Selling Used Cars in Dubai

Our first car - Forky the Fortuner will be five years old in a few days, but we sold her last month (2012.07.25) to Basheer who was so eager to have her.

Selling a car in the Dubai could be easy. One got to be sure of the intention before he can regret on  letting go of the dear steering wheel so quickly. Here's how we went about:

First, we estimated a fair value for our car, a price we'd not go lower to. For a car bought five years ago at AED 84k, clocked 103k kms, Toyota maintained with service contract until 125k kms, and tires changed at 75k kms, we thought selling it for AED 40k is fair. Then, we posted an ad on Dubizzle, tagged a price of AED 57k. The high price was based on prices of similar specs sold online, and to give a haggling space, that feeling when buyers would be happy if they get a good cut.

For a more technical pricing, we visited Al Futtaim Auto Mall. Selling it back to them is effort efficient in terms of ownership transfers but they quote the lowest value you could have for your car. They checked the car, including paints and brakes, and reviewed the service center history. Forky was offered an initial rate of AED 42k. We told them we had an interested buyer for AED 48k, so the staff said they could arrange a higher price if we are decided on selling it to them. The next day, they phoned and requested us to bring the car to the showroom but by then, we had another willing buyer through our Dubizzle ad for AED 50k.

Dubizzle is so effective, we had to remove our advertisement as calls kept coming in. Basheer was the highest price willing buyer, and the deal was sealed on the parking lot. On his side, he requested a car pass certificate (that RTA check as a requirement for registration) which we obliged. Basheer as the buyer next secured a car insurance, already in his name. Ownership transfer now ready, Basheer paid in cash, then both buyer and seller went to RTA at Jaffliya Emarat Petrol Station to register the car in Basheer's name. My husband, the seller, removed the Salik tag from the car, and Basheer puts a new one on. Salik tags are on personal accounts, hence the need for the buyer to get a new one. The period for the annual car insurance we paid had not yet lapsed, allowing us a refund on the un-used portion after we provided the insurance company of the new registration for the car.

Selling your car in Dubai, in our opinion is something of being an honest seller and finding a trusted buyer. Otherwise, it's just like selling cupcakes.