What Affects Used Car Prices

There are many dozen aspects to used car buying that affects its price.

Firstly, it depends who you are selling to and what sort of car you have to sell.

What do I mean?

Well a hotted up 2006 Mazda 6 with loud exhaust and shiny oversized wheels is worth more, generally speaking of course, to someone in their 20s than someone in their 60s.

It is similar with colours.

Some cars just suit some colour variations a lot better for their generally accepted target market.

Take for example a Suzuki Swift.

No offence is meant for the men you see driving Swifts, but this is a car much more popular to women.

And therefore more “girly” colours are more appealing in their range to their buyers.

It is my experience a yellow Suzuki Swift will sell much faster than a silver one given similar mileage, age and price points.

The mileage is another BIG factor as to how much your used car is worth.

It is a pretty easy fact to understand the higher the kms, the more work it has done and therefore the more worn a larger number of working parts are.

Unless the car has been impeccably maintained, a similar car with lower milage is worth more.

Maintenance record. Again, if a car has been well looked after and there is evidence of this in its logbooks and general appearance, I for one will pay more for it against a similar car without these things.

Then there is such thing as a price crunch which I have fallen victim to myself.

I can give a pretty exact example.

I bought a 2011 Holden Cruze a few years ago now. Lovely car, still under new car warranty, top of the range, leather and in fantastic condition.

I bought it without realising that in 2012 and 2013, this model was discounted from new.

So in this instance, when I was trying to sell it, I found myself competing in price with cars 1-2 years newer.

Naturally the market was buying the newer models for the same or very similar pricing as to what I could offer.

I call this effect the new price crunch.

This is really only relevant in cars under 5 year old and if you are unlucky – and maybe didn’t do quite enough research first!

How clean is the car you are trying to sell quickly?

You know it is true – a well presented car, house, set of golf clubs – anything – is much more appealing to a buyer than a dirty unkept equivalent.

In saying this, as a licensed motor dealer in Brisbane, I can see through this, so don’t worry if you are selling to a dealer so much.

But even still, don’t bring in a pig of a car expecting a velvet purse full of money in return 🙂

Do you have a car to sell in Brisbane quickly? Please give me a call on 0411 362 229 and we can discuss how much your used car is worth today.