Why regular maintenance is important in increasing resale value of your car

There are two kinds of car buyers mostly; one who requires a vehicle for transport and the other who is passionate about cars. These two parties have different factors that affect their choice of car.

If you fall in the prior category, you’re downright practical, and you like to see things in terms of long-term benefit; hence resale value is one of the crucial factors for you. However, to sell off the car after a few years of usage and get the most possible value in the deal, you should maintain your car in good condition. Regular maintenance is one of the key factors to consider when it comes to reselling a car, and here are some good reasons as to why:

  1. It’s an investment: A car, at the end of the day, is an expense, period. However, if you want to get the most resale value, you should treat it as an investment instead of an expense. You should treat it the same way you manage your money. Like money, you should not overspend it, using your car only for lengths that cannot be covered by foot and long journeys. Nobody likes a car with excessive mileage in its log when it’s in the resale market, right?
  2. First impression is the last impression: Did you know that a buyer takes his decision based on the looks of the car most of the time? This is more applicable to the used car market. To get the most resale value, you must keep your car in its best possible appearance. Here is how –

*Park the car in a sheltered place, not under the open sky: Sun, rain, dust, dew, snow, bird’s dropping, and falling branches are the evils for your car. Those natural weather elements would make your car look ugly over time. So, unless it’s in use, park it in a sheltered place.

*Clean your car inside out: Most people do not care much about cleaning the inside of the car as much as they do care about keeping the exterior clean. That won’t help you while reselling it, because no buyer would buy a car unless they sit on the driver’s seat. Hence, clean the floor mats, empty the glove compartment from trashes, vacuum in a regular basis, keep the leathers cleaned and conditioned always, and most importantly, smoking is a big no inside of the car.

*Avoid scratch, dent, and collision as much as humanly possible: Again, it’s a no brainer, right? Nobody would value your car good if it has some major repairing history in the log. Therefore, try to avoid those “unavoidable” situations as much as you possibly can. Also, regular and timely service log in the maintenance book would make your buyer more assured that he/she is buying a better-maintained vehicle – so take care of that part too.

  1. Do not piss the buyer off by giving damaged things: This is the most crucial factor in the resale car market. No matter how minuscule you think the damage is if you know any part of your car is damaged, make sure to repair or replace the same even before you think of reselling the car. Best you can do is thoroughly check the car by a professional in a service center to find some hidden damages which may not be visible by untrained eyes, and fix them asap. Because, your buyer would do the same most likely, hence detect and fix the damages before your buyer finds them.
  2. Longer and live warranty matters: Selling a car while it’s still under warranty cover, would help to boost the resale value undoubtedly. Car with live warranty not only get valued better than which are not, but it instills some confidence about the car in the buyer’s mind and helps them make a buying decision quickly.

In simple words, if reselling the car in a few years is your priority when buying a new car today, you must take good care of your car. If you’re planning to buy a new car in Sharjah, look out for some good dealers. Carswitch is one of the popular car dealers when it comes to buying or to sell cars in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.

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