5 Effective Ways to Boost Your Car’s Resale Value

If you’re at the point where you think you’d like to trade in your car for a newer model, or you need to sell your car to raise some cash, then you’ll want to get the most money you can from the transaction. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to beef up the asking price for your ride.

Here are 5 effective ways to boost your car’s resale value.

1. Buy a Car That Holds Value

Cars are known to depreciate in value very quickly. However, some of them will hold their value better than others.

When it’s time to buy a car, start by considering the manufacturer of the vehicle that you want to buy. That’s because some makes offer a better resale value.

For example, Toyota, Honda, and Mercedes retain value fairly well. Also, South Korean brands like Kia and Hyundai have seen their resale value increase recently.

If you’re browsing around a showroom and getting sticker shock from all the new car prices, be sure to realize that the resale value will likely never be higher than the price you pay for the vehicle. However, if you buy a car from a reputable manufacturer and treat it with some TLC, you stand do fairly well when it comes time to sell it.

2. Follow the Maintenance Schedule

You might think that the advice about changing your oil every few thousand miles is something that you don’t really need to follow and it’s a waste of time and money. If that’s what you believe, then don’t expect to get top dollar for your car when you sell it.

The fact of the matter is if you keep up with your routine maintenance tasks, you’ll not only increase the car’s resale value, you’ll also improve its lifespan.

3. Avoid Accidents

Accidents do happen, but they don’t have to be caused by you. Make sure that you follow the rules of the road and opt for a common sense approach when it comes to driving your vehicle.

Never, ever take your eyes off the road when you’re driving. Follow that advice and you’ll dramatically limit your risk of an accident.

If you do crash your car, you’re going to limit its resale value. If the accident was serious, some buyers won’t even consider your car.

4. Don’t Customize Your Car

It can be tempting not to go all out and make your car a real statement with lots of customized options. You can try to pimp your ride with a variety of automotive bells and whistles. You could also get some cool flames added to the side of the vehicle. You might even consider some new carpet in line with home flooring options.

Those customizations might be good for you, but your additions might not be what everybody else is looking for. As a result, resale value could go down for every unnecessary dollar you put into your car.

5. Keep it Clean

Almost everything looks better when it’s clean. Certainly, cars are more marketable when they’re clean and shiny because they create the “ooh… ahh” effect. That will help you when it comes time to sell your vehicle.

You want to maximize your income with the resale of your car. With just a few common-sense steps, you can get the best price possible for your used vehicle.