Help - Carzone Sellers Pack

Exclusive Seller’s Pack

For some people, the thought of selling a car can be a daunting prospect.

Once you’ve chosen where to sell your car, you have to write the advert, part with cash to advertise it and that’s all before you’ve even had one prospective buyer pick up the phone.

The good news is that you’ve already chosen Carzone, Ireland’s busiest motoring website.

But our support doesn’t end when you place an advert. This exclusive Sellers Pack will guide you through the selling process to give you the best chance of a stress-free sale, at the price you want.

This pack is split up into the following handy sections:

Preparing your car for sale

Before you advertise your car, spend some time examining your car. Today’s buyers want more, so you may have to replace the odd worn or broken part and spend some time making it look as good as possible. Remember - It’s no exaggeration that just giving your car a wash can make your sale quicker and easier to add Euros to the price

A clean car is a loved car

Outside The first thing to do is get out there with a bucket and sponge and clean off the dirt using a quality car shampoo.

You should never use washing up liquid as it contains salt which encourages rust.

Work from the roof down, rinse the detergent off thoroughly and wipe dry with a chamois leather – not forgetting the wheels.

Now it’s clean, deal with the details:
- Stone chips are unsightly and can rust if not attended to. Touch-up pens are cheap and available from car spares stores. For an exact match, speak to your local main dealer’s parts centre
- Wheels caked in brake dust look awful. Alloy wheel cleaners are available and work well. Replace any missing or damaged wheel trims
- Missing trim or badges stand out, so get some replacements. Breakers yards offer a cheap source of parts
- Clean less obvious parts, such as sills, wheel arches and the door frames; this will impress buyers and will help to create a ‘well looked-after’ image
- If the windscreen wipers smear, replace them
- Make sure all the external features such as lights and washer jets work
- Finally, a good polish will create that ‘new car’ shine that so many used buyers are looking for

Inside
Cleaning the interior is a bit more work, but just as important. Use a vacuum cleaner to clear carpets, seats, cubby holes, dashboards and the parcel shelf of dust, dirt and other mess.

You’re then ready to start on the details:
- Polish the dashboard with a ‘low-gloss’ dashboard cleaner - not household polish, as it’ll give a cheap appearance. Clean door trims and the centre console, avoiding overspray on fabrics
- Clean windows with a glass cleaner. When cleaning the rear window, use a side to side action, so you don’t damage the heater elements
- Replace any non-standard parts, such as racy gear knobs or alloy pedal covers. They won’t impress buyers, who’ll think your car has been thrashed
- Holes from mobile phone holders and the like can be filled by specialists. They can also repair damage to dashboards or door trims, without charging the earth
- Avoid soaking the car in air freshener, unless you’ve smoked in it - in which case, buy an odour neutraliser. Spray the ashtray too, after giving it a clean
- Lift tatty old mats out; the clean carpets underneath will look far better

Under the Bonet
Buyers always look under the bonnet, despite the fact that many haven’t a clue what they’re looking for – so make sure they like what they see!

- Clean the engine bay, but avoid steam cleaning; an over-clean engine can look suspect – could it be hiding oil leaks?
- Oil changes are cheap and necessary. If it already has fresh oil, make sure the level is topped up
- Make sure all the water and coolant bottles are topped up – low levels can indicate general neglect
- Tuck loose wires away, clear leaves from the air intakes and attend to anything that’ll make the engine bay appear more cared-for

If all this sounds too much like hard work, call in the pros.

Dealing With Buyers

What to do when the phone starts to ring
You’ve prepared the car, written the best advert and the photo looks superb…all you’ve got to do now it sit back and wait for the phone to ring.

Brainstorm all the things a potential buyer is likely to ask and create a crib sheet to keep by the phone too so you’ve all the details to hand. This means that you can even get someone else to fill potential buyers in if you’re not around

When the seller calls:
- Be polite and try to make yourself available
- Try and assess the caller – time wasters and test pilots are frustrating and could prevent a serious buyer from making a purchase
- Never arrange a viewing when you’ll be on your own or during the night
- Tell them you want proof of insurance before you’ll let them drive your car
- If you’ve arranged a viewing, tell subsequent callers, and make sure you take their details.
- Don’t give out unnecessary information over the phone
- Think carefully when giving a caller first refusal on a car – you might put off subsequent callers

The viewing
When the buyer arrives, it is important to keep on top of the situation. Follow these tips, and you shouldn’t go far wrong:
- Meet the buyer on your own turf – it’ll make you feel more at ease and less vulnerable
- Never leave the buyer with the keys
- Never let them wander around your house
- Make sure you have a friend or relative around

The test drive
Never, ever let a buyer go out alone – there’s a very real risk that they won’t come back. Always insist that you go with them, even if they leave their keys as ‘insurance’ – they could belong to a stolen car.

Before you set off, make sure you see proof of insurance; if they have a crash in your car, you won’t be covered.

Let the buyer follow their own route – within reason – as they will most likely want to see how the car performs on a variety of roads.

Be prepared for buyers to drive your car hard – particularly if it is a performance model, but if they start to abuse it, tell them to calm down or demand they stop – it’s your call because it’s your car.

Never leave the keys in the ignition when swapping seats. Take the keys with you when you get out and pass them back to the buyer when you are both safely inside. Thieves have been known to engineer these situations, so be careful.

POTENTIAL SCAMS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

While the majority of car buyers are genuine, it is possible you could be contacted by someone with a view to fraudulently obtain your car or money. However, by reading the following information you’ll know what to look out for, making it easier to spot a dishonest buyer

419/Cashiers Cheque fraud

This is a well known scam originating from abroad (Nigeria, Holland and US). They generally pose as a dealer, or someone working on behalf of a client, who is looking for a car. They generally want to pay by bankers cheque or draft which happens to be more than the asking price (the extra may be for shipping costs or maybe they had planned to buy another car at a higher price that was sold before they could buy it. They often have no contact telephone number, and rarely ask to view the car or check its condition. This is always a warning sign! As you can see from the example below, the emails are often written in very bad English – disarmingly so, designed to make them appear innocuous. They may also finish the email with a warm salutation – "God Bless you" or " Peace be with you and your family". They may use an excuse that a family member is sick, or they are selling the family business in order to justify the urgency of the sale.

They pay by bank draft, which may look to all intents and purposes quite genuine – and ask the seller to wire the outstanding balance to them. After the money has been sent, the seller will hear no more from the buyer. They will receive notification of the counterfeit cheque/draft from their bank several days later but by then the money is long gone.

If you receive any emails along these lines we would appreciate you letting us know, so we can keep track of the senders.

Here is an example:
Hi Seamus,
I'm living in Kildare but the car is what I want to buy for my client. so I am going to give you the info for payment because right now i travelled to Australia for a holiday.there is a cheque of a cancelled order that i made before which is amounting 22,000 euro.You will collect your 13800 and send back 8200euro to my agent who will then come for the pick after you have confirmed the cheque in cash.please i need your address and phone number in order for the cheque to be delivered.
Thanks,
Scammer X

**as you can see, a good way of rumbling a fraudster is by checking out their rather, lets say, "loose" grasp of the English language!**

Fraudulent Sellers
We have had experience of sellers placing false ads on the site – being only contactable by email, as their phone numbers are invalid. They may claim that they aren’t contactable by phone as they are out of the country or possible in hospital. Generally to catch the buyers attention, they will post an ad on the site of a very desirable car and price – claiming that the low price is due to the need for a quick sale (selling family business, need to pay for hospitals bills, all sorts). They will ask for money to be wired to them as they are based abroad and they will pay to have the car shipped to you. However, once the money has been sent, the seller suddenly becomes unavailable. It may seem obvious, but we would never recommend buying a car that you haven’t seen. Never feel pressured into handing over money before you receive the car – any genuine seller will happy to accept even a small deposit to hold a vehicle.

Here is an example:
Thank you for your interest in my car. Let me tell you that the car is still available which is more important than everything. Some details about the car: 2003 BMW M3, Mileage 19,500. We are talking about 2003 model, clear titled and accident free vehicle. All the documents, including owner's manual in english/french, bill of sale presented along with the car. The car is as new, no scratches, no dents, no accidents, free HPI, Ireland SPEC, Full BMW History. The price I am after is 16,000 EUR, including all the taxes and the registration fees for Ireland. I am located in Spain along with the car. The car can be delivered anywhere in Ireland at my expense and it is ready for registration process in Ireland without ANY other charges. For shipping and delivery I have already paid to a known reputable shipping company here in Spain. I offer a complete customer satisfaction guarantee or your money back. This policy means, that if the vehicle is not as described then you may return it for a 100% refund. Let me know if you're interested so I can give you further details.

Email Export Scam
Sellers posting an email address with an advert can be contacted by scammers. The good news is that they are usually easy to spot and they will be emailing many advertisers at once, so you have not been contacted directly.

Carzone’s advice is to delete these emails immediately and not to
respond to them.

The emails are usually full of spelling mistakes and random words in capital letters. The subject line will usually form the first line of your advert, such as ‘Ford Focus 1.4 LS 5-door hatchback’.

The scam - known as the West African Advance Fee Fraud - involves a buyer from abroad who claims that they are owed money by an acquaintance in Ireland. They say that this acquaintance will send a bankers draft for the full price of the vehicle, plus extra to cover the cost of the shipping.
Having built a rapport with the seller, they will send a bankers draft for the cost of the vehicle and shipping and instruct the seller to wire the excess across to them for them to arrange shipping.

When the money has been sent, the seller hears no more from the buyer and will normally be contacted by the bank after a few days to inform them that the cheque has bounced or was forged. The funds will be stripped from the sellers account, leaving them out of pocket.

Text messages
From time to time, sellers using a mobile telephone number on their adverts have received text messages in relation to their advert. The message says the sender is interested in the vehicle advertised, but they cannot call due to a problem with their phone and asks the seller to call them instead.
In some cases, the number to reply to is a usually a premium rate phone number.

Customer Finder services
As a Carzone.ie advertiser you may be contacted by the Vehicle Center, a UK based company, or a number of similar organisations using different names. The Vehicle Center will claim to have a potential buyer for your car. Our feedback from other customers is that such buyers do not exist. We recommend that you do not engage in any way with these companies; indeed the European Consumer Centre in Dublin has recently issued a warning about the Vehicle Center.

Typically the Vehicle Center claims they have a number of buyers in your locality who had specifically requested the model you are selling. The cost of the referral generally is about £100; it often isn't emphasised that this is a sterling, ex-VAT price. This may seem reasonable if you get the impression that a hassle-free sale can result. However having paid the fee, all those who have called Carzone.ie and the European Consumer Centre Dublin to complain, have said that not only did no sale result but that they did not even get a single phone call.
We advise anybody selling a car to be aware that making payment to companies who offer to match sellers with potential buyers may not guarantee that a potential buyer will actually make contact.
We have also become aware of callers claiming to have a relationship with Carzone. At Carzone.ie we have no relationship with any referral service and we do not phone our private advertisers.
Indeed we have had been told of advertisers being called and asked to confirm contact information, claiming they are from Carzone and they need to clarifiy details of the advert and credit card information. We would ask you to be very cautious; don't give out any personal details or credit card details over the phone.

Be assured, none of the team here at Carzone will ever ring looking to confirm your details out of the blue and will certainly never ask for your credit card details over the phone!
We would also appreciate if you would get in contact with us, by email at classifieds@carzone.ie or by telephone on (01) 449 0650, if you do have suspicious calls or enquiries. The European Consumer Centre is also interested in this area and they can be contacted through their website www.eccdublin.ie or by telephone on (01) 809 0600.

CLOSING THE DEAL

Inspections
Many buyers will insist on having a professional inspection, so if you’re serious about selling the car, you shouldn’t have any objections. Inspections can take a few days to organise, so you’ll have to put other interested parties on hold until the inspection has taken place. Make sure you collect a cash deposit from the buyer to hold it for them.

Haggling
Nine times out of ten, buyers will want to haggle over the price. You need to be firm without being unreasonable – set the lowest price you’re willing to go to and stick to it. Above all, keep your head!

Don’t refuse to take offers – you’ll find buyers walking away, and don’t refuse a sale for the want of €50. It’ll cost more in re-advertising fees, time and hassle in the long run.

Handling the money
In an ideal world, you’ll be paid cash during normal office hours and be able to pay it in immediately (checking for forgeries, of course). But life isn’t like that!

If you do receive cash, try to get it handed over to you in a bank, so you can pay it in straight away and the cashier can check for fake notes. If your buyer gives you cash outside of banking hours, pay it in as soon as possible when the banks open.

Cheques and bank or building society cheques are a little more problematic. Personal cheques can be cancelled or issued without the available funds in the account, meaning that if you’ve handed the car over, it’s probably the last you’ll see of it.