Every machine has a life period, after which its efficiency begins to reduce. After you use the car for a certain period, it begins to consume more fuel, begins spurting out higher levels of pollutants from its exhaust and the performance falls. The expense on your car begins to increase since there are more frequent breakdowns, more repairs and more servicing charges.
Disposing your old car and buying a new one will get you higher ROI (return on investment), besides enjoying the smooth feel of driving a new car. However, if you are shrewd in your economic planning, you will consider a lot of other factors while selling your car. These factors can be divided into three categories – related to the car, related to your lifestyle and related to the market conditions.
Performance
Cars need to be serviced according to their make. Usually, manufacturers give you a schedule based on miles travelled or time period, depending on which target is met first. If you drive extensively, your car needs more frequent servicing. However, if you notice that your car requires more maintenance and servicing than its basic requirements, it is time to sell. As a thumb rule, if your car has visited the shed three or more times in a year, read the signs and sell the car.
A higher mileage will help you save money on gas. If the mileage given by your car does not increase satisfactorily after thorough servicing, it needs to be discarded. Also check the pickup and acceleration. Basically, if you are disheartened with the way your car performs, it is time to get rid of it.
If you are good at maintaining your car, you can use it up to 200,000 miles. But after this milestone, you should think of selling your car because of three reasons. Firstly, no matter how well you maintain your car, the efficiency reduces after this limit. Secondly, the resale value of the car falls after this limit. So, it is always better to sell before your car breaches the 200,000 miles mark. Thirdly, repairs and maintenance cost you higher because there is severe wear and tear of theengine.
Your lifestyle
Other than the condition of your car, your lifestyle is another factor affecting your decision about selling your car. When you drive with your family, you are supposed to be comfortable. So, the tiny car from your bachelor days might be insufficient to carry your family and all the baggage with goes with it. More importantly, every car has a particular load carrying capacity. If you load the car more than this specified limit, fuel consumption increases and efficiency of the vehicle drops. In such cases, it is better to sell the car and buy a new one which is comfortable as well as cost effective in the long term.
Market conditions
Before you sell your car, consider the market conditions. If market for used automobiles is down, you should wait for a while until the market picks up. You can consult the Blue Book available online to evaluate the value of your used car. When you get a deal close to the mentionedestimate, make haste and sell it, but not until then.
Mike Fischer is a guest writer for several automotive websites, blogs and newsletters. He can be contacted at mikefischer620 [at] yahoo [dot] com with requests for content – preferably in the automotive domain. He is currently working with UnoCarDealers – a website for buying and selling cars, and for finding useful automotive information.
When To Sell Your Car – Make Sure That You Do It On Time
