Taking a photo of your car with a 90s Nokia, scanning it through to your laptop with an ancient fax machine, and then uploading that photo to your advert in a 42x15 resolution is surprisingly not the way that you show potential buyers what they could be purchasing.  

This may seem obvious, but it's remarkable just how many sellers make the mistake of listing their car with terrible pictures.  

You don't need a professional camera to take good photos, as even a simple smartphone can take good shots. Stage the car in an open area in which you have lots as space to walk around the whole car and take photos from various distances. Also make sure to take lots of photos from varying heights so that the potential buyers get a real feel for the car.  


 

Having a car's history is very important, but knowing it is arguably just as vital. If you are going to write, "Years of receipts and service records come with the car", you better be able to answer the buyer when he asks what was needed at its last inspection.  

Knowing this sort of stuff will reassure the buyer that they are purchasing a car from someone who really knows the car, and acted in its best interest. Little touches like this could mean the difference between selling your car on the first viewing, and having to trawl through buyer after buyer. 

When selling a car, make sure that every inch of it has been scrubbed, polished, and cleaned. As a buyer, there's nothing worse than having to deal with someone else's clutter when looking at a car.  

A dirty car also represents how a car will look at its lowest point, which may turn a buyer away from the car. On the other hand, having a gleaming car that looks factory fresh will make a buyer feel that they've stumbled onto a hidden gem. 

Wear and tear is natural on a car, and no buyer is going to expect a car to be as intact as it was when it first left the factory. For that reason, just be as honest as you can in the advert. If there's rust or imperfections in the paintwork, mention it and provide pictures of the size and area that it's in.  

If anything is broken or will need fixing, let the buyer know because failing to mention it will nearly always result in them walking away on the spot. You may think that letting people know about the car's problems will turn them away, but in actual fact, it'll likely increase the car's chance of selling. If you've accurately described the car in the advert, interested buyers will more likely be willing to part with their cash, as they already know what they're getting into. 

Most people think that deciding the price of your car is as simple as going on 'Kelley Blue Book' and finding the corresponding section to your car. However, this really isn't the way to go. Instead, you should spend some time looking for other examples of your car on the open market. This will give you an idea of what the selling price is for cars of varying mileage and specification.  

If there are multiple versions of you car for sale online, you'll need to make sure that your car stands out, be that by lowering the price, or making sure that it's a great looking advert. If your car has a rare or sought-after option, make sure you mention it in the title and throughout to justify a premium over the other cars on the market. 

The hardest thing about owning a car is trying to stop loving it, but in order for you to sell it quicker and potentially for more, you have to let go. The moment that the advert goes live, you should assume the car isn't yours anymore. It's just a car that is going to provide you with money so that you can move onto something better.  

Being attached to your car can be dangerous, because you can become picky over who you sell your car to. Granted it may be justified to not like selling your 600bhp Corvette to some 17-year-old who'll likely end up wrapping it around a pole halfway up the street, but it's a slippery slope. The more you deny people, the quicker you lower your pool of potential buyers. Cutting the cord could mean that you get your asking price quicker, but that's easier said than done. 

Selling can be difficult, but knowing where to put a car up makes it a lot easier. It all depends on what sort of car you own, as different buyers are looking for cars in different places.  

If you have a mass-produced car that is owned by lots of people, a general marketplace like 'AutoTrader' is where you should be looking to advertise. If however you have a car that is generally bought and owned by enthusiasts, you'll want to put the car up on specialist forums. Just be prepared for more interrogation from these sort of buyers as they'll want to find out anything from if the car has hadBridgestone tyres its whole life, to whether or not you have the receipts for the fuel that you put in it three years ago...

It's very hard to say no when you've got an offer for a sizeable amount of money (especially if it's in cash) sitting on the table, but always remember that if you've done your research, priced it according to the market and made sure that the buyer is aware of the car's every detail, you shouldn't move far off your mark.  

It doesn't matter how much the buyer likes the car, you'll always be met with something along the lines of: "I'll need to get a new head gasket, and it needs some new seats, so I'd like a few hundred bucks off the asking price."  

If you think that you've priced everything correctly, you should have multiple people interested in the car, so just be firm and refuse the deal. If they can't get to your price, let them walk away and see if they next buyer will take the car.