Selling your car? Get more money with these five professional detailing tricks

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.

An automatic car wash doesn’t do the best job

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.

• Rinse your car before washing it. You want to remove as much of the dirt from the car as you possibly can. Otherwise, you’ll end up grinding the dirt into the paint when you scrub the car.
• When you wash your car, use a fuzzy washing mitt instead of a sponge. The mitt traps the dirt and allows it to fall away during rinsing.
• Always use two buckets: one for clean, soapy water and another for rinsing your mitt. This helps to ensure that you won’t transfer dirt back to your car’s paint, which could create scratches or swirls.

You don’t need an expensive car wax

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.

• Use detailing clay to remove stubborn grit that didn’t come off during the washing process. Spray a small area of your car with clay lubricant and run the clay bar gently over the area. Rub the clay back and forth until it glides smoothly. Fold the clay over itself to trap the grit and repeat the process with another section of the car. When you’re done, your car’s paint will be completely smooth and ready for wax.
• If your car has fine scratches, you can use a scratch removal compound to smooth the scratches away and help them blend with your car’s paint. 
• When you apply wax to your car, work on one section at a time. Don’t wax your car in bright sunlight because the sun may cause the wax to harden too quickly. Don’t use a rotary buffer because it may leave swirls. Buff the wax by making overlapping circular motions with a soft towel.

People love clean, shiny tyres

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.

Prospective buyers always look under the bonnet

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. 

• Clean the engine compartment only when your car’s engine is completely cool.
• Disconnect the battery and put plastic over all electronic components. If the engine has a plastic cover, you’ll need to remove that as well.
• Spray degreaser around the engine compartment and use a brush to loosen the grime.
• Rinse the engine compartment thoroughly and use soft towels to dry it. 
• Remove the plastic from the electronic components and reconnect the battery after the engine is completely dry.

Make sure your car smells great

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. 

• Use a detailing brush to loosen dust and crumbs from your car’s interior trim and upholstery. Follow by vacuuming the interior thoroughly. Remember that no one wants to smell old take-away food.
• If you smoke, stop smoking in your car immediately and buy a vape that you can use instead. A non-smoker never wants to buy a car that smells like smoke. You can neutralise the existing smoke smell by running an ozone generator in your car for a while. Putting bags of activated charcoal under the seats can also help to control the odour.
• Buy a new cabin air filter if you haven’t replaced yours in a while. A cabin air filter requires replacement approximately once per year, and this simple task can make a big difference to the way your car smells.