Ensure that your car not only looks good, but also smells great
Sales of new vehicles may be on the decline in South Africa, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t buying cars. Instead of buying overpriced new vehicles, people are turning to the used market to minimise the impact of inflation and high interest rates. If you’re planning to sell your car, that’s a good thing for you because it means that your vehicle is certain to generate plenty of interest. The drawback of a robust used car market, though, is that you’ll have plenty of competition — and the buyers are looking for bargains.
You want to earn the most money that you possibly can for your car. To do that, you need to make sure that your vehicle stands out compared to other listings in the same price range and for the same type of vehicle. The car should look great in photographs, and it should also make a strong impression when people come to view it in person. You could take your car to a professional detailing shop and have them do the work for you — but if you do that, you’re essentially spending the extra money that you would have earned from making the vehicle look so nice.
There’s no aspect of detailing a car that you can’t do yourself — it’s simply a matter of using the right tricks and understanding how professional detailers do their work. In fact, you may even find the process fun because you can utilise the techniques you’ve learned to help maintain the value of your next vehicle and keep it looking great.
If you’re selling your car and want to earn the most possible money for it, you’re in the right place because we’re going to tell you how to ensure that it looks fantastic. These are the detailing secrets that the pros don’t want you to know.
The first thing to understand about detailing your car before selling it is that an automatic car wash will never clean your car as well as you could with your own hands. If you look under the boot or inside the doors, you’ll probably find thick layers of road grime that no automatic car wash has ever touched, so break out the hose and clean your own car. You’ll be very glad you did. Here are a few tips to remember if you want the project to turn out as well as it possibly can.
When you’re done washing your car, the next thing that you’ll want to do is apply wax to give the car a deep, glossy shine. You’ve probably seen television commercials for expensive car waxing products — “just spray it on to restore your car’s showroom shine!” — but the truth is that restoring your car’s original gloss is going to require a bit of elbow grease. The other thing that the automotive products industry doesn’t want you to know is that cheap carnauba wax can do just as good a job as the pricier synthetic waxes. The type of wax that you use isn’t nearly as important as ensuring that the surface of your vehicle is completely smooth and free of contaminants.
New tyres aren’t cheap, and they’re especially expensive if you have a specialty vehicle like a truck, SUV or sports car. A prospective buyer will want to see tyres that look like they won’t need to be replaced for a while, so take the time to apply some polish to your wheels and tyres. This also helps to ensure that your car will look great in photos. When you clean your wheels, you may need to use a stronger detergent than the one you’d use for the rest of your car. Make sure, though, that the detergent you’re using is rated for the type of wheel your car has. Some detergents aren’t appropriate for anodised wheels.
A car shouldn’t just look good in order to be an attractive vehicle for a prospective buyer — it should also be mechanically sound. The average buyer isn’t a mechanic and won’t have the ability to put the car on a lift, but you can definitely expect anyone who views your car to take a peek under the bonnet. No one wants to see a thick layer of road grime, and a prospective buyer will automatically discount his or her offer in the event of a visible oil leak, so give your car’s engine compartment a good cleaning.
When you prepare your car for sale, don’t forget that prospective buyers don’t just care about the way your vehicle looks — they also want it to smell nice. This is another case where a prospective buyer will reduce his or her offer substantially if your car doesn’t meet their expectations.