This does not mean just washing and vacuuming it, although that's a excellent start. It is the overall preparation and detailing that gets a good price. This is a well-known secret of most used car dealers.

You would be surprised to see the condition of some of the vehicles they purchase, but after a few hours in the detailing shop you wouldn't think it was the same vehicle! The best advice to anyone selling his or her car, is to have a professional car detail carried out. This will cost you around the $200 mark and it will be money well spent.

It will, in effect, save you hours of hard work trying to do it yourself with nowhere near the same result. This alone will add hundreds of dollars to your vehicle, particularly when selling privately.

I know of people who have had their vehicle detailed and fallen back in love with their car deciding not to go ahead with the sale.

Once the detailing has been completed you should make sure any minor defects are repaired. It is also important that you have the service logs and any relative mechanical history at the ready, as this is now becoming a major factor when buying or selling a used vehicle. If a service is due or near due, make sure you have it done prior to selling. This will give a prospective buyer an appreciation of how well you have kept your vehicle.

Before you start selling your vehicle, either privately or to a dealer, you must know its market value. There is nothing worse than advertising your vehicle with a highly inflated price.

One way to find out the approximate value of your vehicle is by studying the motor section of your local newspapers, which will give you a reasonable guideline. Another way is to look in dealership yards to see what price similar vehicles are being sold for, but you must remember these vehicles have profit margins built into them to cover the dealer's operating costs and over-stock.

Alternatively, the web can provide a wealth of information on vehicle valuations. This is only web-based information and is generalised, so it does not give you accurate pricing on your own vehicle because of the specific condition and accessories fitted.

Web sites where you can gather this type of information are the individual dealership web sites and vehicle pricing-guide sites such as www.redbook.com.au and www.glassguide.com.au

This data is purely to assist you in making a qualified and rational decision when buying or selling your vehicle. Remember, these sites are to be used only as a guideline, they are not entirely accurate as they do not take into consideration the individual buying or selling parameters within the different states.

There are always variations to the rules about pricing, so you should follow your intuition when setting a price and be sure to leave room for negotiating in your asking price. Your starting price should be higher than the price for which you really want to sell your vehicle.