How to Clean Your Car Before Selling
How to Clean Your Car Before Selling
Cleaning a car prior to listing for sale is one of most important aspects to sell a car privately. Below are some tips to make your used car as presentable as possible for an easier sale in Ontario.
1) Change Engine Oil
Although not exactly part of detailing your car, changing engine oil will make it easier to sell your car. People like to pull dipsticks out (even when they have no clue what they looking at), and dirty oil might be a deal breaker.
Black oil does not equal bad oil, but by the time you try to explain it they will be long gone thinking something wrong with your engine. Engine oil change is relatively cheap and is well worth it.
2) Wash Your Engine
Dirty engines look ugly and make a used car appear older than really is. Don’t use a pressure hose while cleaning your engine, you might fry electrical stuff. Use a de-greaser and rinse with a regular low pressure hose using as less water as possible.
Try to avoid electrical connections and alternator. Engines do not like water very much, but cleaning your engine bay will help your car look rejuvenated and you will sell your car faster and easier.
3) Clean Battery in Your Car
Car batteries tend to look really ugly when dirty or corroded at connector terminal posts. Use water, brush and baking soda to clean corrosion from battery terminal posts and clamps. Be careful as battery acid is corrosive and battery vapors are poisonous when inhaled.
Wear gloves and glasses when cleaning battery. Apply grease on battery terminal posts after cleaning to protect them from corroding again.
Details on: How to Test and Maintain Car Battery
(If you are looking for a fast and safe solution to sell your car, more here on “How to Sell Your Car Fast” in Ontario)
4) Clean Interior of Your Car
Crucial when trying to sell a car is cleaning vehicle interior. No one wants a car with moldy french fries all over the place. Clean interior of your used car properly, vacuum and wash it. Make sure to clean headliner and seat-belts. Use soap or stain removers to remove any stains on carpet and seats.
No one want to sit and let alone buy a car than looks like the one on image below. It stays in their mind even if you promise to clean it before selling it. Dirty interior also makes your car look older and heavily used. Your car has to be fully cleaned before you list it for sale.
Pet hair can be a deal breaker. People dont want a car full of somebody else’s pet, although they have no problems with own pets hair. Mix fabric softener with water and spray on your car interior. Leave it for few minutes and then use a brush and remove pet hair from carpets and seats. If you can not do it yourself then send your car to a detailing shop to do it for you. Details on How to Remove Pet Hair.
5) Polish Dashboard on Your Car
Clean dashboard thoroughly before polishing. Use any kind mild household cleaner (Windex for example) and microfiber cloth to clean and remove any stains from your dashboard. Aptly vinyl polisher and polish all plastic parts of interior, dashboard, doors, center console, etc.
Polishing will make your dashboard look bright and rejuvenated. Vinyl polishers are not expensive and can be bought almost everywhere (Canadian Tire, Walmart, Part Source).
6) Clean Leather Seats
If your car has leather seats, use a leather care products to clean and recondition. First vacuum your seats and remove any grime or stains with a mild cleaner or water. Do not use any bleach or ammonia based products as it can damage leather seats in your car.
Use as little water as possible. Leather does not like water and water can penetrate underneath leather and accumulate on seats foam. Car seat foam takes a long time to dry. Once seats are clean, apply a leather conditioner and let it dry. Leather conditioner can be bought at automotive stores and cost about $15.
7) Clean Cloth Seats
Clean your car seats. Vacuum seats thoroughly to remove dust, pet hair, debris and grime. Apply a upholstery cleaner on any dirty spots and stains. Work on one seat at a time, its easier. Leave it for 10 minutes and then use a microfiber cloth to remove stains. Use a brush on stubborn stains and spots.
Once seats are clean, allow time to dry and finish with fabric protective coating. Fabric protective coating comes as a spray and is very easy to use, just spray it on your seats and let it dry. It will protect fabric on your seats by adding a protective coating.
8) Clean Car Windows
Clean vehicle windows inside and out, dirty glass make cars look ugly. Use window glass cleaner and paper towel for streak free glass windows. Spray glass cleaner on your car window and let it work for a minute.
Work on one window at a time. If you spray all windows by the time you finish one, glass cleaner will be dry on other windows and you will have to do it again. Then use paper towel or microfiber cloth to remove stains and grime.
Window glass cleaner come in form of liquid or foam, both work fine. Buff windows with microfiber cloth as a final touch to remove any remaining streaks on glass.
9) Empty Your Trunk
Trunk needs to look clean too, at least passable and your trunk is likely is dirtier than the rest of your car. Byers will open it and take look in there, and a dirty trunk while not a deal breaker it doesn’t help.
Although you can slack a bit in regards to your trunk, it still has to look somewhat presentable. Get the junk out. Whatever, you have there got to go. Remove all personal items and vacuum trunk floor.
How to Clean Your Car Before Selling
10) Polish Tires and Rims
Wheels are quite important. Use de-greaser to clean wheels and a tire polish (there are several types of tire polishers in market, spray foam is easiest to use) on tires. Cleaning your wheels and tires will make them look newer and will sell a car easier. Start by using pressure washer and remove most of grime and dirt.
Spray wheel cleaner on your wheels and leave it for few minutes to soften dirt. Use a brush and scrub wheel thoroughly. Rinse with water and let it dry. Apply tire dressing and wheel protection, wipe exes with a cloth.
11) Clean Glove Box and Check Under Seats
Remove all personal items from glove box. Make sure you do not forget any documents containing personal information such as: credit cards receipts, bank statements, old bills, insurance information and vehicle registration.
Check inside owners manual, usually you will find old bills or documents forgotten there. Check under seats, things end up there too. Don’t forget your Ontario Vehicle Ownership in your car, you will need it latter on.
12) Use Silicone Spray
Use silicone compound to revitalize rubber and plastic. Silicone spray is water resistant and protects from humidity and moisture. Buy a silicone spray can (available to most automotive and hardware stores) and apply on any rubber you see on vehicle exterior, spray door hinges too. Wipe out exes with a clean cloth.
13) Clean and Polish Your Car Exterior
Exterior as per usual is very important. Exterior paint and condition is the first thing people see. Clean it prior to a showing and if you have the nerve/time then go ahead and apply wax to it. Use pressure washer and loosen majority of dust and dirt.
Fill up a bucket with soap and water. Start from top and apply soap on your car. Rinse thoroughly with water. Dry it using a microfiber or chamois drying towel. Remove all water, do not leave standing water on your car paint. Water will dry and leave white water spots.
Wax your car. There are different wax products, from easy to apply spray, to the ones that give you a headache, paste wax. However, hard to apply paste wax usually lasts much longer and leave a thicker protective layer on your car paint. Wax will keep your paint polished for a long while and will take years out of your car’s look.
14) Restore Headlights
Foggy or corroded headlight have a feel of an old and overused car. Foggy headlight also are a safety issues too as it will decrease visibility during nighttime driving. Cleaning headlight rejuvenates your used car looks and make your car feel newer than it really is, and vice versa.
There several products for sale which can be used to clean your headlight. It requires a bit of effort and is time consuming, however it will help later on when you list your car for sale.
Easiest way to clean headlights is by using car paint scratch remover. Scratch remover is an abrasive paste which removes a very thing coat from your paint clear-coat, it will do the same on headlights. Striping a thin layer from headlight plastic, removes yellow haze and plastic corrosion from your headlights.
This method does not restore headlights 100% but its good enough to be passable. Buy a automotive paint scratch remover paste, all automotive stores have it. Apply paste on headlight and polish with a clean cloth in circular motion. Apply as much pressure as you can while polishing. Finally, use a clean cloth and water to clean headlights.
Headlights are also part of Ontario Safety Certification, cleaning them will make it easier to pass inspection if you decide to sell your car certified.
(If you are looking for a fast and easier solution to sell your car, more here on “How To Sell Your Car Fast”)
Comments: If you have any questions or suggestions related to this post or Used Car Toronto in general, don’t hesitate to use comment section below.
