When selling your car for top dollar you will need to make the exterior look as new as possible. Think its impossible to make your old car look like new? Well, maybe “new” is pushing a bit, but I will explain here how to at least make it look as good as possible.

Lets get started on this section on preparing the exterior before selling your car…

Body: Get all the bugs and road grime off and then wash the car thoroughly including the windows. Road tar along the bottom panels of the cars body can be removed with a paper towel and some paint thinner. You may have to let it soak a bit so it can “melt” the road tar off.

Scratches and Rust Spots: Take some touch-up paint and hit all the little scratches using a Cutex cotton swab. If your car is a cheap used car and has a “normal” or standard paint color (white, etc.), then instead of buying expensive touch-up paint from an auto parts store, you may find a can of spray paint that matches closely at any hardware store or major retailer. If you are going to wax the car, then wait until after you’ve done all the touch up painting because the paint won’t adhere to a waxed surface.

Lights: Replace broken headlights, brake lights, or turn signals if needed.

Windshield Nicks & Cracks: If its just a little nick and its a cheap car, then I probably wouldn’t bother fixing it because mobile glass repair places will charge at least $100.00 to do this. If you’ve got a major crack then get a new windshield. Call around though because prices for new glass can vary dramatically from one source to another. I found a mobile glass repair service that comes right to your door and it still cost me about half as much as non-mobile glass repair shops.

Wheels: If the wheels are just steel without any wheel covers, and its a cheap car, then I spray the wheels with a can of exterior silver spray paint. To keep from spraying silver paint on the tires, I use a half-moon shaped piece of cardboard. If you do get any paint over-spray, then wipe it off with paint thinner.

Tires: Fill the tires to the proper psi as shown on the tire sidewall. You can really feel the difference with how much easier a car will roll with the proper psi. I highly recommend you buy a spray can of ‘No-Touch’ tire spray (or equivalent) to spray on the tires (obviously after the wheel paint is dry!) to make them look black and shiny. You can buy that stuff at any auto parts store or the auto parts section of any major retailer (Walmart, Target, etc.)

Plastic Exterior Trim and Bumpers: Apply something like Armorall to all plastic surfaces…but only after your car has been washed.

If you systematically do the things I mentioned above, then you will be amazed at how much faster and easier it will be when selling your car…and you will sell your car for a lot more money too! Certainly a lot more cash than what you would get if you traded it in. Is it worth it to you to put $300.00 to $1000.00 MORE cash in your pocket when selling your car buy spending 3 to 4 hours to prepare it inside and outside?