Applying for CVO for your car, how do you do it?

Have you ever heard of a CVO for your car? Or maybe you're already familiar with the term, but don't know exactly how to apply for it. No worries, in this article I will tell you all about applying for a Certificate of Conformity (CVO) for your vehicle. A CVO is an important document that shows that your car complies with European regulations and safety standards. Below, I explain how to obtain this document and what you need to consider.

Why do you need a CVO?

Before we get into the process of applying for a CVO, let us first understand why this document is important. A CVO is required when you want to register a car in a country other than where the vehicle was originally manufactured. It serves as proof that your car meets the applicable standards and regulations in the new country. Without a CVO, your car's registration process may be delayed or even refused.

The application process

Now that you understand why a CVO is important, let's look at how to apply for one. The process may vary from country to country, but generally the steps are as follows:

  1. Gather the necessary documentation: To apply for a CVO, you often need documents such as the car's registration certificate, the vehicle identification number (VIN), and sometimes the type approval number.
  2. Contact the manufacturer: Most CVOs are provided by the manufacturer of the vehicle. Contact the manufacturer's customer service and ask about the procedure for obtaining a CVO for your specific car.
  3. Fill in the application form: The manufacturer will probably ask you to fill in an application form. Make sure you fill in all the required information accurately and add any attachments that are requested.
  4. Wait for approval: After you submit your application, you have to wait for it to be approved. This may take some time, so be patient.

Where can you turn for help?

If you need help applying for a CVO, there are several sources you can turn to. You can contact local vehicle registration authorities, such as the RDW in the Netherlands or the DVLA in the UK. In addition, some companies offer specialised services, such as COC Services, who can help you obtain a CVO for your car.

Which car is worth the most after 3 years?

It is common knowledge that cars quickly lose their value after purchase. Are you still looking for a car that retains its value? Below is a list of 10 cars that depreciate the least after 3 years. This research was carried out by the British consumer association WhatCar. As expected, most of them are more expensive cars, so you have to pull out your wallet to get a car of value from the top 10!

Depreciation of car

Depreciation is probably not at the top of your list of concerns when buying a new car, but it is certainly important to think about as it is usually more than all the fuel, tax and maintenance bills put together.

10: Range Rover

The latest generation Range Rover has just gone on sale and like its predecessor, it is a hugely comfortable, refined and desirable luxury SUV. Demand is high and waiting times are long, making it easy to understand why the new Range Rover is expected to hold its value so well. After three years, this car is expected to retain 75.3 percent of its new value.

9: Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake

Thanks to its high tailgate and narrow boot, the CLA Shooting Brake is far from the most practical estate car, but thanks to its attractive interior, powerful engines and good driving experience, it has a lot of appeal. After three years, the value will still be around 75.8 percent of the new value.

8: Volkswagen California

This van has become increasingly popular recently and is always a safe investment. After three years, this popular motorhome is still worth 78.1 percent of its new value.

7: Range Rover Evoque

At seven is the Range Rover Evoque with 79.3 per cent. As with the full-size Range Rover, demand for the 'mini-me' Range Rover Evoque is very high. It helps that it drives well, is nice inside and also reasonably practical. The entry-level version of the 2.0-litre D165 diesel engine retains its value best.

6: Porsche Macan

With 80.5 per cent, the Porsche Macan is in sixth place. The Macan is one of the most entertaining sports SUVs on the market, but when equipped with air suspension, it can transform from a comfortable cruiser into a beast at the push of a button. Add to that a high-quality interior and the sought-after Porsche emblem, and it's not hard to see why it's on this list.

5: Porsche 718 Boxster Syder

At 5 is the Porsche 718 Boxster Syder with 81.3 per cent value retention after 3 years. All Boxsters are great to drive, but the Spyder version is especially compelling thanks to its bespoke suspension and the glorious sound the 4.0-litre in-line six-cylinder makes. Yes, it will cost you a lot of money upfront, but you'll get a lot of it back when you sell it.

4: Volkswagen Multivan

The Volkswagen Multivan is in fourth place with 82.8 per cent. The Volkswagen Multivan is one of the more expensive choices in the MPV class, but it is a vehicle that holds its value very well, especially in the 1.4 TSI eHybrid Life version.

3: Porsche 718 Cayman

With 83.6 per cent, the Porsche 718 Cayman is in the top 3. The Porsche 718 Cayman is great to drive, especially with the 4.0-litre engine in the GTS and GT4, which revs up to a heady 8000 rpm. However, the latter is the model that retains its value the best, offering 20 hp more than the GTS.

2: Lamborghini Urus

The Lamborghini Urus is one of the most exotic SUVs on sale, combining stunning speed with enough functionality to be useful every day. And it even makes financial sense, as the car is very stable in value. This car ranks 2nd with a value retention of 85.9 after 3 years.

1: Porsche 911

At number 1 is the Porsche 911, the king of value retention. After 3 years, this car is still worth 86.3 of its new value. In every respect, the Porsche 911 is an exciting sports car. The GT3 variant takes things to another level, however, as it combines sublime handling with extreme performance and has one of the best sounding engines ever built. All of this means that demand greatly exceeds supply, and it has the highest trade-in value of any car for sale today.

Which car is on your list? Let us know in the comments!

 

Who can you sell your car to?

You want to sell your car and preferably as quickly as possible. Nowadays, there are many ways to sell your car. In this article we will discuss the most common ways and highlight some of the pros and cons.

Selling a car to a private person

In the Netherlands, hundreds of cars change hands every day. Private individuals arrange this among themselves and use websites such as Marktplaats, Autoscout24, Autotrack etc. to offer their cars for sale. This usually goes very well and in most cases you get a better price than when you offer your car to a dealer or trade it in for a new car. This also makes sense because the garage or dealer also wants to earn something from your car.

Advantages of selling your car privately

Offering your car is a piece of cake these days. This is of course due to the use of smartphones. Using Marktplaats's app, you can have your car online within 10 minutes and receive messages from potential buyers and make an appointment.

As indicated, you will often get a better price from a private individual compared to a dealer or garage. Of course, this does depend on the make and model. Older diesel (Euro 3), for example, fetch very little as they are no longer welcome in most inner cities. In addition, large and heavy cars often depreciate faster than more compact models. After all, the market for a Volkswagen Polo is much bigger than that for a Volkswagen Phaeton, which is why it can take much longer to sell the latter.

Disadvantages of selling your car privately

The biggest disadvantage is "you just have to feel like it". And by this we mean that it can simply take a lot of time to sell your car to a private individual. First, you have to answer questions and probably meet several times before someone finally ties the knot. Finally, you need to have a bit of a trading spirit, as most people will negotiate the price. So with this, you need to be comfortable.

Selling cars to a trading platform

Your sell a car on a trading platform is usually simple; you register the car and, if necessary, drive to the location to have it inspected. OSW is an example of this, the system is simple and you do not have to spend much time on the hassle.

Depending on the make and model, the amount you get for the car will be slightly lower than when you sell it privately. Nevertheless, it can be worthwhile because you can get rid of your car quickly, as the road tax and insurance costs are almost immediately cancelled.

Selling a car to a dealer

When you put your car on, for example, Marktplaats, you will almost always be approached by traders. They usually approach you with a low price and don't say much about it. Some people find these traders irritating and put in the advertisement that they do not want to be approached by these types. This can be a missed opportunity, first of all you should not take the low price personally. These people do nothing else all day and see it as a game. Therefore, if you make a reasonable offer, you can often get the price up. If they are really far below your asking price, it is better to thank them. Finally, you can check how much residual BPM there is on your car. As soon as a dealer exports a car, he gets the remaining BPM back. If you know this, you can tell the dealer and he will have an extra argument in the negotiation.

Private car sales

In this article you will find tips on how to successfully sell your car to a private seller. It doesn't matter if you want to sell a car for €1000,- or €15.000,-. These tips are easy to apply for anyone who wants to sell their car successfully.

Prepare the car for sale 

If you want to sell a car at the highest possible price, it is necessary to do a little preparatory work. If you want to do it in between your other daily chores, you always forget a few things that are important for the sale. 

That is why it is important to schedule a morning/afternoon to prepare the car for sale. And if you have the opportunity, then it is smart to avoid the weekends. The car wash is often very busy then and you don't want to get stuck in a traffic jam. Tuesday morning for example is a perfect time to visit the car wash and often you have the advantage of a "Happy hour", which saves you a few euros.

Make sure your car has at least 6 months MOT 

Although the MOT does not say much about the state of repair, buyers on sales sites such as Marktplaats often use the filter "Minimum 6 months MOT".

So if your car does not meet these requirements, it will not be shown to buyers who use this filter. That is why it is important to have 6 months MOT on your car, especially for cars from € 2500,-. 

The tyres

An important part that is important for the MOT and relatively cheap to fix are worn tyres. If the tyres are worn out, you could choose to have used premium tyres fitted with a sufficient profile. Used tyres from, for example, Michelin, are generally more appreciated by the buyer than budget tyres from China. 

The brakes

The brakes are perhaps the most crucial part of a car. If your car cannot slow down, or cannot slow down enough, this can have nasty consequences. It is therefore an important part to have in order. So if you know that brake discs and/or brake pads are insufficient for the MOT, have them replaced. The cost of replacing brake discs varies greatly from garage to garage. Some garages ask for more than 400./ euro. Google on brake discs and pads "your type of car" and you will get them for most models for less than 100 euros. A good mechanic can replace a set in about an hour. So if a garage charges 400,- euro you can ask yourself if this is a fair price. 

Other things to watch out for during the MOT

Apart from the tyres and brakes, the bodywork, emissions, steering knuckles and ball joints can sometimes cause problems at the inspection. When a car gets old like a youngtimerThen it can get rust. In some places, such as the mudguards, this is not a problem, but if there is rust in the sills and the subframe, it can cause problems at the inspection.
If you know in advance that the bodywork has welding work, you could also offer the car to a dealer. Depending on the make of the car and to a lesser extent on the model, you will receive an offer from a dealer. This offer is in many cases low, but before you reject an offer, calculate the costs you will have to incur to get the car MOT-approved, and don't forget the road tax and insurance costs. When you add all these up, it can be quite interesting to sell your car to a dealer.

For budget cars (up to +/- €1500.-), you have to calculate whether the costs for a new MOT outweigh the possible benefits. An example calculation below of a VW Polo from 2003. 

The car still has 3 months of MOT and you have noticed that potential buyers find this too short. Therefore, you decide to do a pre-inspection with the following result: 

Rejection points:

  • 2 tyres below the minimum tread depth. Cost 120.- Euros. 
  • One steering ball joint has too much play and must be replaced. Cost 90.- Euros.
  • Cost of MOT check. Cost 40.- Euros.   
  • Insurance and road tax. Cost 1 month 50,- Euros. 
  • Car advertising on Marktplaats. Cost 25,- euro.

The total cost of preparing the car for sale in the above example is therefore 325. So if you want to sell the car for 1,500 euros, then you will have a net 1175,- euro about it. A VW Polo will fetch between 900 and 1000 Euros in the trade without an MOT, and in this case you do not have the hassle of people at the door. So there is a difference of 200-300 euros between selling your car to a dealer and selling it to a private person, the choice is yours. 

Damage repair if applicable

If a car in the middle and high segments has damage, this can be a big problem for private buyers. Therefore, it may be wise to have major damage repaired. When it comes to minor damage, such as restyling dents and a few scratches, it is better to do this repair in consultation with the potential buyer. Perhaps he or she will not object or it can be repaired with the help of the insurance. Large damages are a different story; if you put your car on Marktplaats with damage, buyers are more inclined to look further for a car without damage.
As I wrote earlier, the selling price is important. If you choose to have damage repaired on a car with a selling price of €1500, it is obviously not worth it to have large/expensive damage repaired. You usually do not earn this amount back when selling to a private person. 

If you still want to repair damage to an older car, go and look at a car wrecking yard. There is a lot of sheet metal to be found for current models. If, for example, there is a dent in one of the doors of your Golf 4, you can find a used door at a scrapyard for a song. Because so many Golf 4s have been sold in the past, you can always find one in the right colour. The same goes for bonnets and tailgates. Wings and bumpers are often more difficult to assemble.

Presenting a car for sale  

If you want to sell your car quickly and successfully to a private person, it must be presentable. This means that it has to be washed inside and out. It is not for nothing that accessions are completely taken care of at a dealer before they are placed in the showroom. 

If you have been smoking in your car, it may be useful to have a so-called ozone treatment done. During this treatment, so-called (O3) molecules are sprayed into the car. These molecules have the property to bind to oxidisable molecules and destroy them. For a successful ozone treatment you usually have to lose your car for 24 hours, so keep this in mind. The costs for the treatment vary between 60 and 100 Euros. If you find these costs too high, or simply don't have the time, then it is wise to clean the upholstery of the car with vinegar and water. For the hard parts, there is a so-called cockpit spray. Besides this spray, you can also use wet wipes and if you have children, you probably know about baby wipes, which are also very suitable for this job. 

After cleaning the car, it is time to take pictures of the car. The following paragraph gives tips on how to take a good picture of a car. The paragraph ends with some examples. 

Taking good photos of your car for sale

The photos of your car that you are going to post on Marktplaats are essential for a successful sale. This is because there are probably more people who want to sell a similar car. When people scroll through the adverts on Marktplaats, your photos should stand out. So first find a suitable spot, where you can take your pictures quietly and where there are not too many distractions in the background.
A car park at a DIY store or garden centre is often sufficient. Of course, it is important not to do this during busy shopping hours. If you want to take a photo of the car after washing it, wait until there is no more water coming out of the drain before you take the photo. Some people think that the drops on the ground are leaks. Therefore, it is better to wait until the car is completely dry. 

Take pictures of all the views, the interior and any service booklets or bills from the past period, this inspires confidence in buyers. Here are a few examples of a  youngtimera BMW 318td compact: 

You could add a few more pictures like the one of the maintenance booklets, one with the tailgate open, also with the benches flat and finally one of the engine. As I wrote before, it is wise to mention major damages and also include them in the picture. This prevents disappointment and an unpleasant situation with potential buyers, who sometimes come from far to have a look at the car. So again, if you want to sell a car in the higher segment, it is best to have large damages repaired, restyle dents and small scratches are often not a problem.  

If you are going to post the car on Marktplaats, crop the picture so that the car stands out (almost all smartphones have this option). Marktplaats automatically cropped their images, which can make your car stand out a bit. After you have added your car, make sure it stands out in the list of cars of the same type. The list shows you whether Marktplaats has cropped the pictures too much. If Marktplaats has cropped the picture too much, it is best to edit the picture on your smartphone and upload it to Marktplaats again. The next section describes how to place an effective ad on Marktplaats. 

Place a good advertisement on Marktplaats  

Now that you have completed all the preparations, you can start creating an advertisement on Marketplace. 

Although there are websites where you can offer your car for free (speurders, autoscout24 and autotrack), Marktplaats has won the war and is where most cars are placed, viewed and sold. The 25,- euro Marktplaats asks for an advertisement is not small, but if you want to sell your car quickly, you can't escape it. 

If you are going to post a car on Marktplaats, I would advise you to do it on a laptop or desktop, and certainly not using Marktplaats's app. Although this app works great, it often doesn't pick up the license plate number. One consequence of this is that the NAP label is not shown with your advertisement. Potential buyers can't see whether your car's odometer reading is correct. In the example below you can see that the advertisement has a NAP check mark. Please make sure that this is correct. When the check mark does not appear, but you are still convinced that the odometer reading is correct, please contact Marktplaats's customer service. You will be asked to remove the ad as soon as possible and place it again. They will then refund you the amount paid for the first advertisement.  

Characteristics and filters in Marketplace 

If you enter the license plate number via the Marktplaats website, most of the details are filled in for you. Of course, it is important that you check the details carefully and add any options that your car may have. This is important because visitors often use filters. It would be a shame if potential buyers did not see your advertisement because you forgot to fill in that the car has a tow bar, but buyers do filter on that. 

I have experienced this myself when buying a car; when I am looking for a car, I want it to have cruise control, so I used this filter in my search, but I did not find a car that appealed to me. Then I did the search without the filter and there I saw a car that met my requirements, but according to the filter it did not have cruise control. Because I know which cars have cruise control and which do not, and because I was convinced that this car should have it, I decided to send the seller a message. But the provider forgot to fill in the cruise control. 

In this example, the seller is unnecessarily missing out on many buyers who, like me, use the filter. Therefore, it is important that you enter all the options. 

The ad text 

If you have gone through the above steps properly, it is time to write the advertisement text. The text is the final part of the advertisement and has to make sure that buyers contact you or make an offer for your car. To achieve this, the text needs to be complete and you need to refute any objections people might have. Therefore it is best to answer the questions below in the text: 

  • What maintenance has been carried out in recent years. List the parts that have been replaced in the past.   
  • State how long the car has been owned and why it is being sold. "The arrival of a lease car" is often used and in some cases this is undoubtedly true, but if not, don't write it down. People understand when you need a new car after 2 years, or maybe sooner. 
  • Be honest about when the car has defects and whether you are going to fix them before the sale. In the case of older cars, for example, a youngtimer there are almost always major or minor defects. Not mentioning them may arouse suspicion. 
  • Indicate when the car can be viewed and be inviting, you are the seller in this case. 
  • If you are selling the car privately, then trade-in is usually not desirable. You don't have to mention this directly in the advertisement. When people ask this question by sending a message, they have already made a first move towards buying your car. You can reply that you are a private person and unfortunately cannot buy a car. You can also ask them to come and see the car. If they agree to this, it is the second step to a sale. During the visit, you can mention that you bought a new car yourself and that selling your own car is not such a big problem, and of course you can refer to this article after you have sold the car. 

Hopefully the above tips will help you sell your car faster and more successfully. If you have any additional questions, please post them below as a comment. I will then respond as quickly as possible. 

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