1. Mechanical Condition
Giving the car a test drive is the easiest way to gauge the mechanical condition. Some factors are easier than others when conducting a test drive eg does the vehicle pull to one side, are there any knocking noises when driving over bumps, how’s the braking? If you discover any irregularities such as these, you should factor in the potential replacements from the value of the car.
2. Exterior Condition
The saleability and value of the car will obviously depend on the condition of the exterior. The first observation of a car will be that of the exterior. This could include scuffed wheels (with an average price of £60 per wheel for restoration, with a suggestion of both wheel on the same side to be painted), other factors would be paintwork, scratches, rust, bumps and dents. Paintwork is complicated, for example, a mere scratch on a door does not mean that the scatch can be touched in but rather the whole door shall be painted, typically you could easily drop upwards of £100 on such a panel or door replacement. Then we have trims and badges that can start from £100. Visit buy my car site for a better overview.
3. Interior Condition
We see a lot of vehicles with a vast mixture of interior condition, some notable conditions are; a scratched dash (this cannot be repaired and will reflect in the final sale price), torn floor fabrics which are hard to repair, torn seat (with a reupholstered price starting at £75 a section). If the car needs a professional shampooing eg interior valeting for the seats due to a dog odour, this could be £50+.
4. Mileage
There is an obvious correlation between the higher the mileage the lower the retail value of the vehicle.
5. Previous Owners
The resale price of the vehicle is affected by the number of previous owners- the desirability of the vehicle is lower the higher number of previous owners. Lowering the price of the car is the usual method of combating this.
6. Service History
This can be a deciding factor when selling a vehicle with a high amount of previous owners; the desirability of vehicles is called into question with little or no service history available. However, if a vehicle has been serviced 5 times, this might simply be the by-product of having 5 previous owners each servicing it when bought, thus making it look artificially well looked after.
7. MOT
{A vehicle with a short MOT will highly affect the ability of a vehicle to be sold and the value|The value and saleability of a vehicle will be highly affected by a short MOT|the ability of a vehicle to be sold at its full value will be high affected if it only has a short MOT). First, we must take in to consideration the price of a test. There is always a fear the repair bill could quickly spiral from the basic £50 to £300+ for anything from eg failed brake discs or pads on any of the 4 tyres. For this reason, we recommend sorting out the MOT first so that the buyer knows they are getting the best value for money.
8. Specification
When buying a vehicle there are different model variants; a vehicle with greater specs will hold its value for longer and will be greater as a long term investment.
9. Saleability
Saleability is the ability for a vehicle to be sold. Factors can include engine size, fuel consumption, fuel type, engine transmission type (automatic or manual), if a vehicle can enter Ultra Low Emission Zone or a certain tax bracket and insurance group. These may be important factors to consider for some but not others, meaning it could be tough sell for a certain price without one or more of these factors.
10. Vehicle Colour
Another major way a vehicle’s resale price can be affected is it’s colour, Be prepared to get less for certain coloured cars.
Conclusion
To understand how much your car is worth, a full vehicle appraisal will have to be undertaken. It seems daunting but appraising true value of a car required all these factors to be taken into consideration for a dealers every day. Click on over to this buy my car link if you would like an estimation. We recommend you visit the link to grab 3 separate valuations for greater clarity on the various factors involved relating to the different conditions and how they could affect the price.
