Need to hock your wheels in Singapore? We show you all the ways to do it, and which is the easiest and most hassle-free

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SINGAPORE

There comes a time when you need to, or just want to, sell off your car, to either finance a new one or simply make spending space for other things. 

The real question is: What are the various ways I can sell my car in Singapore, and what are the pros and cons of each?  The answer, just like the process, is that it is as simple or as complicated as you want it to be.

Here are three major ways you can sell your car in Singapore:

1. Sell it to a car dealer
2. Sell it privately to someone else
3. Sell by consignment

1. Get a car dealer to do all the work

A few clicks around the internet will bring up a bevy of dealers that will handle the entire process for you. The trick here is negotiating a price that will be palatable, as each dealer may offer you a different price. 

If you’re planning to trade your car in or sell it to a dealership, remember that dealers often have access to favourable trade rates when it comes to repairs so there is really no need to go overboard with sprucing up your car before the sale proceeds. 

Also, don’t expect to raise your trade-in value by S$1,000 if you’ve just put in S$1,000 worth of bodywork repairs. You’ll usually get less than what you invested if any at all. 

A dealer works by starting with how much he thinks he could realistically re-sell your car for, subtracts his profit margin, and then subtracts what he estimates he will have to spend on fixing your car up for sale. 

If your car is an older model or has relatively high mileage (anything above 15,000km a year is generally considered high in Singapore), it may not be worth putting money into repairs anyway since age and mileage are more important factors than the way a car looks.

2. Sell directly to another buyer

With the internet today, digital marketing is right at our fingertips; gone are the days of traditional marketing through newspapers and flyers. This has now made selling a car online directly to a buyer much easier.

You are in complete control as you fix the selling price and manage other offers from potential buyers, but of course, your overall experience depends entirely on the person you are dealing with. 

CarBuyer Singapore’s Marketplace offers that hassle-free process with the steps featured below:

Step 1: Fix your selling price

While every car has unique factors which affect its price, such as mileage, age, and condition, you wouldn’t want to set too low an asking price which would end up shortchanging yourself in the process. On the flip side, setting too high a price would also scare off potential buyers. 

CarBuyer Singapore’s Marketplace helps you take the guesswork out of it all – with us, you get an instant valuation for free, which will help you get the asking price just right!

Step 2: List your car on CarBuyer Singapore’s Marketplace

As a seller, the most important thing to take note of is to provide as many pictures of your car as possible. As you are in charge of the deal, you need to show the buyer what they are buying. Most importantly, you should also provide the following information for your potential buyers:

• Age – the original registration date of your car
• Additional Registration Fee (ARF)
• Badge/trim
• COE expiry date
• COE category
• Condition – best if servicing records are available
• Engine and other specifications
• Mileage
• Modifications or added accessories (if any)
• Number of previous owners
• Open Market Value (OMV)
• Quota Premium (QP) paid
• Road tax expiry date
• Road tax cost
• Transmission – auto or manual

Step 3: Set up viewings with your potential buyers
Now that your listing is live, the natural progression is to hear from potential buyers. This is where you will need to manage your schedule in order to cater to the viewings.

First things first, pick a good location for the viewing so that your buyer has space to run their checks and do a potential test drive for the car. Do not be alarmed if some buyers request the help of a professional during the inspection — if this is the case, then you may want to approach an authorised service centre for a complete check.

Step 4: Await a deposit

If your buyer is happy with what they see and decides to proceed with the purchase, both parties should sign a sales contract as a verbal agreement is not legally binding. As soon as the contract is signed, collect a deposit from your buyer and issue a payment receipt.

Step 5: Remember to pay off all outstanding loans

Do remember to pay off any outstanding loans before transferring ownership of the car. One method many opt for is to pay off the outstanding amount in cash. However, there may be an additional early loan repayment fee.

If the former is not possible, you may transfer the loan to your credit card or refinance it.

Once you have paid off your outstanding loan or have confirmed that you do not have any, you may proceed to transfer ownership of the car.

Step 6: Transfer ownership of car

Now that it’s time to transfer ownership of your car, log on to OneMotoring and enter your details as well as your buyer’s identification number (NRIC for Citizens and Permanent Residents, and FIN number for foreigners).

Your buyer will then receive an SMS to confirm the transfer. 

If your buyer is a foreigner who does not have a SingPass account, both of you will have to head down to LTA to complete this process manually. Do bring along your credit or debit card to make a payment of S$25 for the transfer; and, you’re done.

Step 7: Kiss your car goodbye

Once you have successfully transferred ownership of your car to the new car buyer, you’re left with handing over your car keys and kissing your car goodbye.

Do note, if you prefer to drive your car during the sale process, you may want to sell to a direct buyer or through a consignment agent.

3. Selling through consignment

Do you want to sell your car at a price within your control, but neither want nor have the time to deal with the hassle of meeting buyers? You’ll want to look into selling through a consignment agent then.

Every consignment agent will have slightly different procedures but the basics are that they will take care of the sale and paperwork for you for a commission fee, which will either be a fixed price or a small percentage of the car’s transacted sale price.

Selling through consignment will mean that you either leave your car in a dealership lot for buyers to browse, or you may continue to drive it until it is time to show it to a potential buyer. Both methods have their pros and cons, but either way, you hold legal ownership of the car until it is actually sold. 

You can source for consignment agents online and through the major automotive website portals in Singapore, but once again, leave plenty of lead time for research and comparison as agents tend to be busy people. 

WIN $8,888 when you sell your car through CarBuyer’s Marketplace

CarBuyer Singapore is holding a Mega Huat Draw which runs till 31 December 2022. Stand a chance to be the lucky winner every month to walk away with S$8,888 when you sell a car successfully on our platform.

Step 1: To qualify, first sign up for an account. Proceed to sell your car through our AI valuation landing page, or add a vehicle to your consumer profile under ‘My Vehicle’, and contact the CarBuyer bidding team.

Step 2: Submit your purchase agreement to the CarBuyer bidding team via WhatsApp, and you will qualify for the draw upon confirmation of handover.

Step 3: One lucky winner will be chosen at random at the end of each month to win $8,888 cash. If you aren’t selected, do not worry for you’ll automatically be eligible for draws in the subsequent months, up till December 2022.

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*Contest ends 31 october 2359 hours*

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