Tips for selling your car during Covid-19

Some quick tips on how to safely sell your car during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Although stringent restrictions introduced to stop the worldwide spread of Covid-19 are beginning to lift, the ongoing coronavirus crisis makes selling a car a difficult job in the current climate. Here are our tips on how to do it properly and, crucially, safely.

Keep distant, keep it clean

There’s still a requirement that you stay two metres from people you don’t live with, so having a test-drive in your car with a stranger is simply not going to be possible. Explain this to any potential buyers before they come to view the car, to avoid any disappointment. If buyers do still come and look, then disinfect all surfaces in the car once they’ve had a look round – it’s not rude or casting aspersions on their hygiene, it’s just the safe thing to do. Also, wear a face covering and gloves, just to be sure, and insist any people coming to look at the car do the same.

Consider online selling

With the first points in mind, the traditional ‘viewing in person’ method of selling a car is not massively practicable right now. Therefore, you either have to wait until restrictions have lifted fully, before selling your car – or, alternatively, consider online selling. Advertise it online (with Carzone.ie) and aim to sell it online, too, without a buyer coming to see it, by being as honest and as fulsome in your description of the vehicle and its service records. Consider asking interested parties if they’d like a ‘Zoom’ tour of the car, with you showing them round the vehicle virtually through an online video service. In this way, they can not only get an idea of the condition of the car, but you can also start it up for them so they can hear it idling and check it isn’t emitting too much smoke from the exhaust – all giving them more peace of mind to buy.

Be realistic on price

Demand for cars, new or used, had fallen off a cliff since March and so prices have to tumble accordingly. Experts predict used-car values could have fallen by as much as two per cent as a direct consequence of the coronavirus outbreak, but there may be a surge back to normal values as restrictions start to lift. Try not to hold out for top book value on your car and accept that, if moving the car on quickly and releasing funds in the short-term is the main priority, you might have to sacrifice a few hundred Euro from the price you ask in order to achieve such a turn of events.

Consider a car-buying service

If you still feel unsure about selling your car yourself and you don’t mind an even bigger financial hit, consider one of the many online car-buying services, which will take a vehicle off your hands for a fee, once you have provided various details about the car. It’s not ideal, but if expediency and personal safety are both key, then this route should be investigated more closely.