How To Value a Car In South Africa

It’s a good idea to do an annual check on the retail value of your car. Your car depreciates in value every year, which means you could be over-insured. The vehicle value calculator will help you work out the retail value of your car so you can ensure you are adequately covered in terms of short-term insurance.

When selling your car, it is important to familiarise with ‘book value’, ‘retail price’ and ‘trade price’:

Types Of Car Values

  1. Book value: A vehicle’s ‘book value’ is a rough guide used to help determine the retail book value and trade book value price of that specific car. The industry uses book values – only as a starting point – and not as a definitive reference.
  2. Retail price: The price the dealer applies on the vehicle when he sells it to consumers.
  3. Trade price: The price the dealer pays for your vehicle, when you sell it.

Websites That Helps To Value Your Car Include

1. True Price

The prices are based on data garnered at thousands of vehicle auctions. Significantly, these evaluations are available free of charge to motorists.

2. Book Value

Book value is one of South Africa websites that calculates the book value or the value of your car. When insuring your car it is essential to have it insured for the correct value. Whether you choose to insure it for the replacement value of the car with a high excess or otherwise, it is very important to value your car properly. The higher the value of your car, the higher the car insurance premium, so only insure your car for the actual value of your car. If your insurer insists on valuing your car at a different amount, ask for the source of their car value calculation and see how it differs from your car book value.

3. Value Your Car

Value your car gives you a free actual and accurate value of your car.

4. Car Zar

Car Zar offers instant quote for your car and helps in selling your car in South Africa.

5. Sanlam Reality

Your car depreciates in value every year, which means you could be over-insured. The vehicle value calculator will help you work out the retail value of your car so you can ensure you are adequately covered in terms of short-term insurance.

How To Keep A High Value For Your Car

1. Get all your paperwork into order.

“Check that your service book is up to date, see if you can get hold of detailed service records and keep all receipts of recent work you’ve had done on the car (e.g. on the clutch or brakes). Have your licence and registration documents handy. Remember, if your car has been financed, the bank holds your registration document until the balance on the car has been settled. This process could take up to two weeks and you might lose a potential buyer if your paperwork isn’t ready.”

2. Do all essential maintenance.

“The very best way to add value to your car is to care for it every day. Don’t ignore those lights on your dash and don’t wait a year to have something repaired. Forge a good relationship with a reputable service centre and ask them to work out a payment plan of some sort, so you can do a few things every few months.”

3. Restoring the car’s exterior

“By spending about R1000 with a panel beater specialising in minor dents you could add thousands to your selling price. If you have a colour-coded bumper, you don’t need a new bumper – the experts will know how to erase minor scratches. Ultimately, the best way to avoid having a banged-up look is to care for your car in the first place and have repairs done as they happen. Then it will be a case of ‘you’ll reap what you sow’ – you’ll get back what you’ve put in.”

4. Car interior restoration and fixes

“It could be worthwhile to replace tactile items such as steering wheels or gear levers. An autotrimmer can re-cover those for you, dye seats or fix leather cracks.”                      

5. Make sure your car is spotless

“Have your car professionally cleaned by the experts – this will give it extra curb appeal. Not only shampooing and waxing the interior but also having the engine cleaned. If you’re a smoker, buy sachets of fabric softener to mask the smell. By spending a few hundred rands on a good clean you could seriously increase your selling price.”