When writing a car advert it’s difficult to know exactly what to put in the advert, and the last thing you want is people calling asking simple questions when they are just not interested.

It’s in your best interest to state the facts, but maybe not be too transparent (more on that later).

Looking for a simple car window advert? Check this super simple form and print it straight away, this is all the typical information you would need but allowing the advert to be viewed from far away.

For the more in-depth adverts, follow these steps:

1. First and foremost it’s imperative to have clear photos of your car. Don’t take them in the dark, and don’t take them in portrait mode on your phone. Take a photo of each of the 4 sides straight on, take a photo of each corner. Take 2 photos of the interior. 10 photos is all you need. You can top these up with side profiles looking down the side of the car from back quarter to front wing on both sides. You can also top up by taking photos of 4 wheels (only if you have alloys). This will be more than enough. Unless there is severe damage, then don’t highlight a single stone-chip unless it’s very-unusual. You’re selling the car, not putting people off! Cars are aloud wear and tear.
2. Once the photos are out the way, start the advert telling us what you are selling, e.g: Black 2019 (19) BMW 3 Series 120d Touring M Sport. That’s quite a lot to handle but tells us exactly what you are selling: COLOUR-YEAR(REG)-MAKE-MODEL-TYPE-TRIM
3. Now we know what you are selling, go into a short paragraph about why you are selling and how it’s been for you in your ownership. You don’t need to say that it’s been “nothing but problems”, but you also shouldn’t say it’s “been flawless”, then there are receipts showing £xxxx of issues, just be truthful, but don’t overdo it.
4. Now we need to look at the facts and figures (we will re-iterate the above because it keeps everything together):
   1. Year – Reg
   2. Colour
   3. Mileage
   4. How many owners on the V5, be clear and state how many “Previous Owners”.”3 previous owners”, sounds better than “4 owners including me”.
   5. MOT – length
   6. HPI Clear? Yes/No, if yes, say what has come up, whether finance, stolen or crashed. It’s all tracable, so don’t lie, it wastes peoples money and time.
   7. Service History – (Full Dealership / Full / Part / None) – This is very important to most people, so back up your claim, after putting full service history, state: DATE – MILEAGE of each service. Again, is it’s dealership, it’s all traceable. If you don’t have a stamp or a receipt, then consider that history lost.
   8. Transmission type – Auto/Manual
   9. How many keys?
   10. Optional Extras – Depending on the car, this is more important to some cars than others, but try and list as many optional extras as you can, no one expects you to know every single one as some come as packs and some are just plain stupid.
   11. List any selling points to the car, e.g, MPG, or extras that come with the car as standard but people may not know about such as ISOFIX or full leather.
   12. Modifications – list any modifications if it’s had any
   13. Condition – talk about general condition, paintwork, alloys, tyres and brakes are the main ones
   14. Mechanical work – talk about any mechanical work you’ve done or there is history for, such as new clutch, this is a huge selling point, clutches are expensive and if it’s been done, then shout about it, if it’s due and hasn’t been done, then you can avoid it, it’s not lying it’s just not selling the car.
   15. Car location
   16. Final point is price. With a private sale you will always have offers and get chipped. Have a look on Auto Trader or eBay and see what similar cars are going for, if they are going for more than you’d be happy with, then start at a higher price, you can always accept a lower offer, but never a higher. If the going-rate is lower than you’re happy with, then start with what you are happy with, but you will probably need to accept that you will need to take a lower price. If you have something special, then stick to your guns and never tell someone you’re desperate to sell, it won’t do you any favours.

If you follow all the above, you shouldn’t really get any questions and time wasters. If someone views your car and they find it has no service history and you didn’t state that on your advert, you are just wasting everyones time so it’s always important to be honest.

Let us know how you get on!