Things You Should Never Hide While Selling Your Car

We as car owners enjoy a special bond with our vehicles. This bonding comes from the fact that we spend a considerable amount of time in our cars - traveling to and fro work, enjoying long drives with the family, visiting our native places whenever the time permits, and so on. In sum, we become emotionally attached to our cars and when it comes to selling them; our emotions tend to cloud our judgment. That’s quite natural but some of us also try to hide crucial facts from the buyer while selling their cars. Not only it is an unethical practice but it can also potentially land you in legal trouble. In this age of science and technology where every record can be found or traced online, it is virtually impossible to hide facts. No matter how much effort you put in covering facts they are eventually going to reveal themselves. We have compiled a list of things you must not hide from the potential buyer while selling your used car.

1) Accidental Damages

In technical language, accidental damage is also referred to as structural damage which happens if your car meets a major accident. Any kind of major repair work done on the suspension system, structural components, doors panels, bonnet or boot of the car comes under the category of accidental damage. As these damages are more than just dents and scratches on the body, you should never hide accidental damages that your car has undergone from the prospective buyer. As long as you have repaired your car well, there won’t be any major issue from the customer side to accept your car. Further, an honest and genuine attitude shown by revealing the true picture to the buyer will help the deal to sail through without any major hiccup.

2) Documentation Issues

Never hide anything related to documents of the car as it could potentially land you in serious legal trouble. Given the fact that all the documents related to the car are legal documents, any kind of hiding or concealing facts will have serious legal implications for you. We have a number of examples where people are behind the bars owing to the possession of invalid/fake certificates. If you try to sell your car with the help of forged documents, it is just a matter of time before you get caught as all the details of the vehicles are now online and can be easily accessed and verified on the Vahan website. Therefore, it would be a futile exercise to try to hide abnormality/anomaly in the documents. Rather what you should strive for is to follow the procedural requirements to rectify errors in documents.

3) Service History

Be fair and open about the service history of your car even if your vehicle has undergone some major repairs or replacement of the parts at regular intervals. In fact, having the service history report adds to your credibility and shows that you have taken good care of your vehicle. You can even use the history report to your advantage by asking competitive price for your car for its well-maintained status.

4) Scratches, Dents, and Paint Jobs

Having minor scratches on the exteriors is a normal thing. However, if your car has a major dent or has undergone comprehensive body repair work, you should ideally disclose it to the potential buyer. Even if you choose not to disclose, an informed buyer won’t take long to identify major body rework or a paint job. Therefore, it is ultimately in your favor to tell the potential buyer about body or paint job that has been carried out on your vehicle.

5) Pending obligations/legal case

People try to play a dangerous game when they decide to sell their used cars with pending legal cases or financial obligations. It sounds like an adventure or even fun but the fact of the matter is that you tend to play with the fire while doing so. You won’t be able to sell your car legally if it is not cleared by financial or registration authorities and if you try to do that you could very well put yourself in a tight spot. A full-fledged, legal inquiry could be initiated against you and one never knows when the situation goes out of the hand. We suggest that you cross-check once about any pending challans or oblogations just to be sure that you are in the clear. If there is anything pending, it might take some time to get cleared of all the charges but then you’ll able to sell your car with peace of mind.

Also Read: Sell your Car without being Scammed