Eight ways to boost the value of your car

Follow these eight tips, and when the time comes to sell on your car, you'll get the best possible price!

I’ve had a bad couple of weeks with cars. Last week our family car failed its MOT, so not only did I have to shell out for the test itself but I then had to find somewhere that sold appropriate replacement brake pads, and then a garage to fit them.

Lo and behold when the garage changed the pads over, they argued there was nothing wrong with the originals at all, and certainly the car should not have failed its test due to them.

I was not a happy bunny.

Selling it on

However, while the MOT is stressful enough, one thing guaranteed to get your blood boiling is discovering just how much value your car has lost since you bought it. You scrimp and save (or borrow) so you have enough to splash out on that lovely Alfa Romeo, only to find it lost 50% of its resale value the moment you drove it off the forecourt.

AutoTrader.co.uk has put together a list of the top selling cars of last year, and looked at how their current retail value compares to what you would have stumped up last year for the new model.

It’s probably fair to say that if you forked out for the Astra or the Vectra your head is in your hands. It’s astonishing that in the space of 12 months the value of a car can plummet by so much, certainly compared to cars like the Audi A3 and the Honda Jazz.

Why is there such a marked difference? And how can you protect yourself against buying a car that will halve in price in no time? Follow these eight top tips!

1)  Pay the right starting price

One thing to discount immediately is that the price you pay in the first place will have any impact on how much the car is worth down the road.

After all, there is less than £800 difference between the car that retained its value the best (the Audi A3) and the car that performed the worst (the Vauxhall Vectra).

2) Do your research

Sadly, future value isn’t the sort of thing that many of us consider before shelling out for that new car. Indeed, according to BMW Financial Services a whopping 38% of us would not research how much the car is likely to be worth in the future, a pretty short-sighted attitude really.

There is also quite a lot of misunderstanding about just which factors will influence the price in the end, with many of us getting preoccupied over features that seem important but in reality make little impact on future value.

So, with the help of the lovely people at BMW Financial Services, we’ve put together the top factors that influence a car’s future price, the sorts of things that a dealer will look for when your car is available for part exchange, for example.

3) Get the colour right

It sounds a bit daft really, but the colour of the car can make a difference to how much you get for it down the line.

Choosing a neutral colour, such as black can ensure it if worth almost £1,000 more than the same car in a less neutral colour in three years. A study by WhatCar? highlighted that, particularly with mainstream cars like the Ford Mondeo, going for a colour like silver, black or grey helps them to retain their value, generally due to the fact that buyers of these types of car tend to be pretty conservative in their colour choices.

Red and green were found to be the worst colours so far as keeping value.

4) Keep it clean

Again, it seems very simple, but according to BMW’s own research the one thing most likely to put us off when buying a second-hand car is whether it looks dirty or neglected.

So when selling your car, it’s more important to make sure it looks sparkly clean and loved than anything else – forget about your engine modifications and telling the buyer it only had one previous careful owner who only used it to go to visit their grandchildren at the weekend.

And when I say sparkly clean, I mean clean both inside and out, so don't let the kids scratch anything or break any accessories!

5) Don't overuse your car

That clock on the dashboard showing you how many miles you’ve done is not just there to ensure you know when you should next go in for a service. It’s also a tool for future buyers to see how much the car has been through, and gives an indication of whether they should expect a few hiccups performance-wise.

According to some research by Swiftcover last year, an extra 10,000 miles than expected on a vehicle like the BMW 5 series could cut a further £1,000 off its resale value, hardly money to be sniffed at.

So be sure not to overuse your car, going on unnecessary detours which will not only add time to your journeys but will also whack you in the wallet when the time comes to sell the car on.

6) Keep good records

Keep records and receipts on the service history of the car, and any replacement parts you have paid for. This is a clear sign that the car has been well looked after, which can only help preserve a few precious pounds of its value.

7) Sell before the warranty expires

Again, this is fairly common sense. If your car still has a couple of years warranty in place then that can only add to its appeal as future buyers know that they have a bit of extra protection should anything go wrong with the car.

8) Consider the brand carefully

The name of the car, or rather the manufacturing brand, is an important thing to consider when buying a car.

This doesn’t mean limiting yourself to buying Lamborghinis and Ferraris, but rather doing a bit of homework on which brands tend to depreciate the least, and which ones see their value plummet at a rate of knots.

So after 2009, you might want to think twice before buying a Vauxhall. Yes, Vauxhall had four of the top 10 most popular cars of the year, but they also accounted for three of the bottom four performers.

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