AutoSanity.com

Think of the “this” like so: What are the three rules in selling real estate? Location, location, location.  For cars it’s clean, cleaner, cleanest! That’s right - nobody likes a dirty car. Even though you’ve gotten used to the filthy carpets and fogged windows, a prospective customer (or a dealer for trade-in) would probably be offended by your dirt and could look elsewhere. Maybe even lowball you on the price. While you can’t do much if your car is old and tired, you can get rid of the dirt. Here are a few hints that could get a higher price for the old gal for just a few hours’ investment.

Wash the exterior.

Duh! This one’s a no-brainer but you’d be surprised at how people ignore this one completely. At the very minimum, take it to a do-it-yourself carwash and use the soap, rinse and hot wax. Squirt inside the wheelwells and clean  all that brake residue off the wheels. Use a chamois to dry the body and prevent spots on the windows. Use a tire cleaner to make the tires gleam.

Clean the interior.

First, clean out all of the trash from the car (and from under the seats). Then, remove the floor mats and lay them on the sidewalk or driveway. Put some mild household detergent in a bucket and find something with bristles and proceed to scrub the mats. Rinse thoroughly and leave out to dry. Vacuum the floors and seats. Vacuum anywhere there is loose dirt. Then, get a spray bottle of mild household cleaner and spray all dirty surfaces, scrub until clean. Do clean the steering wheel, dashboard and armrests. If you have a hot-water carper cleaner, clean the carpet. If not, fill a bucket with warm water and mild detergent and scrub away. Make sure the windows are cracked open a bit overnight to make sure the interior dries. Clean all of the windows on the inside. Hint: I like the foamy window cleaner and old newspaper instead of paper towels. Leave no streaks.

There - that wasn’t so tough. Probably only took you a couple hours and now the car looks great. I’d better let you go - your first lookee-loo is ringing the doorbell!