- Mechanical Condition
Giving the car a test drive is the easiest way to gauge the mechanical condition. During a test drive there are many factors to check with some easier than others eg does the vehicle pull to one side, are there any knocking noises when driving over bumps, how’s the braking? By spotting the potential replacement and labour costs involved with detecting such problems early you can factor that into the price. - Exterior Condition
The exterior condition of a vehicle not only will affect the value but will also affect the saleability. When approaching a car, the first observation will be that of the exterior. This could include scuffed wheels (with an average price of £60 per wheel for restoration, with a suggestion of both wheel on the same side to be painted), other factors would be dings, dents, and paintwork. If scratched paintwork is involved, for example, sometimes this requires the whole door to be replaced rather than a quick touching up, with the average price of a door/panel starting from £100. It could easily be another £100 to replace badges and trims. Visit sell my car site for a more in depth overview. - Interior Condition
There is quite the mixture of interior conditions on the many vehicles we see, some notable conditions are; a scratched dashboard (this cannot be repaired and will reflect in the final sale price), hard to replair floor and/or seat fabrics (reupholstering price typically starts at £75 a section). If the car needs a professional shampooing eg interior valeting for the seats due to a dog odour, this could be £50+. - Mileage
There is an obvious correlation between the higher the mileage the lower the retail value of the vehicle. - Previous Owners
The desirability of the vehicle will descrease as the number of previous owners goes up which will affect the resale price of the vehicle. Being more realistic with a lower vehicle price is the simplest way to deal with this issue. - Service History
This can be a deciding factor when selling a vehicle with a high amount of previous owners; vehicle desirability is lessened with little to no service history. However, one should consider that if a vehicle has been serviced 5 times, it may just be the result of 5 previous owners each servicing it when bought, making this a potentially misleading figure. - MOT
{A vehicle with a short MOT will highly affect the ability of a vehicle to be sold and the value|The value and saleability of a vehicle will be highly affected by a short MOT|the ability of a vehicle to be sold at its full value will be high affected if it only has a short MOT). Firstly, we need to look at the actual cost of the MOT test. Starting from £50, there is the unknown fear factor of what could be failed, brake discs, brake pads, and 2 tyres, the cost of this would start from £300. We would recommend getting a new MOT, to help sell your car, and so that the buyer knows they are getting great value for money. - Specification
When buying a vehicle there are different model variants; a vehicle with greater specs will hold its value for longer and will be greater as a long term investment. - Saleability
Saleability is the ability for a vehicle to be sold. Factors can include engine size and transmission type (manual v automatic), fuel consumption and type, insurance group, tax bracket, whether a vehicle can enter Ultra Low Emission Zone. These may be factors that appeal to some people and not others, meaning the vehicle could be hard to sell unless it was offered for the right price. - Vehicle Colour
The colour of a vehicle can majorly affect the re-sale price of a vehicle, non-neutral coloured cars can be a real turn off for some people really affecting its saleability.
Conclusion
in order to understand your car’s worth, you need to undertake a full vehicle appraisal. It seems daunting but appraising true value of a car required all these factors to be taken into consideration for a dealers every day. Click on over to this buy my car link if you are looking for an estimation. Get 3 separate valuations relating to different vehicle conditions for greater clarity how a vehicle condition could affect the price.
