10 Tips for Maintaining Your Car’s Resale Value

As soon as you buy a car, you’ve got to think about its value. Let’s explore some tips for maintaining your car’s resale value to get you the most out of it.

The moment you turn the key, your car begins to depreciate. Over the first three years, most of the depreciation is taken in any vehicle, but you can still maximize the resale value if you do a few things to protect your investment.

Here are ten things you should do:

1. Keep the Car Clean

Proper care and maintenance begin with you and how well you clean your vehicle. Even if you don’t eat in the car and you keep it clean, you need to wash it, detail it, and clean it out regularly. You don’t want to damage the carpets, seats, or leave permanent stains, which can happen when you don’t have a good cleaning regiment or your car. With a clean car, you’ll get more out of your vehicle when it’s time to sell.

2. Buy the Right Car

Maintaining your car’s resale value begins before you make your purchase. It’s important to research which vehicles retain their value more than others over the years. You can find this information easily enough. If you know you’re buying a car that’s desirable to a second or third owner, you’ll get much more out of it than if you choose a car that doesn’t sell nearly as well on the used market.

3. Treat Your Vehicle Like an Investment

Although your car is a depreciating asset, it’s still an asset and needs to be treated as such. Just because you use it for your daily commute is no reason to act like you don’t need to protect your car and understand what you can get out of it in return when it’s time to sell it. An investment mindset goes a long way toward your resale value.

4. Keep the Mileage Low

Not everyone can stick to driving only 12,000 miles per year, but you should if you can. Although this could mean renting a car for your cross-country road trip, it’s better to keep your vehicle’s mileage low if you want to maintain your car’s resale value. Once your car crosses 100,000 miles, the value drops, and after 200,000 miles, it plummets even more, making it difficult to get much value out of your ride.

5. Avoid Rust

Rust is the death sentence for any vehicle. If you’ve got a car with excess rust, you’ll have a hard time selling it, much less getting what you want in resale for that vehicle. Rust can corrode and eat away at the exterior and interior of any ride, making it less desirable. If you live in cold climates, make sure you wash the underbody and get it coated with rust-proof spray to help avoid rust.

6. Park in the Garage

Too many people use their garage as an extra room in their home and not for vehicle storage. This space in your home is designed for you to park your vehicle, which gets it out of the weather. One of the most important things you can do while maintaining your car’s resale value is to park in the garage and avoid it being weathered by the sun or other climate problems.

7. Your Car is Not Your Dining Room

Many people are busy, and going through a drive-thru for breakfast, coffee, or a snack is appealing. This is a bad habit to get into when you want to get the most out of your vehicle. Even the most careful eaters often spill food or drink in their car and end up hurting the resale value of a vehicle. Avoid smoking in your car at all costs; this will turn away any nonsmokers that might want to buy your car in the future.

8. Regular Maintenance is a Must

Today’s connected and electronic world allows car shoppers to see if a vehicle has been properly maintained throughout its lifespan. It’s important to have proper vehicle service completed every time the mileage hits one of those magic numbers. Regular service is good for you and your vehicle, protecting the resale value and keeping you out of the service center.

9. Repair Dents and Scratches When They Happen

The first thing a potential buyer will see is the car’s body. One of the best ways you can maintain the car’s resale value is to ensure the body is fixed properly before reselling it. You don’t need to have the car repainted; that won’t offer good returns, but you can have the body scratches and nicks touched up for a reasonable price.

10. Don’t Damage the Wheels

The worst thing you can do to your wheels is run them on a curb, otherwise known as curb rash. This is easy to see and shows that you’re not a very good driver, at least when it comes to parallel parking. It’s best to avoid this type of damage, but if you have some curb rash, a professional repair shop can refinish your wheels for a reasonable price. This could be worth the cost in the long run.