Guide to selling a used car in Canada

Guide to selling a used car in Canada

Posted on November 12, 2021

Selling cars is a very competitive business, you have no idea how challenging it can be until you try to sell your used car. There are many steps involved but we are going to give you the best way to turn that used car into cold hard cash.

Getting the car showroom ready

To get the full asking price for your used car, you must have it cleaned and detailed so it is in “showroom” ready condition. This is something you can do yourself or pay someone but it must be done. No one wants to spend money on a car that is dirty and in a state of disrepair.

Coming up with an attractive price

You will need to do some homework to find out what similar cars are currently selling for, in this economy even used cars are selling at all-time highs.

If you want to get a considerable amount of interest in your car, try pricing it slightly lower than the current average. The goal is to get prospective buyers to reach out to you so you can discuss pricing with them.

This is a key element when trying to sell a used car, if you don’t like to haggle then you could end up getting less money than what prospective buyers are willing to pay.

If you can get a few prospective buyers interested, you could get a bidding war started which helps you get the most money possible for your used car.

Paid and free personal ad platforms

You could generate some good prospects by listing on paid and free-to-post platforms but there is no guarantee when or if you will get a response.

Something that you may consider doing is posting the ads on as many platforms as possible, these advertisements are time-sensitive so you should try to post around 8 am local time and then around suppertime local time. These are the times when people are actively looking on these platforms.

Turning to industry experts for help

One of the simplest ways to sell your used car is to sell to your local car dealership. You will need to get a formal appraisal from the dealership, this appraisal will let you know what the car is worth compared to the suggested prices being listed on Kelly Blue Book amongst others.

At first, you may think the offer being made by the dealership is very low, but consider that the dealership has to try and resell the car and you know how tough that can be.

Also, the dealership needs to make a profit to cover their overhead so it would be unrealistic to expect to get 100% of the appraised amount.  The dealership will make a fair offer because they want to do business with you over the long term.

One of the best reasons to sell to a local dealership is you will have access to cash right away, which is nice to know during these challenging economic times.

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