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Top tips for selling a car

 <b>SELLING YOUR CAR:</b> If you want to sell your vehicle, take note of these hot tips. <i>Image: iStock</i>
<b>SELLING YOUR CAR:</b> If you want to sell your vehicle, take note of these hot tips. <i>Image: iStock</i>

Cape Town - TV’s best-known car-dealing expert, Mike Brewer, turned his fortunes around by buying two cars at an auction for R54 000 then selling them for twice as much.

Brewer compiles his extensive knowledge of buying and selling cars in his new book ‘Mike Brewer’s - The Wheeler Dealer Know How!’

‘NOT HAPPY? WALK AWAY’

Brewer owned several car dealers in London before launching into his first TV series ‘Deals on Wheels’. He is best-known as the presenter of the hugely successful DSTV series ‘Wheeler Dealers'.

Brewer’s No.1 advice for buying any car is simple: “If you’re not happy, walk away.”

What about fixing up an old ride to sell?

“Use a good quality polish to protect the paintwork – there are lots of good brands out there and, trust me, it really makes a difference. It doesn’t matter how much work you’ve done on a car, if it doesn’t look the business when a buyer comes to see it you’re already in danger of losing the sale.

"And that’s not what being a wheeler dealer is all about.’

Here are his top car-selling tips:
1 Get yourself the right equipment
2 Clean the spare-wheel well, well
3 Give the interior the once-over
4 Spend some time writing a good description of the car
5 Get all the paperwork together, including receipts for any work

What about buying a classic car?

“Go and see plenty before you part with any cash. Get as new a car as possible, even older cars should be in excellent condition.”

A big fan of hot hatchbacks, Brewer describes the Peugeot 205 GTi as his favourite and ranks the 1.9 as being batter than a Golf GTI. He recommends a “last-of-the-line 1992 1.9 with ABS and power steering, in that gorgeous blue".

Brewer confesses to loving classic American cars, including the Dodge Charger from "The Dukes of Hazzard" TV series. He does warn that original models may be hiding a few disasters under paintwork.

Brewer says: “Buy a Ford Mustang in green and don’t be put off by a bit of wear and tear inside if the rest of the car is sound.”

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