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How to Maximize the Resale Value for Your Used Car

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Used car marketing and how to get more for your vehicle.

You own a car and want to sell it, but what you have decided not to do is to trade it in for a new one. That’s a good move because what a used car dealer will give you in a trade is often less than what you might get through a private party sale. Still, setting a price for your used wheels can be a bit of a challenge, therefore consider the following points as get your ride ready for marketing.

Understand Your Local Market Conditions

Toyota Tacoma X-RunnerWhere you live will have a bearing on how fast your used car will sell and for how much. If you own a convertible, you should be able to fetch top dollar in southern California, but not so in Wisconsin. If you live in Florida and own a 4×4, you will find demand weak nearly everywhere across the Sunshine State.

Know your local market and target your vehicle to people that may want to buy it. For instance, if you own a compact used car that is in decent shape, it may appeal to a college student or to a family in need of a second car. A minivan or crossover can make for a great family vehicle while a classic sport coupe may appeal to collectors.

Find Out What Your Vehicle Is Worth

2014 Chevrolet Silverado High CountryYou have determined that there is a market for your used car. That is good! What you need to figure out next is what your car will fetch in your market. You can discover that price online by checking out the pricing guides offered by Kelley Blue Book or Edmunds.com, plugging in your information including the make, model, model year, options, mileage, condition of the vehicle and where you live.

Note that you may find multiple prices listed. One price will be your car’s trade-in price, the other its private party value. If you have accurately pinpointed the car’s condition, your price will come in somewhere between the two. Of course, the higher the asking price, the more room for negotiation — provided that you don’t set the price too high and scare off potential buyers

Survey Your Local Market

BMW 435iWe already discussed selling certain types of vehicles in markets that might not be a perfect fit. You can’t do anything about where you live, but you can survey the market to find out what is selling in your area.

Visit popular online vehicle selling sites such as eBay Motors and Craigslist to learn what is being marketed. Attempt to find your make/model vehicle or one similar to it in the listings. Find out how it is being priced and whether bids are being received. Look at the competition and then set your price accordingly.

To move your vehicle fast, set the price below its market value. You will attract more shoppers and may be able to negotiate a higher price if several buyers step forth.

Explore Your Marketing Options

Pontiac GTOConsider pricing your used car for an unusual amount to attract buyer attention. For instance, if your car’s value is $7,500, you may want to run an ad retailing it for $7,496.04. The odd pricing, especially if featured in the title of your ad, will draw more attention to your listing.

Your listing should be complete, offering as much details about the used car as possible. Plan to upload at least 10 photos of your car including pictures of its exterior with close up shots of the wheels, fascia and rear deck. Inside, show the seats, the carpeting, the dashboard and other special features including the navigation system. Lift the hood to show how clean the engine bay is. Highlight the vehicle’s strong points in your listing and don’t forget to include your contact information.

Smart Selling Considerations

BMW M6Know that buyers will want to scrutinize your used car carefully before making an offer. Make those appointments during the day or in the early evening before the sun goes down.

Allow the buyer to take your used car to a mechanic if requested, but use your judgment if you fear that your vehicle might get stolen. You can always accompany the buyer and be present when he speaks with the mechanic too.

Prepare to negotiate in earnest with a bottom selling price in mind. You won’t reveal that number to the buyer, but it is something to keep in mind as your negotiate. Once you settle on a price, accept cash for your vehicle, sign over the title, remove the plates and notify DMV and your insurance company that you sold the car.

See Also — 8 Reasons to Avoid a Particular Used Car

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Diesel Resurrection: How Volkswagen Might Win Back Customers

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Five ways Volkswagen might salvage its US operation.

Volkswagen is in a world of hurt, but that pain is entirely of the company’s own doing. While some have been making pronouncements that the automaker as we know it is finished, others believe that something can be salvaged. I, for one, stand in the latter camp. To that end, there are several conditions Volkswagen must meet in a bid to win back customers. It all begins with transparency and continues by building trust.

1. Never deflect blame. Thus far, Volkswagen has accepted blame for the emissions scandal, although it does not yet revealed who is to blame. Affected customers don’t care — they want to be made whole. There will come a point when we’ll learn precisely how the cheating scandal was conceived — a clear and unequivocal response from Volkswagen is the transparency required at this point.

five2. Buy back the affected cars. Unless the fix Volkswagen creates preserves both performance and fuel economy, diesel customers will always feel that they were deceived. Drivers operated their vehicles under the impression that their cars were clean and efficient. Volkswagen breached that trust. Therefore, providing a buyback program is a start with customers, then free to buy a heavily discounted new Volkswagen or take their check to a competing manufacturer. Unless Volkswagen offers an aggressive program in the United States, its hopes of ever improving beyond a market toehold here will be set back, perhaps permanently.

3. Drop the price of new diesels across the board. Volkswagen is the largest seller of diesel cars in America. Shoppers spanning all brands will wonder if any diesels are worth the cost. Volkswagen cannot do much about general perceptions, but they can begin to change impressions for the Volkswagen brand. One way to do that is to offer diesels as a no extra cost option, perhaps for one year. Certainly, Volkswagen will take a hit with each sale, but they’ll build goodwill and allow owners to reap the highest residual values.

4. Extend the powertrain warranty. So far as we know, the diesel scandal has nothing to do with the engine’s long-term durability. The problem has everything to do with manipulating emissions testing to deliver results that are a flat-out lie. Volkswagen can build customer confidence by matching the Hyundai-Kia 10-year, 100,000 mile warranty on all of its models, regardless of the engine type. Also, they should back date the warranty coverage to 2009 for the affected diesels that customers choose to keep. Chances are expanding the warranty coverage won’t cost Volkswagen much, but it could earn the brand much-needed respect and the sales edge that has eluded it in the US for decades.

5. Back strong emissions standards worldwide. The Volkswagen scandal exposes the weak and inconsistent testing practices of the EPA and other government environmental agencies around the world. A related matter that will need to be tackled is just who should be doing the testing. Likely, we’ll witness all automakers consenting to government testing instead of being allowed to submit their own tests for approval. This change should include the EPA mileage testing. As a result, Volkswagen must back tough emissions testing or at least provide evidence that their vehicles don’t contribute to smog and climate change, at least at elevated levels. Certainly, this a topic rife with political posturing and gamesmanship, but Volkswagen lost whatever edge it had before the scandal was made known. It would be best to back tougher emissions and find other ways to demonstrate environmental leadership than to give any appearance that they’re not sorry for polluting with abandon.

Time Will Tell

For Volkswagen, time is of the essence, especially as they restructure the company, determine the cause behind the scandal, and work diligently to regain the trust of their customers.

There is a chance Volkswagen will remain a permanent “also ran” player in the US market, but they dare not abandon it. The company is heavily invested with its lone US manufacturing plant in Tennessee and also has two other important brands to protect, Audi and Porsche.

Speaking of the other brands, maintaining a safe distance apart from the Volkswagen brand is critically important. In addition, Audi A3 owners with the 2.0-liter TDI engine will also need to be made whole.

Give Me a Chevrolet “B” as in Bolt

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Naming conventions aside, the Chevrolet Bolt brings a more reasonably priced electric vehicle to the market for the 2017 model year. Gas prices are expected to trend higher, possibly increasing demand for all electric vehicles with it.

General Motors has decided to embrace controversy after all. In January, at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the automaker unveiled the Chevrolet Bolt concept. That pure electric vehicle was well received by journalists and show visitors alike. And within just weeks of the show, GM announced that it intends to bring this small EV to market.

What was assumed by some is that GM would throw out the Bolt’s name for the production model, as it sounds too much like the Chevrolet Volt, its established, plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. However, Chevrolet’s marketing boss, Tim Mahoney, confirmed last week that the brand is sticking with the Bolt nomenclature when the diminutive EV is released for the 2017 model year. Mahoney confirmed same at a press event held by the Washington Automotive Press Association on Wed. and in a related interview with USA TODAY.

B as in Bolt

So, that will be “B” as in boy or “V” as in Victor when potential buyers inquire with dealer sales staff about the Chevrolet Bolt or Volt, me thinks. Hopefully, any confusion at the dealership level will be eliminated immediately.

GM surprised everyone with the concept Bolt’s release. This vehicle, with a final price of about $30,000, has a 200-mile electric range. That range more than triples the capacity of some models, such as the Mitsubishi i-MiEV. Extended range is critical to EV acceptance and at present only Tesla Motors offers models that meet the higher threshold.

2017 Chevrolet Bolt

Renewed Electric Vehicle Commitment

That GM is pushing forward with the Chevrolet Bolt comes as it renews its commitment to two other EV models — the Chevrolet Volt and the Cadillac ELR. The Volt hit the market for the 2011 model year and the second generation model will debut this summer. The Cadillac ELR, based on the Volt platform, has its first full year in 2014, barely cracking the 1,000-unit sold mark. Nevertheless, an updated version of that model is scheduled, and its price has been slashed by $10,000.

Low gas prices are not keeping GM from moving forward with its long-range plans. Most analysts believe that the current gas prices, averaging just below $2.50 per gallon as of this writing, will not hold. Indeed, some have forecast $4 per gallon gasoline will return within the next two or three years. Therefore, product timing means vehicles like the Bolt, Volt and ELR may receive additional scrutiny from potential buyers.

The Chevrolet Bolt will be the brand’s second pure electric vehicle. It currently retails the Spark EV, an A-class variant to the gasoline-only model that is itself selling reasonably well. For 2016, GM has reduced the Spark’s price by 6 percent.

Reducing Range Anxiety

The two factors that are inhibiting electric vehicle acceptance — price and range — are being aggressively attacked by the manufacturers. Certainly, the $7,500 tax credit offered for pure EVs continues to help, what will allow GM to sell the Chevrolet Bolt for less. Range anxiety, a huge detriment for many buyers, will shrink. Indeed, the second generation Nissan LEAF may also broach the 200-mile range just as Tesla Motors ups the range of its base Model S to 240 miles.

Manufacturers and suppliers have also been touting quicker recharging alternatives, including 240-volt charging units in the home and DC fast charging stations designed to provide a full charge in fewer than 30 minutes. Thus, if drivers time their trips correctly, they can stop for a break, recharge their vehicles, and continue with their extended journey. The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt would be one such vehicle that will benefit from this service.

See Also — This Time, GM Aims to Get the Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid Right

AutoPacific Forecasts Positive Auto Trends

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US auto sales continue to grow and have started the year off strong. Across the board, analysts have been predicting sustainable growth for the year, but few have dared to look much further out in the future. Now, AutoPacific has released its forecast for sales through 2020, what may surprise some people.

AutoPacific Forecasts Three More Years of Growth for U.S. Light Vehicle Sales

Ever since the US auto industry plunged in 2009 to depths not observed in decades, experts in recent months have been noting that the current recovery — now in its sixth year — is an unusually lengthy one. Yet, few people are looking beyond 2015, with most simply content to state that sales will continue to rise this year.

AutoPacific Inc., an automotive marketing research and product-consulting firm, has bravely looked beyond this year in a bid to forecast annual sales for the intervening five years. AutoPacific expects sales to approximate 17 million units this year and continue to ascend for two more years, peaking at 17.24 million units in 2017.

Best Market in a Decade

For 2015, AutoPacific expects sales to escalate by 524,000 units over 2014, coming in just under 17 million units. If the company is precise in its assessment, then the market would reach a threshold last attained in 2006.

“U.S. sales recovery has been steady since hitting the bottom of the decline in 2009, though recent years have seen things taper off from 11% growth in 2010 to 6% in 2014, and a forecasted 3% growth this year,” says Ed Kim, Vice President of Industry Analysis at AutoPacific. Furthermore, AutoPacific’s forecast for the year sees a 55 percent truck to 45 percent car allocation as consumers continue to embrace crossover utility vehicles, especially compact models. That apportionment would represent the largest truck share of the market ever seen.

AutoPacific Forecast Through 2020

With 2017 forecast as the peak sales year for the decade, AutoPacific has not envisioned that a major market correction is in the offing. Instead, the company has forecast a slight contraction beginning in 2018 and continuing through 2020.

The logic given for that downswing is based on two factors:

1) a probable rise in interest rates in the next few years and,
2) young buyers, also known as Millennials, waiting longer to purchase their first new car.

An overarching reason might also be weighted and that would involve loan terms. Notably, we are currently seeing loans for 72 months to as long as 96 months offered by some financial institutions, including the Navy Federal Credit Union. Indeed, the interest rate on 8-year auto loans underwritten by the NFCU presently stands at just 4.49 percent, although they are offered only to people with superior credit.

The Effect of Rising Interest Rates on Loan Terms

Once interest rates begin to ascend, then monthly payments will also begin to rise. Likewise, lenders may pull back and offer shorter term loans only, effectively shutting some consumers out of the new car market.

Speaking of loans, AutoPacific says that the average loan length today is 66 months (5.5 years) compared to 48 months (4 years) just a few years ago. Declared Kim about today’s loans, “Vehicle buyers will be in a negative equity position on their loans a lot longer than in the past, and that will have a profound impact on replacement demand in the future.”

Forecast Accuracy, Consumer Data and Purchase Intentions

AutoPacific’s forecast accuracy over the past 10 years has been 95.5 percent, with 2008 and 2009 coming in below 90 percent as most analysts underestimated the breadth and depth of the last recession. The company relies on consumer supplied data and economic forecasts to aid it with its own forecasting. Moreover, the company indicated that intelligence also helps analysts “…better understand vehicle buyer purchase intentions, including brand consideration and future segment intention.”

See Also — Journalist Survey: Social Media Participation

Chart supplied by AutoPacific.