What is Better: Selling Your Old Car to Private Entity or Dealership?

Purchasing your dream car results in the materializing of other dreams too as it provides a fillip to rapid and comfortable locomotion. However, after a few years, a desire evokes in us to part ways with it in the pretext of upgrading to a more delectable and plush vehicle. This is when an important question arises:
Should the old car be sold to an individual or a dealer? This often turns out to be a dilemma as both have their set of pros and cons.

Let’s look into the positive and negative aspects of selling a car to an individual and a dealer, both.

Pros of Selling Used Car in UAE to an Individual

• Better Negotiation with Buyer: Generally, it is observed that selling an old car to a private buyer results in fetching a better value as an individual won’t be able to ascertain its market value utilizing mathematical methods a dealer would do. Moreover, the value of a car would increase significantly in the head of a private buyer when told about lower miles clocked in and good condition of the car. 

• Less documentation involved: A private buyer generally doesn’t ask for documentation other than the vehicle license and Renewal certificate as opposed to a dealer who would be invested in enquiring other aspects of the car such as accident history, service history, regional specifications, modifications report, etc. 

Cons of Selling Used Car in UAE to an Individual

• Greater time involved: An enormous amount of time and effort are involved to sell a car to a private entity as ads for them are to be placed on websites. This requires capturing good quality images covering every angle of the car’s exterior and interior and mentioning a concise description including details such as features, colour, regional specs, engine capacity, odometer figure, model year, and price.
• Once the ad is complete, a certain amount of time is required for the ad to get validated by website operators. Post this, one may receive calls from unserious buyers which leads to further delay. Hence, it may be long before negotiations take place and a deal is struck.

• Higher chances of fraud: It may happen that a scamster may pretend to be a serious buyer and to create confidence in the mind of seller, he may pay a deposit immediately. However, he would later default in making the balance payment in exchange for the car which would lead to severe hassle for the seller.

• Receiving Calls from Auxiliary Service Providers: As your ad would be publicly visible on automotive domains, there’s a great probability of people working for rent-a-car companies and car modifiers calling you to offer the services they provide. However, these would be of minimal interest as you would want to sell your car. 

Pros of Selling Used Car in UAE to a Dealer:

• Easy Transfer Process: A dealer would be well-versed with the procedure involved in transferring your car under his company name once it has been mutually agreed to transfer ownership. He would be having a team assigned to look into this process thereby, eliminating the hassle of registering your car, arranging for documents and so on. 

• Legitimacy: Selling car to a dealer is better when legitimacy is involved. He wouldn’t commit fraud of any kind and would be prompt in making payment and carrying out the transfer process. Hence, there’s a greater degree of certainty.

Cons of Selling Used Car in UAE to a Dealer:

• Lower Market Value of the car: A dealer will purchase your car with the motive of earning profit. Hence, he will eschew a certain thousand dirhams from the actual market price of your car. Hence, striking a deal is easy and payment is guaranteed but negotiation favours the dealer. 

• Greater Documentation Involved: A dealer will conduct an exacting evaluation of your car before allowing it to stand on his showroom floor. He will enquire deep into each document and history of your car to ensure a prolific sale afterwards. Arranging for such documents is not always possible and if he finds certain details in it mysterious, he may not be willing to go ahead with his purchase.

We hope this article helped you in figuring out the entity to sell your car to. To summarize, if quick liquidation of the car and easy transfer process are at the top in the continuum of your priorities, then selling your car to a dealer would be better. However, if you desire greater value for the car and are in no haste, selling your car to an individual will fulfill those objectives.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

Which Used Cars are Easy to Sell?

While ease of selling your old car in Dubai and other emirates largely rests on its condition, Japanese cars such as Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Mazda 6, Nissan Patrol and Mitsubishi Outlander are easy to sell as these have earned an enviable reputation for reliability and are known for lesser abrasion over the years.

Can Dealer Provide an Extraordinarily Low Market Value?

Dealers are motivated by profit more than anything else and if they feel that the seller doesn’t have an estimate for the value of his car, they may try to deceive him by pointing out fake faults in the car and offering an obnoxiously low value. Hence, it is always advisable to research for the value of your car on the internet before visiting a used car showroom.