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When is The Best Time to Say Goodbye? Figure Out When it’s Time to Sell Your Car

All things must come to an end, and the same is true for your well-loved car. Knowing when it’s time to sell your car can save you a lot of money and heartache. Because there’s not much worse than being stuck in a relationship with something isn’t delivering on its promise anymore.

By
07 Mar 2022

You may have spent hours of fun together, making beautiful memories and having adventures. But eventually, your car will get old. She’ll cost more and more to maintain and the relationship just won’t be worth it anymore. There will come a time to sell your car, but will it be the right time? Knowing how long to keep a car before selling can seem like a complicated science. It’s a question that relies on a few variables.

The best age to sell a car

If you bought your car new, you’re probably wondering about depreciation. We all know that cars depreciate quickly. At least, most of them do. The first nine to 12 months is when your new set of wheels loses the most value. Even if you take outstanding care of her, you can expect to lose somewhere between 15 – 30% of the price you paid. In fact, in the first three years of her life, your baby will depreciate to around half her forecourt value.

Considering this, the best time to sell a car with depreciation in mind is after her 3^rd birthday. Car depreciation slows down substantially after the third birthday. So selling after you’ve cleared away three candles gives you the most value from new car ownership and the highest resale price.

Of course, you can leave it a little longer. If you are happy with the repayment plan or have paid her off, and she’s still reliable and fun, it may be worth stalling a sale.

If we’re talking used cars, it’s a slightly different story.

What’s the right time to sell a used car?

If we’re talking time of year, the best time to sell your car is Spring. If it’s a convertible, summertime could help you fetch a higher price and for SUVs and 4-wheel drives, Autumn and Winter can help buyers become a little more willing to part with their cash.

However, if we’re considering the best time to sell your car in terms of how long you have owned it for, the answer becomes a little more complex. In this case, your number one consideration becomes the condition of your car. The cost to keep your car on the road versus the cost to replace her is the biggest factor in deciding how long to keep a car before selling.

To do this, you need to determine what your car is worth. Edmunds have a true market value calculator which is pretty handy for this. The other option is to check out cars like yours and see what people are asking for them in your area.

Next, you need to figure out the cost of keeping it on the road. That’s the insurance, road tax,  MOT cost and any additional work. Once you’re paying for advisories and extra repairs through the year, selling your car might seem like the better option. A chat with your mechanic about expected repairs and maintenance over the next 12 months will give you the information you need.

If the cost of staying on the road is higher than the resale value, the time to sell your car has arrived. If not, the job isn’t completely done, there’s a little more work to do…

Check through past repair bills, maintenance costs and MOT advisories. This can be a good indicator of future costs too. Remember that the older a car is, the more likely it is things will need replacing. Also, if a car is very old – 15 years or more – finding replacement parts can become tricky, which drives up the cost of repairs too.

Now it’s time to pull out your car manual. Check to see when the cambelt and catalytic converter need replacing, air conditioning needs reconditioning and brake lines should be replaced. These are all BIG jobs that can cost a lot, and if they’re not done, it can mean the end of your car anyway. This is usually somewhere around the 60,000 to 70,000 mile mark on the odometer. If you are getting close to this, it’s a good time to sell her on and go for a younger model.

Other reasons it could be time to sell your car

When life changes, you might need your car to change with it. Getting a baby in and out of a 3-door hatch is going to be a bit of a nightmare. Similarly, if your kids have flown the nest, there’s little sense to holding onto an MPV unless you’re planning to convert it into a camper and travel the British Isles in it.

As mentioned, when cars age, it can become increasingly hard to find the replacement parts needed to keep them sound. Manufacturers begin to phase out the production of older parts and although it is possible to get parts engineered for your car, this is going to cost big bucks and will only be worth it if you have a very rare, collectible gem.

If you have simply fallen out of love with your car and lost faith in her ability to get you safely from A to B, it’s time to say goodbye and sell your car. Continued difficulty with your car starting or rising fuel costs and a hankering to go electric are also good reasons to call it a day and sell your car.

When you do decide to sell, it’s time to consider the best way to sell – part-exchange, private or trading it in? Then get busy preparing your wheels to get the best price.