You are planning to sell your car privately and already spent hours cleaning it, taking pictures and listing it at every website know to man. Now, you are happy and dreaming about easy money coming your way, but maybe you forgot something.
First, this is necessary for private sales only; if you use a car buying company like Sell My Car or Trade-In your car you do not need this and can save your time.
Every time a car changes ownership in Ontario it requires a Safety Standard Certification before the changes can take place and new plates can be obtained. Safety inspection is issued by any repair shop registered with Ministry of transportation, your mechanic basically.
Certification will set you back about $70 to $150 assuming there are no repairs required to obtain it and is valid for 36 days. If your car needs repairs then those should be fixed before certification can be released by the mechanic. Safety Certification will cover things like brakes, lights, suspension, steering, wipers assuring the vehicle is safe to operate.
Now, this is not a warranty and covers only the safety aspects of the vehicle. For example: If your air conditioning compressor decides to blow up, then you are on your own to pay for it.
How is this related to me selling my vehicle you might ask? I will just sell it “As Is” and “Where is” .
Well, you can try that if you want but first think of buyer’s point of view. If you were out there to buy a used car, will you buy a car which you know nothing about, has never been checked by a mechanic and might require expensive repairs to get a safety certification before you can drive it?
Will you be willing to put that kind of time, effort and money on the line if you were buying a car? Your car is not the only one for sale. Why would someone buy your car “As Is” and full of unknowns when the guy next door is selling his car certified, not to mention hundreds of dealers.
Repairs for obtaining a safety certification can be expensive, so expensive sometimes it surpasses the car value itself making the vehicle unworthy to be fixed.
That’s why if you are trying to sell your car a safety certification will give you an edge against other sellers. Especially if condition of your car is good and does not need any repairs to obtain certification.
Certification will be valid for 36 days and will expire if you do not sell your car within that time frame. You will need to go back to your mechanic and pay for another one. One way to go around it, advertise the car with a Safety certification and when you reach a deal with a buyer then you can obtain a safety certification from your mechanic. This way you don’t have to pay more than once regardless how long will take to sell it.