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Introduction
When you decide to sell your car, there are three traditional ways of selling it; either privately to another driver, to a dealer in sale or part-exchange, or through an auction.
Private selling involves advertising the sale of the car yourself; this is usually carried out through newspaper listings, magazine listings, or through an advert in the window of the car.
"One of the fastest ways of advertising a car is through online car listings"
One of the fastest growing ways of advertising a car is through online car listings. These are similar to (and sometimes run by) the listings in car magazines such as Auto Trader and Exchange and Mart.
This article will look at the benefits and costs of advertising your car online.
How Online Listings Work
Online listings are stored in a database within each site, and are displayed according to the criteria the potential buyer sets. They can search by make, model, age of car, features, and more depending on the individual site, although the most common way for cars to be listed is by model (e.g.: Ford Fiesta).
Details
The most important part of any car advert is the details of the car itself. These are usually written in the same shortened style as classified car adverts. For example:
2002 Ford Fiesta 1.4 ZETEC 5DR NEW SHAPE, 1 owner, 14,000 miles, air-conditioning, power assisted steering, electric windows, central locking, alloys, silver £7599
(Name of City) Tel: 01234 456789
These details are crucial, as any decisions to look further at the car will be made using this data.
Photos
Along with the details of the car, many online adverts include one or more pictures
of the car (or a similar spec/colour). This allows the person searching for a car
to see what it looks like, as well as maybe allowing a brief look at the condition
of the car.
Some sites allow more than one photo to be displayed, attracting more attention
to the car than any text advert (however well written).
Contact
Each online advert has on it the contact details of the seller or dealer. This allows
them to be contacted in order to actually make the sale!
Sometimes the contact details are just an email, although mostly a phone number
is given, and occasionally an address.
Benefits of Selling a Car Online
(i) Large Number of Viewers
The key benefit of advertising your car online is that you can expose the offer
to a large number of people across the whole of the country.
"expose the offer to a large number of people"
The accessibility of the internet means that although you may be the opposite side
of the country to your buyer, they can still view your car and decide if it is worth
the travelling needed to buy it.
With an online advert you are not restricted to local areas as you would be with
magazines and (particularly) newspapers.
(ii) Cheaper than Printed Listings
An advert with an online car listing site is cheaper than an equivalent printed
listing in a magazine or newspaper. The overhead costs of a website list are considerably
lower than those of a printed list, meaning that lower (and occasionally free) prices
are common.
(iii) Searching
Searching for a particular car is much easier online. Where as a car listings magazine
may have to create pages dedicated to certain sizes of car, prices, or particular
makes; an online list can be organised and categorised according to many different
areas.
Someone searching for your car online can simply enter the make, model, and approximate
age or price of the car, and be given a specifically relevant list instantly.
However, someone searching for your type of car in a magazine or newspaper may struggle
to find it quickly, as they may have to flick through pages for hours finding the
right car in a pile of other irrelevant cars. The pictures in some magazines make
it a bit easier, but they are still nowhere near as quick and effective as an online
search.
(iv) Details and Photos
An online advert means that you are much less constrained for space than with newspapers
or magazines for which space is an expensive premium. Many printed listings will
charge you by the word, whereas this almost never the case with online adverts.
Although there will be restrictions on the number of words you can use, and on the
size of any photo(s), online listings are still much more open with the amount of
space you can use than printed listings.
"online adverts can include more of the details about the car"
This means that online adverts can include more of the details about the car and
its specifications, making it more attractive to those that view the advert.
Disadvantages of Selling a Car Online
Less Local / Too Many Replies
The main disadvantage of online adverts is that you can receive lots of replies
from people who are too far away to realistically want to buy the car.
As the internet is accessible by people across the whole country, you may find that
you receive more, but not necessarily relevant calls from those who are interested
but not really interested in travelling to view and buy it.
This means some time could be lost answering calls that are not going to lead to
the car being sold.
There are solutions to help this however. Most online listing sites require a postcode
to carry out a search. This means that cars can be listed according to how far away
they are from the person looking to buy, helping ensure that they do not call people
whose cars they are not realistically going to buy.
There are also a number of checks and inspections that can be bought, allowing a
car that is too far away to be viewed to be checked by a third party to ensure that
it is of a reasonable standard / matches the descriptions.
Things to Consider When Selling a Car
(i) Checks and Inspections
When selling your car to a person across the other side of the country, they may
be hesitant to buy because they are unable to view it.
A common solution to this problem is to carry out one or both of two checks to ensure
the standard of the vehicle and the accuracy of the advert.
1. Background Check
This check costs the buyer up to £40/50, it pays for a company (such as HpiCheck
or the AA) to check the history of the vehicle. It looks at all known records to
discover whether the vehicle is stolen, a previous write-off, or still owned by
a finance company.
2. Car Condition Inspection
This check costs the buyer up to £400, and pays for a company (such as the RAC or
AA) to visit the vehicle and carry out a thorough inspection of the bodywork and
mechanical components. This will often involve a test drive and post drive inspection
to test the running of the vehicle.
Any faults are listed with the rest of the car details in a multi page report, informing
the buyer of any problems that need fixing (or lowering of the price) before they
buy.
"Inspections make it easier for you to sell the car"
These checks are normally only carried out when someone has decided to buy your
car, and if you are making an honest sale, you should have nothing to worry about
with these checks. They also make it easier for you to sell the car to a much wider
range of buyer across all areas of the country.
(ii) Advert Details
The details of the advert are crucially important to the prospects of selling your
car. By describing your car honestly, but effectively, you can greatly increase
your chances of getting interested responses and ultimately a sale.
The description:
“Fiesta, White, Good Condition, FSH, 12,000 miles”
Will attract far fewer people than:
“Ford Fiesta, Pearl White, Full Service History, excellent condition with only 12,000
miles"
The latter description says the same things, but in a much more interesting and
appealing way. The first description is normally used to help save space in printed
adverts, but online you will usually have space to expand your descriptions to something
more interesting and appealing.
"The inclusion of a picture make
the advert much more attractive"
(iii) Photos
If you can include a photo with your advert, then you should always do so. The inclusion
of a picture makes the advert much more attractive, and will help increase the responses
you get.
There are three ways to get a photo online for your advert:
Take a picture using a digital camera and send it when you place the advert.
Take a picture using a normal camera, use a scanner to get the picture stored on
your PC, and send it when you place the advert.
If you cannot do 1 or 2, then place or ask for a representative picture of the same
model to be shown, although you will need to state in the advert that the picture
is just a representation, and not your specific car.
If a visitor is choosing between two identical cars, they will almost always pick
one with a photo over one without. Even a representative picture will stand out
against adverts with no pictures.
(iv) Contact
Every advert needs to have contact details; otherwise no one will know where to
buy the car from. The more contact information you give, the easier it will be for
prospective customers to contact you.
Leaving an email address will allow people to ask you questions and enquire quickly
without having to bother you with phone calls.
Using a mobile phone number as a contact may seem like a good idea, but it is commonly
seen as a sign of someone who is trying to avoid responsibility for their cars,
or maybe trying to hide their identity.
Leaving a mobile number and a landline number is the best way if possible.
(v) V5 Documentation
Before placing an advert, you must have the V5 documentation for your vehicle. It
is illegal to sell a car without a valid V5, and people will not buy the car without
it.
The V5 states the registration plate numbers, and details who is responsible for
keeping the car on the road. It also features the VIN numbers that are located under
the bonnet among other places.
If you have lost your V5, it can be replaced quickly and easily, and must be done
before you start selling your car.
Costs of Selling a Car Online
The cost of an online car listing varies from free to £20 or £30 depending on the
detail, length of advert placement, and the number of visitors the site receives.
This works out cheaper than printed adverts, where every bit of space costs money.
Most online listings have a very high word limit, meaning that you can fit in a
large number of details without having to pay extra for each word you use above
a certain point.
" it is almost always worth including a photo"
(ii) Photos
The majority of online listings include the cost of a photo (or more than one in
some cases) in their prices. Some charge a small extra amount to have a photo as
part of the advert, but it is almost always worth including the photo as it greatly
increases an adverts’ effectiveness.
There are sometimes restrictions on the dimensions and file size of the photos,
these vary from site to site, and may require you to adjust your photo before an
advert is placed.
If placing an advert in a magazine, the cost will rise depending on the printed
size of the picture and text. The more space you take up, the more expensive the
advert; but the better the likely response rate.
(iii) Time
The amount of time your advert appears for varies from one site to another. Some
sites charge you for two weeks, some for three weeks, and some for an unlimited
time (i.e.: until the car is sold).
This greatly affects the value of an advert as the longer it is displayed, the greater
the chance of selling your car.
If you are advertising in a magazine, then the costs normally only cover a single
weeks’ edition, and once that has passed, the advert is gone. By staying online
for a longer or indefinite period, you can be sure of exposing your advert to as
many people as possible for a much better value cost.
(iv) Dual Adverts
A small number of websites (that are linked to magazines) offer a joint advert service.
This is where you get the magazine advert at a discounted rate by buying the online
advert (or visa-versa).
"magazine adverts are more expensive than the online adverts"
The magazine adverts are more expensive than the online adverts, but the cheaper
rate that most of these dual adverts offer allow you to get the benefits of both
forms of advertising, for less than their standard costs.
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