You drove it. That is what the Haval Jolion was for.
Type a big figure into an online form and you can watch the offer fall away underneath you while you are still filling the thing in.
Say it out loud here instead. It is one of the first things we ask for and it has never once been the thing that ended a call.
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The figure on the dash
The kilometres are the easiest thing to see and the least useful thing to guess from
Sellers of this one usually lead with the number and an apology fastened to it. The apology is the part we can do without.
You know the figure better than anybody, because you watched it climb. The run to work, the run to school, the drive to see family that everyone else in the house found a reason to skip. In most driveways this is the car that gets handed the long jobs, which is very often exactly what it was bought to do. Somewhere along the way the number stopped being a neutral fact and turned into something you feel you have to raise first, and brace after.
Here is what it actually does. We ask for it early, because it shapes what we are looking at, and then we go on asking about everything it cannot tell us. Whether the servicing kept pace while the figure climbed. What has already been replaced, and when. How the inside has worn against the outside. Whether it has been driven lately or mostly sitting. A number on a dash answers none of that on its own, which is why on this car it has never been allowed to answer everything.
It is also why the visit is worth more here than on a barely used car. Your odometer is public, in the sense that anybody can read it through the windscreen without asking you a single question. How the car was treated while that figure was going up is written down nowhere, and the only way to know it is to send out somebody who knows what they are looking for. That is what the visit is for, and there are 20 years in the Australian car trade standing behind the person who does it.
Before anybody comes out
What we ask about a car that has done the work
The figure is the first question and the shortest one. The five after it are the ones that change what an inspector spends the time on.
- What does it read today, roughly?
- Round it off and move on. Nobody is going to react to it, and we would far rather have it at the start than arrive at it awkwardly at the end. Everything else on this list is more interesting than this question.
- Has the servicing kept pace as the figure climbed?
- This carries more weight here than anywhere else on the page. Stamps in a book, invoices in the glovebox, a mechanic you can name, any of it counts. A gap somewhere in the middle is worth mentioning rather than hiding, because it moves what gets checked and not whether there is an offer at the end.
- Which of the wear items have already been done?
- Tyres, brakes, wipers, a windscreen, a set of hoses. On a car that has worked, a fair amount of this has already been paid for by you. Have the receipts to hand, because work that goes unmentioned is work that goes uncounted, and that money came out of your pocket rather than anybody else's.
- Is there a noise or a light you have stopped noticing?
- Most cars that have done real distance have one, and most owners have long since tuned it out. Say it anyway. It is going to be found on the day regardless, and there is nothing at all to be gained by waiting for that to happen.
- What is in it that was put there to protect it?
- Seat covers, floor liners, a barrier behind the back seats, a screen protector on the dash. A car that gets given the jobs tends to collect a few of these, and what is coming with it gets counted, so it is worth saying now what stays and what you are keeping.
- Is the figure the reason you are selling?
- Plenty of people move a car on at this point because the number has started to worry them rather than because anything is actually wrong. If that is what this is, say so. It tells us the car is being sold sound rather than sold tired, and it is a perfectly good reason that needs no defending here.
Whatever the dash says
Three things a big figure does not decide
- The number does not end the conversation. What it does is point whoever comes out at the parts of the car worth the most attention. What it has never done on its own is settle whether there is an offer at the end.
- The car stays where it is. The inspector comes to your home or your work, so a car with plenty behind it does not have to spend a day being driven somewhere to be assessed. If you would rather bring it to us in Thomastown, you are very welcome to.
- The work you have already paid for counts. Tyres, brakes, a service done recently, whatever is on the receipts in the glovebox. Have it in the car on the day and it is part of the conversation instead of an argument afterwards.
The ones people apologise for
Three questions about a car that has covered some ground
Is there a point where the kilometres are simply too many?
Not a point anybody can name over the phone without seeing the car, and a buyer who names one is guessing at your expense. Send through the figure with the year and an honest word about the condition, and what comes back is an answer about your car rather than a rule of thumb.
Should I get it serviced before somebody comes out?
Only if it was going in anyway. There is no need to spend money tidying a car up for our benefit, and a fresh invoice on the morning changes very little. Having the older paperwork out with the car does far more, because that is the part nobody can see from the outside.
What about the hybrid battery, at this sort of distance?
It gets assessed properly rather than discounted on a guess, and that is the whole of the answer. On a car with this much behind it the service record, the body and the tyres have every bit as much to do with the number.
Tell us the figure and let somebody look at the rest of it.
Or call us on 03 9000 0075 and talk it through first.