Maximise your car’s resale value today, for tomorrow. In fact, the way you look after your car has a significant impact on your vehicle's resale value. Everything from daily habits to annual service consistency influences your asking price. Through BMC’s top 5 tips, you ensure consistent and intentional maintenance so you can get cash back on your car.
Tip 1: Keep a Full Service History for Trust and Value
A car is a lifeline. From driving to work to shopping trips, vehicles give us accessibility, convenience and choice. Your car’s past can determine its future. That’s why you need regular car services. By taking your vehicle in regularly, you set yourself up for resale success by boosting your used car’s resale value.
What is a car service?
This routine check-up is a form of vehicle maintenance that evaluates your car from bonnet to tail lights. Whether it’s checking for minor wear and tear on your tyres, or completely replacing your oil filter. The maintenance of car services optimises automotive running and maximises your car's resale value.
Types of car services
Minor or basic car services
This is the most common, it typically includes:
- Fluid checks
- Oil change
- Checking your brakes
- Steering and suspension systems
Major car services
This includes the minor service as well as extra top-to-tail checks of your vehicle. Additional services include:
- Bodywork considerations
- Fan belt changes
- Dashboard warning lights
- Underbody components
Service history and Vehicle Resale Value
Whether you go for a major or a minor service, it is always logged in your car service history book. By having regular car services executed and logged, you show future buyers that the vehicle’s running has been consistently optimised. This leaves buyers with a low risk of major repairs or replacements. Not to mention, you improve your car’s resale value!
Tip 2: Enhance Your Car’s Exterior & Interior Before Listing
Making your vehicle look its best is one of the most important steps. It makes your car more attractive to potential buyers and maximises your resale value. With that in mind, here are some ways to protect your car today, to get more cash back tomorrow:
Interior Aesthetics and Maximising Vehicle Resale Value
Here are some ways you can keep your car looking new:
Regularly clean your car
You could go to your nearest car wash. Or, you could send your teenager outside with a hose. Either way, you need to keep on top of your car’s cleanliness.
That said, regardless of how your vehicle gets a reset, here are some areas that can be easy to forget about when doing a deep clean:
- Rims and tyres
- Wing mirrors
- Your windshield’s interior
- The dashboard
- Drink holders
- Underneath the car mats
Get car seats
Car seat covers might feel like an unnecessary upfront cost, but they’re one of the smartest long-term investments you can make.
South African buyers looking for a pre-owned vehicle know how to pay attention to details. Protecting your original upholstery from spills, sun damage, dirt, and daily wear keeps your seats in like-new condition.
This car interior care instantly increases your car’s resale value.
Say no to sugar…
Save your sweet treats until you get home. We’ve all experienced the gut-wrenching feeling of losing an iced coffee to your passenger seat, and the pain of clean-up duty. Simplify your life today to make an easier tomorrow. With a no-sugar-in-the-car rule, you save your sweets, sanity and future wallet from unnecessary losses.
Exterior Aesthetics
Your consistent car cleanliness upkeep will keep your vehicle looking young. However, there are a few other tips to prevent unnecessary external damage that will lower your resale price:
- Park in the shade
- Fix minor dents as they happen
- Attend to any windscreen chips immediately
- Don’t park under trees in a storm
Tip 3: Pay attention to the Little Details
Simple things to do to maximise your car’s resale value
That funny sound your car makes? Don’t drown it out with music! The little scratch on your bumper? Get it repaired!
Even so, it is easy to brush off the small things when we are caught up in the chaos of everyday life. To get the most out of your car when you decide to sell it, you need to take the small issues seriously.
Tip 4: Keep on top of Tyre Health
There is nothing worse than waking up, walking out to go to work, and seeing that you have a flat tyre. A lot of the time, we don’t have control over it. How could you have seen that small nail on the road?
That being said, your tyres affect suspension, control and overall car health, and are key to getting the most out of your vehicle resale.
Luckily, there are a few things you can do to keep your wheels rolling to a high resale value.
Check your tyre pressure
Tyre pressure should be checked monthly, and specified according to your manufacturer’s recommendations. This improves your fuel economy and saves your tread from unnecessary wear and tear.
Be mindful of your tread
The tyre’s tread is the grooves on the surface of each of your wheels. This simple feature gives you the traction you need for controlled driving. Your tread gets worn down with time, but poor alignment, potholes and improper tyre pressure can fast-track deterioration.
South Africa’s legal tread requirement is shallower than snow-prone regions, with a minimum tread depth of 1mm, instead of the international standard of 1.6mm.
Overall condition
Being on the lookout for bulges, cuts, or general unevenness is important for your suspension and your safety. Obvious signs of damage always need to be taken seriously!
It isn’t just about safe practice. Beyond safety, it also prevents costs down the road to make sure you maximise the return on your second-hand car sale.
Tyres and long-term car resale value
Your wheels are literally the foundation of your vehicle. Maintaining them helps you drive better, helping with overall car health. Your tyres also determine how key mechanical components like your suspension and braking quality, and distance.
Caring for your tyres today gives your future buyers a vehicle with fewer upkeep demands and ensures you can sell your car with ease.
Tip 5: Vehicle Insurance and Increasing Vehicle Resale Value
Car insurance is more than accident cover. When it is time to sell your vehicle, insurance sets you up for resale success. Here’s how:
#1: Accident history transparency
Your insurance tracks all claims, giving your future buyer the comfort of transparency. This record can make your car more desirable if…
- You have no history of accidents
- Any accident history was minor
- Your vehicle has only needed minor repairs
#2: Lower risk for buyers
This vehicle transparency reduces your buyer’s risk of unforeseen costs that might come with the purchase. By letting your future buyer know exactly what they are getting out of your vehicle, you are making them more confident in their purchase.
#3: Negotiating power
Your insurance gives you a reliable record and boosts your buyer’s confidence. This means you also get more negotiating power. By pointing out the black-and-white facts on your vehicle’s history and current value, you get the upper hand in any resale negotiations.
If you are selling a car to a dealer (like BMC, we buy cars!) your documentation will give you the step-up that could get you a better deal.
As you can see, maximising your car’s resale value doesn’t happen overnight. It’s the result of continuous care, maintenance and attention to detail. If you…
- Keep a complete service history
- Maintain your vehicle’s appearance
- Fix small issues early
- Maintain healthy tyres
- Keep on top of your insurance
Ultimately, these simple proactive habits make your vehicle more appealing to South African buyers looking for a reliable used car. You will get cash for your car and a smile on your face. So apply these top tips today and sell your car for the price it deserves.