The 5 Keys To Knowing That it is Time To Sell My Car

The sale of used cars in Spain is one of the markets with the most movement, so getting rid of our vehicle will not be a problem. But what is the best time to sell my car ? There is no exact science that tells us the exact day to do it, but there are a series of considerations to take into account from the moment we take it out of the dealer to calculate when we can get a better economic performance.

  1. Depreciation of the car

The first thing we have to be clear about is that having a car is losing money. The objective of this article is that you do it as little as possible, knowing that sooner or later you will sell it. In this way, it is studied that our vehicle will lose between 15 and 20% – some models even 30% – of its value during its first year of life, and 10% annually during the next five. From here on, the depreciation is lower, reaching 80% at nine years.

What can we do with this data? If it is the criterion of age that will make me sell my car , the ideal is that you do so either within the first four years of its life or from the tenth. If you opt for the first, the economic return that you can get will be the highest possible, while if you opt for the second, your objective should be to earn what you can with a product that has already given everything it had to give. The mistake comes if we want to get rid of it between the fifth and ninth year of life, because it will be then that they pay us less in relation to the product we are selling.

  1. Maintenance will earn us money

We are not going to remind you today of the need to have our car in perfect magazine condition for your safety . But we will influence the need to update the maintenance of the vehicle so that, when the time comes, we get a better economic performance when selling it. Either if we do the operation in a private way or with the help of a dealer, a client who comes to see your car and finds tires in good condition, flawless paint, clean interior, and more, you’ll have less qualms about paying your asking price. In addition, if you can accompany all this with a test drive that shows that there are no defects at the wheel, all the better. All the expenses that you have in this sense during the life of the vehicle must be taken as an investment that, in part, you can recover at the time of sale.

  1. Mileage also influences

In addition to the depreciation suffered by vehicles over time, we also have to take into account that what the odometers reads will also make it pay us more or less when it comes to selling the car. Here also comes into play whether the vehicle is equipped with a gasoline or a diesel engine. For example, the former greatly lower their price from 120,000 kilometers, while the latter can go up to 150,000 before starting to cause problems in this regard.

On the issue of mileage, not only the distance traveled by the car itself comes into play, but the psychological factor of the buyer. The 6 figures on the scoreboard are not good for this, so anticipating 100,000 kilometers of use can make the price you pay much higher than once exceeded. Taking into account an average use of about 15,000 kilometers, selling the Cash For Cars at 60,000, when it is still four years old, is optimal. If not, you enter that phase where you will lose more money than you should.

  1. Current cars sell better

Another point to keep in mind is that if your car is going to stop being produced, your unit will lose a lot of value. It is proven that second-hand car buyers are less reluctant to acquire current models than others that have already passed away. It is even advisable to anticipate a possible generation change, which would also allow us to sell the car before the 4/5 year barrier that we talked about previously.

  1. Does it matter in what month to sell the car?

Selling my car should be something I can do whenever I want, right? Obviously, but there are statistics that indicate that we also have to take into account the month in which we want to carry out an operation of this type. These tell us that in spring, between the months of March and July, is when buyers of this type of vehicle are most active. Take advantage of it, because in addition the increase in demand can make the sale price higher.

Conclusion, when do I have to sell my car?

As you can see, selling the car is something that has so many variants that it can give different results depending on each case. With this guide that we have made you can decide, because the needs of each one will also come into play, both family and economic. However, if the only thing that counts for you is the economic performance of the operation in question, we can say that the ideal is to enjoy the vehicle for 3 or 4 years without exceeding an average of 15,000 kilometers traveled per year. Then it will be time to sell – if it is in spring, better – and to bet on a new ‘toy’. If not, you better put up with it.