Most people don’t put their car up for sale because they fancy spending the next few weekends answering messages from strangers, arranging inspections and wondering whether “I’ll let you know” means the buyer is coming back for real.
You just want to sell the car, get a price worth its value and have the whole thing go smoothly. And it can, but there are quite a few small decisions sitting between putting the ad up and handing over the keys.
What price do you start with? How much should you say about that scratch on the bumper? Is it important to fix a few things first? What happens if there’s finance owing? When do you sort the paperwork? And once somebody agrees to buy it, how do you make sure the payment and handover are handled properly?
That’s usually where sellers get caught out. So this isn’t another reminder to wash the car and take decent photos. These are the mistakes that can genuinely make an online car sale harder than it needs to be, and what to do instead.
1. Don’t let another seller decide what your car is worth
Pricing is usually where the second-guessing starts. You open a few listings, find a car that looks a lot like yours and think, “Well, if they’re asking that much, mine should be worth around the same.” Maybe, but there is a fair bit you cannot see from that listing.
You do not know how long the car has been advertised, whether the seller has already dropped the price or what they will eventually accept. And two cars that look almost identical in photos can be different variants, have very different kilometres or come with a completely different service history.
So before picking your number, get specific about the car sitting in your driveway. Check the exact variant, year, kilometres, condition and service records, then compare it with cars that genuinely match. Our guide to how much your car is worth in Australia breaks down the main things that move a used car’s value up or down.
If you’re still not sure where your car sits, a Cars24 online car valuation can give you another number to work with. ValueCheck looks at current used-car listing data, so you’re not basing the whole decision on whatever price another seller happened to type into their ad.
Other listings are useful for getting your bearings, but don’t assume their asking price is automatically your car’s value.
2. Don’t guess the details just to get the ad live
This one happens more often than you’d think. You know it’s a 2021 Mazda3, so you pick the closest option from the drop-down, tick a few features you remember using and move on.
The problem is that buyers shopping for that exact car are involved in comparing versions side by side. They’ll notice if the variant is wrong, if you’ve listed all-wheel drive on a front-wheel-drive car or if a feature you mentioned was never fitted to that model.
And once one detail is wrong, they start checking everything else a little more closely, as would anybody. So, take five minutes before publishing and confirm the details of what you’re selling. Check the rego or VIN, original purchase paperwork or owner’s manual for the exact variant, build year, transmission and drivetrain. Do the same with the features instead of relying on memory.
It is a small job at the start, but it saves you having to explain later why the car in the driveway is not quite the car described in the ad.
3. Your photos are doing more work than you think
Most buyers will look through the photos before they read the description. They are checking the bodywork, the cabin, the kilometres, the tyres and, quite often, zooming in on the bits you probably hoped they would not notice.
As the seller, you should take the car somewhere with decent light, give it a clean and get a proper set of photos from all sides. If there is a scrape on the bumper or a dent near the door, photograph that too.
It might feel strange to draw attention to a flaw when you are trying to sell the car, but hiding it usually just delays the same conversation. The buyer is bound to see it when they arrive for inspection and will enquire why it was not shown and suddenly a small scratch has become a trust issue as well.
The description can help here too. Rather than filling it with lines like “excellent condition” or “very well looked after”, give people details they can actually use. A recent service, new tyres, two keys or a small mark already shown in the photos all tell the buyer more about the car than another adjective.
If the car has had accident repairs in the past, it is worth understanding exactly what that history means before writing the listing. Our guide to selling a used car after an accident explains the difference between ordinary repaired damage and recorded written-off history, along with where a PPSR check comes into the picture.
You are still trying to make the car look good. You are just not making the buyer piece together the real condition after they turn up.
4. Not every repair is worth doing before you sell
This is where it is very easy to start spending money on a car you are about to stop owning. A proper clean, a blown globe or a service that is already due are fairly easy calls. The bigger jobs need a bit more thought. If the bumper needs $1,500 worth of cosmetic work, spending that money does not automatically mean you can add $1,500 to the asking price afterwards.
The car will still be valued as a whole. Its age, kilometres, variant, overall condition, history and what similar cars are doing in the market all come into it.
Before booking a string of workshop jobs, see what you already have to back up the way the car has been looked after. Your logbook, service records and recent repair invoices can tell a buyer plenty without you trying to freshen up every little thing before the sale. Our guide to checking your service history before selling explains what is worth pulling together and what to do if parts of the record are missing.
For anything expensive, get a quote and think about whether the repair really stacks up. Sometimes it will be worth doing. Other times, it makes more sense to be upfront about the issue and price the car with it in mind rather than spending money you may not get back.
5. Some details are easy for buyers to check
A serious buyer does not have to take every line in your ad at face value. With the car’s VIN, they can run a PPSR search and see whether a security interest is registered against it. The search can also include available information about whether the car has been reported stolen or written off.
So if the car is still under finance, it is worth getting a current payout figure from your lender before the questions start coming in. Our guide to selling a financed car in Australia explains how an outstanding loan can be handled when you sell.
If you have never looked at a PPSR report yourself, the Cars24 PPSR guide walks through what the different sections mean.
The rest really comes down to being accurate in the ad. If the service history has gaps, do not call it complete. If there is finance on the car, do not say there is none. It is much easier to have that conversation upfront than when a buyer has already found something that does not match the listing.
6. Keep your personal details out of the sale
When you take photos for the listing, it is easy to focus so much on the car that you stop noticing everything around it. Have a look at the photos once before they go up. If there is mail on the seat, paperwork with your address on it or anything showing licence or work details, move it out of the frame. The buyer needs information about the car, not about you.
The same thing applies once the sale is nearly done. Empty the glovebox properly, remove personal documents and clear saved addresses and paired phones from the car before it leaves.
And then there are the buyers themselves. Most enquiries will be completely normal, but a few should make you slow down. Scamwatch warns about people offering to buy expensive items without seeing them, unusual payment requests and overpayment scams where the seller is later asked to send money back.
Payment is one place where there is no need to rush. If someone says the transfer has gone through, check your own bank account. Do not hand the car over because somebody has shown you a screenshot.
If you are not sure what information you actually need to share during the sale, our guide to seller documents and data security goes through that in more detail.
7. Work out the paperwork before somebody is waiting for the keys
The paperwork part of selling a car is not especially difficult, but it gets annoying very quickly if you only start looking it up once the sale is already happening.
And the rules are not the same everywhere in Australia.
If the car is registered in NSW, the seller should lodge a Notice of Disposal after the sale. The buyer then has 14 days to transfer the registration.
Victoria has a different process. The seller needs to notify VicRoads of the sale within 14 days. A roadworthy certificate is also required for many registered private sales and, where one is needed, it is valid for 30 days from issue.
Queensland is different again. You no longer need a safety certificate just to put a registered vehicle up for sale. For most private sales of registered light vehicles, though, a current safety certificate is needed before the vehicle is handed over. That requirement does not apply when you sell the vehicle to a licensed motor dealer.
So this is worth checking early, especially if you have not sold a car before or have moved interstate since the last time you did. Our guide to documents you may need when selling a car covers the basics, but for the transfer itself, check the current rules on your state or territory transport authority website.
Do you actually want to manage a private sale?
By this point, you can probably see why putting the ad up is only one part of selling privately. There are messages to answer, people to meet, inspections to organise, offers to weigh up and then the payment and paperwork at the end.
Some sellers are completely fine with that. You get to set your own asking price, speak to buyers directly and decide what offer works for you. But if all of that sounds like more effort than you want to take on, you can also sell online without running the listing yourself.
With Cars24, you start with your rego or VIN, state and a few details about the car. If an initial valuation is available and you want to keep going, the next step is inspection and verification. Once that is done, you receive the post-inspection purchase amount. Cars24 states that this amount is not reduced at the last minute, and payment is made before pickup.
The sale is then recorded through a Purchase Agreement. If there is still a security interest on the car, Cars24 can also work through the payout process once the required lender statement and authority are provided.
There is a fair bit of seller history behind the process too. The Cars24 valuation page currently shows more than 20,000 happy customers in Australia, along with a 4.7 rating from 2,000+ reviews.
So if you want to avoid advertising the car, arranging viewings and negotiating with private buyers yourself, Cars24 is one of the online selling options worth considering.
You still need to be accurate about the car and have the right documents ready. You just do not have to manage every part of finding and dealing with the buyer yourself.
Frequently asked questions
What should I include when listing my car for sale online?
Include the exact model and variant, year, kilometres, transmission, drivetrain, useful features, service history and a clear description of the current condition. Show obvious damage in the photos too. A genuine buyer should be able to work out whether the car is worth inspecting without messaging you for every basic detail.
How do I choose a realistic asking price for my car?
Compare several genuinely similar cars rather than simply copying the highest-priced listing. Match the year, variant, kilometres and condition as closely as possible. Remember that online listings show asking prices, not necessarily what the cars eventually sell for. A current online valuation gives you another useful reference point.
Should I mention scratches or dents in the online listing?
If the damage is obvious and the buyer will notice it during an inspection, it makes sense to show it. You do not need to document every tiny stone chip. A clear photograph and a simple line such as “small scrape on rear bumper” can prevent an unnecessary surprise later.
Can I list a car online if it still has finance owing?
Yes, but the outstanding finance needs to be handled properly as part of the sale. Ask your lender for a current payout figure and be clear about the security interest. A buyer can check the PPSR and see whether a security interest is recorded against the vehicle.
What is the safest way to receive payment when selling a car privately?
Agree on the payment method before handover and confirm the funds through your own bank or account. Do not rely only on a screenshot, email or message saying that money was sent. If an unexpected overpayment appears and the buyer asks you to return part of it, stop and verify the transaction first. Scamwatch identifies overpayment-and-refund requests as a common warning sign.
Comments
New Comment