How to increase the resale value of your car

I want to start this article with a few questions for you, the reader. Do you want to sell your car but aren't getting the price that you were expecting? Are you tired of the "lowballers" on Facebook marketplace offering you mere shillings with a packet of chicken biriyani thrown on in exchange for your car? Have you fallen for the "since it's not a Toyota, you don't expect anything at all if you sell it." propaganda when you try to sell your car of a remotely different yet, popular brand? If your answer was yes to any of these questions, you are in the right place.

For this issue of Wheels, we looked into various ways to make the original value of your vehicle depreciate at a slower rate. These simple yet effective tricks will ensure that you can increase the resale value of your car, irrespective of the vehicle brand or type. Keep reading to find out.

Regular Maintenance

As simple it sounds, when buying a car the first question that usually gets asked is about the maintenance. A regularly maintained car is a solid foundation, and a rather green flag that a car was well taken care of. Timely oil changes, fluid flushes and keeping up to date with contact points such as brake pads and timing belts can easily save you headaches and as well for the buyer.

Use of OEM parts

OEM parts when it comes to reselling your car go a long way. Every buyer would want original parts used in a car that they are getting, no matter the circumstances (including myself), OEM parts are a guarantee from the manufacturer themselves. Even if some parts which are considered as an upgrade, yet they are not original manufactured parts can sometimes affect the price of the car when it comes to a final negotiation.

Fixing small flaws

Roads are unpredictable, especially in the city of Dhaka. No matter how nimbly a car is driven, the occasional ding or scratch is unavoidable from time to time, especially these days with the increase of unregulated electric rickshaws (codename: Tesla), it is a very normal phenomenon. Fixing up these scratches or small dents which need little to no tinkering with is a great way to make your car look new and add a few thousands to your final selling price. Remember, when something sits easy in the eyes of the beholder, the inspection is more comfortably passed.

Avoid unnecessary mods

Now when it comes to making your car your own, mods easily take the high road of personal pleasure. When it comes to resale value though, it absolutely shatters it. Avoid unwanted things such as loud mufflers, or wheels larger than the spec suggested or flashy bits and pieces that usually temper with the body panels, especially on regular daily driven cars. People usually want to buy a car, not an identity crisis attached to it. It's best to revert back the modified parts back to stock to retain the value when you are eventually going to sell your car.

Full detail

While a full detail can be costly, it is a tried and tested method to return double or triple the money that will be invested in the detail. A detail usually covers everything starting from the basic wash to the crucial things such as de-odorizing your car to the smallest things such as taking the dirt out of the pedals that usually gets pressed every time the car is in motion. A full detail has the power to make your car brand new; or rather clean up most of the imperfections that come with it. It works like a cheat code in a videogame, only here it's about increasing the monetary value.

Wax and Polish

If you unfortunately do not have the budget of a full detail, which can get really costly really quick, a simple wax and polish can clean up the exterior of a car quite nicely. Polishing a car easily cleans up most of the scratches and imperfections present in the paintjob and usually the end result is a smooth surface with minimal contaminants embedded in the paint and it is usually far cheaper and less time consuming than getting a full detail.

Extra Tip

To conclude, I want to give an honorable mention to cars that have all four tires of the same brand. That is truly the first signal I personally seek for or suggest people when looking to buy a used car. This little detail is the greenest of green flags that the previous owner cared about their form of transportation.

At the end of the day, no matter if you are on the buying or selling end, lowballing is going to be prevalent. Stand on business if you know what you have and keep seeking for the deal of the century, respectively. Good luck.