You want to sell your old car, so you’ve covered up the damages through various repairs. However, it is not easy to sell an old car to potential private buyers. They may come with extensive technical knowledge or bring a mechanic to check your vehicle. You can avoid the trouble and get paid in cash for damaged cars from scrap metal merchants. We suggest not selling your old car to private buyers as there is a high chance that you might not make a sale.
Why you should not sell your old car to private buyers
If your car is considerably old, it would be best to sell it to licensed trading and wrecking company. We offer cash for cars with the highest amount possible of up to $9,000. We will accept your vehicle regardless of any damage or current condition! However, this is not true with private buyers.
Let’s look at what private buyers will check in your old car.
- A smoky exhaust – The private buyer will check the exhaust smoke. Ideally, it should be clear or a little bit of white steam while starting the car is normal. However, a thick white pillowy smoke indicates that the coolant is getting inside the combustion chamber. It could be a cracked cylinder head or block, which means that the head gasket is blown. A bluish stint indicates that the oil is getting inside the combustion chamber. This shows that the piston rings have worn down. Again another type of colour is greyish or blackish smoke which indicates incomplete combustion.
- Fluid and oil leaks – If the private buyer pops the hood and finds the appearance of fluid leaks, oil leaks, or coolant pooling, then it’s a risky sign. This may lead them to further check for cracks in the hoses, belts, connectors, and electrical connections to identify visible leaks. Here is a sure sign that the buyer will walk away, and your time is wasted.
- The engine oil – If the engine oil is anything but clear in appearance, say goodbye to the private buyer. A milky or cloudy appearance like coffee with cream indicates that the coolant has leaked into the engine oil. Another type of consistency to check is if the dipstick oil looks thick and sludgy. In this case, the private car buyer will know that you have not taken the pains to regularly change the oil, which puts them as drivers at risk.
- Rust underneath – If the frame and suspension components underneath your vehicle are excessively rusted, the private buyer will walk away. They do not want to see holes underneath or body damage to the panels outside. They will also notice if you have used extra paint to cover up road accident issues.
As you can see, you would go through all the trouble of patching up the old vehicle but for nothing. That is because buyers want a car to be top-notch even though it has been used. They will either walk away or expect you to lower your selling price drastically. Therefore, you can sell scrap cars for cash to car removal companies such as ours. We pay cash for junk cars and cash for unwanted cars as well.