Cover your tracks
Cover Your Tracks
Go bananas on cleaning your vehicle when attempting to sell your car. Make sure everything is looking as good as you possibly can. However, you will need to make sure it has a natural look about it. For example, don’t leave streaks on the windows when you are cleaning them and make sure you mop up any cleaning fluid residues that may remain after giving your car a thorough in order to try and sell your car without looking like you have had to work hard at getting the car spotless for inspection. The same goes when you are attempting to negotiate the sale. Do not look like you are trying to sell the car. Buyers can smell desperation and they generally find the smell unpleasant. Sell your car without trying to sell the car but while trying to sell the car. As confusing as that sounds, it basically means be natural.
If you have gone over the engine bay and it is looking too clean, it might also look a bit too desperate. Not only can it damage the engine if you have used too many chemicals to clean up the engine block but it can also eat into the paint if degreaser happens to hit the side of the engine bay. By all means give the engine and engine bay a good clean, just be very careful. Degreaser is powerful stuff. There is a reason there are a lot of warnings on the container. It is toxic. Anything that has the capacity to melt of five years worth of grease would have to be. Sell your car without relying on making it look like you have had to work extremely hard to impress the buyer. Unless the car really requires it, don’t risk damaging the car in order to present it to a buyer.
We get it, you want to present your car to the buyer in the best possible condition that you can. Sometimes we make things worse if we try too hard to make things shine. If the car is practical and clean, then it doesn’t require having the paint scrubbed off the metal in order to appeal to the buyer. Don’t force the buyer into the sale. Let them make up their own mind as to whether or not the car is for them.