10 Tips for Selling a Used Car Online

Your car has been good to you, or maybe it hasn't. Either way, now's the time for you to move on. Sure, you could be emotional and sentimental about it (we won't judge) but no matter how many miles the two of you shared or what you named it, when you're selling it, you want to get the most money you can get. It's nothing personal — just business. 

If you take your car to a dealer, they're just going to turn around and sell it. To maximize his profit, he'll offer you less money. Listing your car online exposes it to a wider audience, which means more people who will potentially want to buy it. Selling a car online isn't without pitfalls, however. Here are ten tips that will help you sell your car online like a pro.

10: List it in the Right Places

It used to be that if you wanted to sell a car yourself, your only options were to put a "for sale" sign in the car window and/or take out an ad in the local paper. Now, however, there arenumerous websites that are all but begging you to list your car with them.

Deciding which website depends largely on how you want to sell it. If you're comfortable with paying some dough for a site that gets a lot of traffic, a fee-based option may work for you. You might get the best price by going for an online auction site. Or, you may be most comfortable using a free classifieds site. Whatever you choose, make sure you understand and are comfortable with all of the terms and conditions that come along with listing your car there.

9: Know What You Have

Once people start contacting you about the car, they're going to have a lot of questions. You'd better be able to answer them. Even if you're not technically inclined, now is the time to find out what kind of engine it has, how many speeds its transmission has, what kind of gas mileage it gets, all of its safety features and the size of its cargo hold.

Be realistic about the amount of miles on the car and any possible repairs it might need. Worn parts, like tires, are something that car buyers aren't going to want to pay for. Do some research and decide if you want to fix your car up a bit before you sell or if you'd rather just sell it for a lower price.

8: The Price is Right

When you know what you have to sell, setting the right price is the next step. Sure we all want one million dollars for our cars, but you have to be at least somewhat reasonable. Price your car too high and you'll get ignored by buyers. Price it too low and you'll get a lot of responses, but you'll end up making less money on the deal.

To find out the right price for your car, do some research. See what similar cars with a similar mileage and condition are listed for in your area. Pay attention to the features and options those cars have. If your car is missing some of those, you'll want to list it at a lower price. If your car has features that other similar cars don't have, bump the price up a bit. Stay realistic, though — it's Bluetooth, not a Picasso.

One final note on price: Not all the extras you love on your car will appeal to buyers. A crazy paint job or shag carpeting may seem great to you, but they don't have a lot of mass appeal and may actually lower the price you get for your car.

7: Clean Up Your Act

You take a shower before you go on a date because you want to make a good impression (and because your natural musk is somewhat off-putting). Ditto for selling your car. Before you list it, clean your car out. Buyers have a hard time seeing a beautiful interior if it's buried under a lifetime of Wendy's receipts. Throw out the trash and personal items, vacuum the carpet and throw in some air freshener. Make sure you also get the outside clean. Wash and wax the car, and give the wheels some extra cleaning love. You know your car is more than just a pretty face, but no one wants to buy ugly and stinky. A clean car is plain easier to sell.

6: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words – and Dollars

The downside of shopping for something online is that you can't see it. Online used car listings with lots of pictures let buyers see exactly what they're getting. After you get your car all cleaned up, take some pictures of it.

When it comes to taking pictures for a used car listing, be thorough. Don't just take a few shots of the exterior. Show pictures of details like headlights and tires so buyers can see the wear and tear on them. Take lots of interior shots, including pictures of things like the dashboard and radio. Show the backseat and cargo area, as well, so buyers can see if your car has room for all their passengers and stuff. When taking pictures of the interior, make sure the car is on. This allows buyers to see that you don't have any warning lights or indicators, a sign your car is in good condition. Don't forget to take a few shots of what's under the hood, as well.

5: Write it Up

One of the hardest parts about selling a car online is actually writing the ad. We've all seen hilariousCraigslist used car ads, but don't feel like you need to be Shakespeare to sell your car. Just make sure you cover the basics. Try to anticipate any questions a car buyer might have about your car, and answer them in the listing. At the very least, your ad should include:

·         The year, make and model of the car

·         How many miles it has

·         What kind of gas mileage it gets

·         Whether you have the maintenance records or not

·         The price you're asking for it

·         Any known repair or maintenance issues

·         How to contact you (email or cell phone is probably best, for safety's sake)

4: Have Your Paperwork in Order

Once you list your car online (with plenty of pictures!) potential buyers will start to contact you. Before you can go through with selling the car, however, you'll need to have all your paperwork in order. You'll need the car's title to prove that you're legally able to sell the car. You'll also need a bill of sale for the buyer, so they can prove that they've bought it from you (the bill of sale also proves to your state and insurance company that you no longer own the car). Your car registration also needs to be up-to-date. If you have questions about the paperwork you need to sell your car, contact your state's motor vehicle department and get the answers you need before you have a buyer standing in front of you.

3: Know the Kinds of Payment You'll Accept

Selling a car can net you several thousand dollars. Most car buyers don't have that kind of cash on hand, so as a seller, you need to be comfortable with the kind of payment you'll accept for your car. You also need to protect yourself fromfraudulent payments.

Some online sites handle the payment for you, which can offer you some protection, but the sites usually take a percentage of the money, which leaves less for you. Other online car sites don't handle payment, so you're on your own. Don't acceptpersonal checks from buyers, and if one wants to pay you with a bank or cashier's check, do not hand over the keys until you've contacted the financial institution the check is from and determined that it's real. Beware of people who want to overpay you by check and then have you give them the difference in cash — that's a common scam.

2: Do it in Public

One of the more stressful parts of selling a car online is dealing with people you don't know. While most people aren't out to hurt or scam you, there are crooks out there. The last thing you want is to have those people at your house. Meet all potential buyers in a public place and bring a friend with you. If the buyer wants a test drive, make sure they leave something with you that ensures they'll return. It's also a good idea to make sure you have a good description of the buyer, as well as, any other identifying information, like their license tag or phone number, just in case something goes wrong.

1: Take Your Ad Down

Once your car is sold and your wallet is stuffed full of the buyer's money, you need to take your online ad down. Nothing is worse than having your phone blow up at 3 a.m. with inquiries about the car you sold last week. You'll also need to make sure that you cancel your car insurance on the car right away — there's no sense in paying for insurance on a car you don't own. Do all this, and you'll be able to sit back and relax on the massive pile of cash you earned by selling your car online.

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The self-driving car in the city of the future

Engineers are confident it’s only a matter of decades before cars with drivers behind the wheel become as exotic as a horse and carriage or a penny-farthing bicycle in mid-city traffic.

The self-driving car is already a reality, if not a common one or a practical one just yet. But when it does become ubiquitous what changes will occur to our cities and to the humans who share their habitat with these robots on wheels? The digital arts and technology festival, ARS Electronica in the Austrian city of Linz, has been asking how cities and humans might adapt to this new mobility.

What the futurologists are not sure of is how humans will interact with their new wheels or how pedestrians and cars will communicate with each other. Or how the urban environment will change to accommodate the driverless car.

"This one is the first one I would say where there is a complete vision of the future – what is city life, what is our life, what will happen with us here in these (next) 20 years," says Alexander Mankowsky, future studies Specialist for Daimler AG as he runs his eyes over the Mercedes FO15 research car. It looks like a 1970's space ship fantasy; all ethereal and glowing. Yet it drives and stops and is helping engineers and planners resolve the issues around driver-free mobility. Mankowsky describes this car as "a beacon into this future."

"Beacon" is a good simile for this car. It's almost luminous and a laser sometimes shoots forward from it. That's partu of how it communicates with its surroundings. For example it can tell a pedestrian it's safe to cross in front of it.

"This car is equipped with light signals in front and the back which tell the intention of the car, which can communicate with you, can even project a virtual (pedestrian) crossing on the ground," says Mankowsky. The car's sensors note the pedestrian and tell him or her if it's safe to cross in front of it or it can flash up a stop sign if the pedestrian should not cross the road, he explains.

Are drivers and riders ready to hand control to a computer?

Many people, certainly not all, find communicating with a car via their hands and feet enormously satisfying. Rally drivers have made an art form of controlling a car at high speed on everyday roads. Race drivers have become national heroes and many of us aspire to just such a close relationship between driver and car. Are we ready to give that up and let the digital age do it for us? Makowsky says forget it, the heroic driver is as anachronistic as the heroic horseman.

"It's a step by step process and as experience shows if there is a button, where automatic is a description of the button, everyone will push it and forget about it."

The FO15 still has a steering wheel but it's small, almost an afterthought; only there for when the occupants venture beyond the urban environment and on to a country road lacking the necessary communication infrastructure.

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The Mercedes FO15 is a luxury concept vehicle but in many cities, especially throughout Asia, motorcycles provide mobility for the masses. Surely there's a future in which humans will still feel the thrill of controlling their two wheeled machines as they scoot past the computer controlled car?

"The real revolution is that once you are too late on the brakes in the curve you can switch on KERS and it very softly and slowly brakes you on both wheels," says biker Martin Honsig who is demonstrating the Johammer electric motorcycle at ARS Electronica.

The Johammer's fully enclosed frame is reminiscent of classic machines from half a century ago but this two-wheeler draws on the latest Formula 1 motor racing technology including the Kinetic Energy Recovery System known as KERS which pours energy back into the battery while the bike is braking. Honsig says if the rider gets into trouble the bike can get him or her out of danger at the flick of a switch which will hand control to the computer and KERS.

With a 200 kilometers range this machine and others like it can provide both city and country transport.

"It would be easy to go from Linz to Vienna and have a coffee there, find a battery station, a loading station and go back," says Honsig.

'The self-driving car of the future has to tell us if it's autonomous…'

"The self-driving car of the future has to tell us if it's in autonomous mode right now or if it's being driven by a human being," says Martina Mara, a researcher and specialist in robo-psychology at the ARS Electronica Future Lab. She says even a small child has to be able to recognize in a second whether a robot controlled car has seen it or not.

Think of it this way she says. "As we approach a pedestrian crossing we will often seek eye contact with a driver and that moment of eye-contact is what will tell us that it is safe to cross, or not" A self-driving car, says Mara, needs the same communication skill.

Mara and other researchers are using drones and robots they call shared-space bots to test this interaction between self-driving vehicles and humans.

Over the past one hundred years we have learnt to communicate with our cars almost as an extension of our finger tips and toes. And we certainly see them as a reflection of our personality. Are we ready to give that up? Mara, who admits that she is not a passionate driver, says there are plenty of people for whom car control is not important.

"You know there is already a lifestyle of young urban people who don't need that feeling of controlling, of driving a car for their self-concept," she says and then describes a future in which we will tell our "robo-taxi" to take us into the city. It will drop us off outside the pedestrian zone, park itself, and then pick us up where we tell it to.

If that sounds like an idyllic future it also sounds like something from an idyllic past. Your carriage awaits?

In fact the designer of the futuristic Mercedes FO15 took some of his design cues from the horse and carriage. The wheels are at the very extremity of the vehicle and the passengers sit facing each other, as in a carriage. Alexander Mankowsky describes the future car like this.

"It's not so much transportation as a place where we can be, inside an artefact, a beautiful artefact like a living room on wheels; and that's the future."

He is describing an idealized future but could just easily be talking about an idealized past.

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Driving Tips for New Learners

A variety of things are to be kept in mind while you are learning how to drive. These include a deal of things that are to be incorporated and kept at mind. There are a lot of people willing to drive, but they usually miss out on the basics of driving skills. For beginners here we bring a list of dos and don'ts.

1.   Getting familiar

You need to get familiar with all the tips and tricks of learning how to dive your new car. One has to first get familiar with the type of car that he or she has purchased. You need to know it in theory too, to practice it in actuality. Understanding the clutch and the gear arrangements in practicality is altogether different. You need to know the gear shifting techniques at high speed and techniques of reversing the gear.

2.   Seat adjustment

Lack of comfort and control usually leads to lack of control which simultaneously results in accident probabilities. Your seat should be such that you are able to view around easily and comfortably. The height of your eyes should exactly be at half the height of the windshield. Your knees must be stretched too far when pedalling. Do not stoop forward while you driving and sit upright all the time.

3.   Distraction avoiding

Adjust the mirrors, get attentive and recollect all the rules of the road, Be attention focussed every single minute of the time that you are on the driver's seat. New drivers must also avoid high volume music and deep conversations with the co-passenger. Keep your cell phone away from you.

4.   Reach the pedals

Make sure your feet reach the pedals, while you are at it. Your knees must be bent at 120 degrees while you try to reach the pedals of your car.

5.   Steering wheel position

The 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock is the best positions of holding a steering wheel the correct way. This helps in having the best control of the steering and thus turns the car easily.

6.   Use turn Signals

Make sure you have majored all the turn signals before you start on the driving. The incorrect use of these symbols can get you to a lot of trouble and may result in major accidents.

7.   Don't over-speed

Remember you are new at driving and now is not the time to hit the accelerator. That can always be done when you have mastered the art. However, Tempting it might seem, avoid over speeding

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. Exotic Cars: Expectations and Realities When Looking for One

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of exotic cars? Is it a popular sports car like a Ferrari or Lamborghini? Or maybe you prefer some of the latest muscle and luxury cars around, like the Ford Mustang, the Chevrolet Camaro, or the Ashton Martin V12 Vantage S.

Whatever rare car you're dreaming of, you should know from the outset that it takes more than a bulging briefcase of cash (or a check with dozens of zeros) to get your own exotic car of choice. Look back to the first time you've bought a car. Snagging the car of your dreams requires more than just walking into that dealership: you've got to negotiate your loan rate (if any), discuss the terms, request to upgrade or modify some things here and there, and so on. Let's discuss the process of buying an exotic car.

An Opportunity of a Lifetime

There are many exotic cars to choose from, especially if money is no object, but it's certainly going to be easier said than done to decide on 'the one'. One of the first things you should do is to set your budget: say, like $200,000. Setting a ceiling automatically lessens the stress of choosing from possibly dozens of options to a more manageable list.

Next, since you're looking for an exotic car, you need to define for yourself the "exoticness" of a car. Do research online, list down your preferences, and learn the nomenclature associated with luxury cars or sports cars, including what sort of engine they've got and so forth. That way, you can be upfront with the dealership's salesperson by saying the details of the car you want. Remember to tell him/her your preferred price range as well, and don't be afraid to round it up so you'd have a wider range of models on the top of the heap.

Keep in mind that dealers rarely allow potential car buyers to test drive a car right of the bat. To help you decide on which exotic cars to consider, search online and read unbiased reviews or test drive videos of your shortlisted cars.

Do note that rare cars that are reviewed online might not be available in your market, so make sure to list down several options and rank them based on your personal criteria.

Dos and Don'ts

Do show proof with regards to your financial capabilities. Ask the sales staff to inform you about different maintenance plans, gearing options, brands, and models that are currently available or will soon be. The more you're able to engage with the salespeople, the likelier it is for you to get a decent plan at the lowest price.

If you want a car that crosses state lines, don't be afraid to do some cross-country traveling to get it.

When permitted, take the lucky car/s for a brief spin in order to get a good feel of the vehicle, from its purring engine to how fast it can really go.

If you want online tools that can assist you in locating any exotic car that you deem fancy enough to be part of your car collection or garage, visit websites like Cars.com, eBayMotors.com, and AutoTrader.com.

Finally, make sure to check an exotic car's mileage, condition, options, transmission, and other parts that you deem important before making a final decision.

Read More → . Exotic Cars: Expectations and Realities When Looking for One