to be broken as it is the part that you often move or use.

Dials knobs and lighting  fixtures in the dash boards should also be functioning properly as it signifies that the car has been kept properly. After fixing the dashboard move on to the doors and side mirrors. If you have power windows, make sure they are all working and well lubricated as well as manual windows should also be aligned from time to time.

Door Panels and power window switches should be intact strait and proper, in that way a customer will feel a since that the car was well maintained. 

Note: It's a good idea to strip off the tint of the car so that the customer will have a since of filling that the car is fresh and new.

The seats - should be intact and clean, no rips and no stains, as it is a big factor that beautifies your interior, if there are some points that needs repair or if you want a quick solution, resort to a seat cover or better yet a leather seat cover, as repairing a ripped off seat is more expensive than just buying a set of seat covers.

Note: If your seats are still looking good and clean, its better to leave them exposed, customers like a stock interior rather than an altered and modified one.

When all has been sorted out, Now is the time to clean the Interior.........

Again start of with the Dash board and Door panels DO NOT use soap or alcohol based detergent, just a damp cloth will do same with the sidings and panels as most of the car has a leather or leatherette interior inserted with fabric that is quite sensitive to detergents.

The Head lining should be cleaned thoroughly with either a fabric no-contact cleaner or a mild soap will do.

Brush the seats for any small particles and sut then, there are aftermarket cleaners such as no-touch soaps that also eliminates odor from the seats or if you dont have one, you can just soak a clean cloth and wash it with shampoo then rub it in to the seats, that way it will have the same effect like the after market cleaning materials do.

Mattings and Floor Carpet- remove the floor mats and vacume the seats and the carpet s then vacume the hard to reach areas more particularly at the sides of the front seats as it will create a good expression that the car has been kept clean and proper, then brush or vacume the carpet thoroughly as all the outside dirt will be sticking on this part of the interior. In the event that the matts do not look good or already crooked, you might want to replace them for a new one and or a cheaper one, thus customers are not that particular with the floor matting but a clean and straight one would be more appealing to the customer.

Windows and windshield are a big factor, so you might want to check for scratches and watermarks on this area, a clean clean glass represents a clean car, as this is a sensitive area of that car that tends to satisfy a customer whenever they sit inside the car. Like what i sead earlier, no tints are better!

EXTERIOR DETAILING

First take a look at the paint, If it needs some rubdown please do so ! A fresh paint is one of the biggest factor in selling a car as customers are more interested at these factor rather than the amenities or mechanical factors of the car, in short they look at the body first before going in to the detail mechanics.

Rubbing- Step one is to wash your car first, then Mix a locker or gas thinner with your rubbing compound in a container, but before applying it. There are also after market rubbing liquids and or compounds that can be bought in specialty stores and or hardwares, both of them just have the same effect so might as well go with the cheeper one.

Applying the rubbing compound: It would be a good practice applying it panel by panel, for example do the fenders first rather than the big areas such as the hood or the roof in that way, in a short amount of time youl be able to see the difference and youll be driven to do more and more as you will be delighted to see the difference of what you did to the car, i hope you get what i mean!

Rub the car in a one way motion, its either up or down or left to right, do not do a circular motion as the rubdown will not be consistent and it might leave some areas that have stains.

after rubbing the the whole car proceed to buffing, or removing the residue of the compound with a clean peice of cloth, change the cloth from time to time as the compound builds up on the surface of the cloth leaving you unwanted stains that is not suppose to be there in the first place.

After Buffing its a good idea to wash your car first to illuminate unwanted oils and residues on hard to reach area's, as water can penetrate those areas where your fingers cannot! Dry your car thoroughly then proceed to waxing.

WAXING- Apply wax first on the top parts of your car, the roof, hood and then the back hatch of the car the proceed to the side, apply tthe wax in a circular motion. Applying the wax on a circular motion is better than a linear one, due to the fact that the paint also has microscopic pores like the human skin that the wax will sip and penetrate the paint better given that the pores points through different directions.

NOTE: do not apply wax on matt colored surfaces and rubber, as it will be hard to remove and somewhat may damage these surfaces.

After waxing buff the car again, then you will see the lustrous shine that the wax can do to the paint, after that, if you have the time to clean your windows, windshields and trimmings again with gas or stain removers as this highlights the cars whole appearance.

Do not forget the wheels, Make it a point that you also brush your tires and mag wheels as most of the time, these components are the biggest factor that enhanced the appearance of the car.

Tireblack- Its better to just have a black tires that are not too shiney due to the fact that dirt will eventually stick to your tire living a gusty look on your tire and will accumulate more dirt.Shiney dry wheels are better than Oily ones!

Now Your all done in prepping your car for sale! Now lets find the Buyer!!!

FINDING THE BUYER

Finding the buyer is not such an easy task. You can find them everywhere. You can post your vehicle in diffrent websites or at speacialized car finder maganines and or news papers, you can also let every one know that your selling your car in your neighborhood or you can put a sighnage inside your car indicating your contact number so that every where the car goes everybody will be able to see it.

There are some factors that can affect your buyer hunting opportunities on diffrent places.

INTERNET- Specialized sites can accomodate a picture and a breif discription of your car, more often than not these buyers will call you but does have other options in mind, meaning to say your car is not the only car that they have looked at since the internet sites do offer other posts aswel.

So you might want to increase your chances of selling your car by posting a good and breif info about your car and a little exageration to the components of the car.

SPEACIALIZED MAGAZINES AND NEWS PAPER ADDS- Target buyer for this is kind of posts is for those people that has a brand name in mind, more often than not they bought this magazine add having a particular vehicle in mind.

RANDOM PEOPLE OR PEOPLE YOU KNOW- This is where sales talk bigins, advertizing your car to a person is like applying for a job, you site all good things about the car praise it in whatever way you like but still if there are thinghs that will give the next owner somthing that he or she should know weather it is good or bad, you should mention it also, because in the long run the customer will be tuning back to you and loose faith in you if there is somthing that you should have said but did'nt just to make the sale.

.............to be continued