Should I get my car fixed before trying to sell it?

Question

I have a 1996 Jetta with 125k miles. A check engine light has been on for about 10k miles (my mechanic said these things are just finicky and not to worry about it unless I heard something weird or noticed strange driving behavior). Additionally the airbag light is on. Finally, the driver's side mirror is banged up.

Kelly blue book is $1970 in fair condition. How would I determine if it's economical to get these things fixed before selling to a private party or should I just sell at a cut rate price (thinking like $800)?

Answer 1

First, disconnect the negative side cable from your battery for about 5 min.If the oil has not been changed in a while the light might come back on, or it might be something more serious, but try that. second, call around to junk yards for a SET of mirrors that would mount to your car, you get two so that they will match, or you might get lucky. third, has the airbag light always been on or did some steal your Gold placement ring. last be honest with them, save yourself a lot of headaches.

Answer 2

I somewhat agree with the above answer. Unless you know how to do the work yourself. your going to pay more to fix the car than you will make back. repairs and upgrades are always a loose money proposition. If you could sell for 800 as is, a $1000 repair bill will not net you an $1800 or greater sale price. if you fixed everything, you could still only sell it for probably 1500 so your loosing money. fix as little as possible and just find someone who doesn't mind working a little to fix a car. If you can do the work yourself, then it is worth fixing before you sell it.



The light is the only thing that will make it hard to sell. but you don't need to spend the money to have it repaired..(unless it turns out to be a cheap fix). Just get a mechanic to run a diagnostic on it and get a repair estimate. That way when your trying to sell it for 800 bucks... you'll be able to tell the person what's wrong with it.



There is nothing wrong with disclosing that information because people looking at 800 dollar cars, usually are expecting it to have some problems.

Answer 3

If you were trading the car in, I would just leave the repairs undone, but a private party will be very skeptical about paying cash for a car with unidentified problems.

If you have the warning lights taken care of, the car will be much easier to sell.