When you are trying to sell your car in Toronto, Ontario and getting the most out of it, a private sale looks tempting. One aspect you have to consider though is safety. There are few steps you need to take though making journey a used car salesman as safe as possible.
It’s all about options and getting as much as you can from your car safely. If you want a piece of mind and willing to take a reasonable hit on price then a Car buying company or a Trade-in the safest way to go.
- Use phone not e-mail
Insist to speak on the phone with interested buyers. You need to get a feeling with who you are dealing and you will not get anything over e-mail or text. You will get a phone this way too, google it and make as much research as you can. If conversations get awkward or you get a bad feeling, trust your instinct and stop all contacts. Usually most people are polite, if you sense anger or other strange behaviors over the phone then better stop it and move along.
- Do not use your home
It is better not to use your home as your meeting place or invite anyone inside. You meeting a stranger of the street and do not know yet their intentions. Albeit are very rare but strange and painful stories have happened with people trying to sell their cars, robberies for example…or worse. Better to be safe than sorry. Use a shopping mall or plaza parking lot where there is movement of people. Appointment should be on during the daylight, never at night.
- Test drive
It’s a good idea to ask for a driver’s license before you take anyone on a test drive, make a photo of it or keep it until test drive is finished. You will have to accompany the buyer on test drive, just to make they don’t take off with your car and never come back. If it possible don’t be alone otherwise let someone else know where you are going and for how long. Keep your cel phone with you and test drives as short as possible. Going on a highway for a test drive might be dangerous you do not know what driving skills the driver has, try to keep it around the block.
- Completing the Sale
Make sure about payment, take the buyer to his bank and receive or prepare payment in your presence. Ownership transfer should be done in your and buyers presence at a Ministry of Transportation location, you need to make sure vehicle is transferred in buyers name. You don’t want a stranger driving a car which still belongs to you, if something happens you might be held liable under some situations.