Tips to Protect Yourself When Selling Your Car

As the car owner, you want the best deal for your vehicle. While many people are willing to pay top dollar for cars in excellent condition, some will try to take advantage of your good faith and trust by scamming you out of thousands of dollars when you sell your vehicle.

Fortunately, if you follow these five tips, you can avoid getting scammed when selling your vehicle:

Use a Car Refinance Calculator

Before promoting your vehicle for sale, plug its details into a car refinance calculator. According to Lantern by SoFi, doing so will give you an idea of your vehicle’s worth and help you create an asking price around that number. Refinancing calculators are easy to use and can tell you about offers from different lenders in minutes.

This information can help determine if you need to spend money on repairs or how much you can get for your car. Using a vehicle refinance calculator is also helpful. For example, it will consider all charges such as title transfer fees, registration fees, sales tax, and any other costs that come with trading in or selling a vehicle.

Meet in Public

If you meet a potential buyer, it should be in a public place. For that meeting to go smoothly, you need to take steps beforehand so that it doesn’t put you at risk. So before making arrangements with anyone, check their credentials and ensure they have a good reputation by doing an online search.

Once they come over, it’s good not to invite them inside (or even let them leave their contact information). Instead, take a friend or family to meet the potential buyer to ensure you’re never alone with a stranger.

Update Your Insurance

Having updated car insurance is essential when selling your car. Should an accident happen in the test drive, you’ll want to ensure that you and your finances are protected. If your vehicle isn’t currently insured, talk with an agent today. If it’s been a while since you’ve updated coverage or had an accident or other major incident, the chances are good that you may need to update your insurance to cover test drives.

Use a Vehicle Escrow Account

Check with your bank to see if they offer vehicle escrow services. If so, you can release ownership of a vehicle into an account and a prospective buyer will put down money in an amount equal to or greater than that amount. The bank then releases cash from that account upon completion of the sale and once they confirm it was sold at fair market value. This method helps prevent fraud and protects both you and buyers from any dispute regarding payments.

Selling your car can be an exciting yet nerve-wracking time, especially if this is your first sale. Keep this article in mind as you take the necessary precaution to protect yourself when selling your car.