5 Tips for Maximizing Your Vehicle’s Value When Selling or Trading It

Everyone wants to get the most for their vehicle when it comes time to trade or sell it, but getting that value requires bringing a well-maintained vehicle to your Step One dealership or driveway sales conversations.  

The Step One Alfa Romeo team is happy to make an offer on your vehicle, and we’ve compiled a list of 5 suggestions to help you get the best trade in or sales value for your vehicle. Check them out and call our team if you have any questions.  

Maintain Your Vehicle and Keep Records 

Pre-Owned shoppers around Pensacola Beach love to see a complete vehicle maintenance history when they’re considering a vehicle. Detailed service records bring peace of mind to potential buyers and help increase a vehicle’s value in the market.  

Be sure to follow your manufacturer’s suggested maintenance schedule for your vehicle and hold on to the service records and vehicle inspection information your Step One dealerships give you. Those documents could help you out and may help a buyer choose your vehicle over another option.  

Completing your service work at a Step One dealership ensures you’ll have a complete history available and that your vehicle will stay in great operating condition. You can schedule your routine maintenance online or call our team at (850) 972-0230. 

Thoroughly Clean Your Vehicle 

First impressions count any time you’re selling a vehicle so, if you’re looking to get the most for your trade, then make sure you invest some time in thoroughly cleaning the inside and outside before you bring it to your Step One dealership.  

You don’t need to invest in a professional detailer for your trade vehicle, but a clean vehicle is going to make a better first impression than one covered in dirt with a backseat littered with drive-through bags. 

Properly cleaning your used vehicle can be as simple as running your trade vehicle through an automatic (we like touchless) car wash, throwing away any trash, and taking advantage of the free vacuums at the carwash.  

If you’re particularly proud of the condition of your trade, you can also maximize its value by giving it an enthusiast’s wash and detail. Break out your cleaning kit, hit it with a coat of wax, and maybe even take a Q-Tip to your vents.  

Bringing a clean vehicle with you is a great way to ensure you get the best value for it.  

Keep Good Tires on Your Vehicle

Proper tire maintenance is an absolute must for ensuring safe and reliable transportation around Mobile and Pensacola, but it comes into play when you’re looking to get the most value for your vehicle.  

Getting top dollar for your minivan requires having tires with even wear patterns and plenty of life left on them when you’re getting an appraisal. Regular tire rotation and the occasional four-wheel alignment can go a long way toward ensuring those even wear patterns and extending the life of your tires.  

You don’t necessarily need to buy new tires before you trade or sell your vehicle, but they should absolutely pass the old Penny Test and the more tread life remaining the better.  

Repair Minor Issues 

Major mechanical or body damage issues will heavily impact a vehicle’s trade or sale value, but seemingly minor things will also decrease the market value for a vehicle. If you’re wondering what to do before selling your car or truck, you may want to take a good look at it on a sunny day and give it an honest appraisal yourself.  

Give your car a careful inspection and look for any of these things that hurt a car’s trade value: 

• Scratches (especially down to bare metal) 

• Broken headlamps or other lights 

• Cracked or chipped windshield  

• Missing weather stripping or trim pieces 

• Surface rust 

• Stained or torn seating surfaces or other upholstery 

• Drooping headliner  

• Hail dents or similar damage 

It’s easy to let damages of those types add up over time. Often, fixing them isn’t always a priority. (You can drive an SUV with hail damage, right?) They do impact a vehicle’s trade value though.  

The good news is that many of them can be fixed at relatively low cost compared to something like major body damage or replacing a transmission. A bottle of touch up paint can go a long way, you may be able to remove stains at low cost, and reattaching a sagging headliner is a fairly simple fix for a do it yourself car owner.  

Consider having items from the list above repaired before you attempt to sell or trade your vehicle, as that can be a great way to get the most for your car.  

Take Good Pictures

If you plan to sell your trade yourself, you’ll need to become a good merchandiser of your inventory. That means putting together a detailed written description of your vehicle, but it’s also going to require many high-quality photographs that show off your current ride. 

You don’t need to hire a professional photographer to properly merchandise your used vehicle, but you’ll want to take at least 30 or 40 exterior and interior photographs of your car or truck to properly show it off to potential customers. You can check out how we merchandise our Pre-Owned inventory to get a great sense of the photographs you should provide.  

It will be even better if you provide potential buyers with a detailed walk around video of your SUV.  

(Be sure your vehicle has been fully cleaned and detailed, so your pictures make the best possible impression.) 

If you’re planning to trade your vehicle, you’ll want to provide your Step One dealership with good photos of your vehicle as well. We probably won’t need 40 pictures, but you’ll want to at least take these views of your vehicle: 

• Front end 

• Rear end 

• Left side 

• Right side 

• Driver’s seat 

• Front passenger seat 

• Rear seat 

• Odometer 

• VIN 

Be sure your side photos include an unobstructed view of each wheel, and that you’re shooting pictures on a clear day. These steps will help ensure you get the most value out of your trade-in vehicle. 

Trading Your Vehicle at Step One Fiat in Pensacola  

Are you ready to trade your vehicle toward a beautiful New Fiat vehicle,  one of our Fiat Executive Demo vehicles, or perhaps something from our vast Pre-Owned inventory?  

Schedule your in-person trade appraisal by calling our team at (850) 903-4724 or by visiting our Daphne area Fiat dealership located at 5600 Pensacola Boulevard here in beautiful Pensacola, FL 32505.