How to sell a car on your own in Malaysia

It’s been ten years, your car is old and the engine coughs louder than that next door uncle. If that’s the case, you’re probably considering selling your car to buy a new, shiny one. However, you’re probably aware that it’s not an easy process and you don’t know how to even start.

Well if you are in that predicament, we’re going to provide a step-by-step guide for you to follow! So for a problem free DIY car-selling process, the first thing you gotta do is….

Step 1: Find out how much your car is worth

Before you actually start the process, you need to evaluate the financial value of your car. This is due to the fact that, you may have a harder time getting a buyer if you overprice your car and you may lose out if you under-price your car.

Imagine if your 2 year old Myvi is worth RM35k and you advertise it at RM45k, we’re sure potential buyers may look for other sellers. If you sell it at RM25k we’re sure buyers will be lining up to buy your car, but you’re gonna lose out on a few thousand ringgits.

What you can do to make sure you’re selling your car at a proper rate, is to search for advertisement of cars similar to yours and see the going rate. Make sure when searching for these advertisements, that the cars in those ads are not just the same model, but of the same year and condition. If let’s say you have a Myvi manufactured in 2013 and accident free, search the prices for the similar description.

Other things to take into consideration are – modifications, how fabulous your number plate is (eg BBB 8888), and the fact that your car is well-maintained and accident free. Oh, and don’t forget Malaysian buyers are more likely to go “boleh kurang ah?”. Thus, it might help to bump the price up slightly.

[READ MORE: Will modifying your car affect the resale value? We look at 7 popular trade-in myths]

Step 2: Make sure that people know your car is for sale

You can inform your friends to inform their friends that you’re selling your car, and hope that someone is interested. You can also advertise that your car is ‘for sale’ in the newspapers or a suitable online portal.

When dealing with the potential buyers, be super careful and beware of scammers. Make sure that during test drives you sit next to the potential buyers so that they don’t drive your car away or steal things in your car. 

Step 3: Take your car for inspection

This step is compulsory because PUSPAKOM has to determine a few things before your car is transferred to the seller. They have to basically see if your car  is safe to drive on the road and whether your car is legal.

When it comes to determining the legality of your car, they will make sure your car isn’t cloned. If you are wondering what a ‘cloned’ car is, we can illustrate with an example – if let’s say you have a Proton Wira with the plates JCA 7163, there are fellas who will use what may be another stolen Wira but with the same plates.

Next, PUSPAKOM will also have to determine if there are no illegal modifications to your vehicle before you sell it off. So if you have an illegal tint for example, remove it before you go for the inspection.

To get all of this checked out, head over to PUSKAPOM to make an inspection appointment and pay the appropriate fee. There will be a different fee if your buyer is getting a loan for the car.

Step 4: Transfer ownership of the vehicle to the buyer

Finally, your last step is to make sure the car legally belongs to the buyer now. This means making sure ownership transfers from you to the buyer. Of course it’s advised that you make sure you get paid up first before you legally transfer the car to the buyer.

This process will be done at the Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan (JPJ), and this will require the attendance of both you and the buyer. All you have to do is fill up a transfer of ownership form and do a fingerprint scan to confirm your identity and…..voila!

If these four steps seem a little tedious…..

There is an easier way to do this

Choosing the DIY route to sell your car may result in two issues:

1. The hassle – because you’re gonna be running around to different places (JPJ, PUSPAKOM, etc).
2. The unfamiliarity – because you’re gonna be doing paperwork you’ve never done it before. 

Even if you do consider going to a secondhand car dealer, you probably wont know which one to trust and who would give you the best price. 

But then there’s Carsome and their web based platform which practices a 100% transparent bidding process, so you can avoid the worry of getting cheated. On top of that their requirements are pretty easy. All you have to do is set up an appointment for a car inspection and you can even scan your fingerprint there without going to JPJ.

On another plus note, Carsome is offering you a free quotation today. All you have to is fill up the form below, click send, and lust over new cars (no seriously, it’s that easy).