Advice for Trading In a Car

[threeputtpar]

Hey everyone.

We'll likely be trading in the Mountaineer this summer on a minivan, and I'm hoping someone here has some inside info on what I can do to increase the value a dealership is willing to give me for our trade.

The couple of issues I am thinking might need to be done prior to trade-in are a small spot of rust in the back door jamb and on the door itself and the tires are getting past the point that a dealer would consider them to be adequate to leave on the vehicle for resale. Plus one tire does not match the other 3 due to my wife curbing it and blowing out the matching 4th one. Anything else such as the back brakes being at the end of their life can be dealt with by the dealer because I don't see it making any difference due to low cost of the parts for them.

So, should I spend the money to have the rust repaired and the tires replaced prior to trade-in? For the tires, I'd probably just go to WalMart and put the cheapest ones they can get on there and call it a day. The one mismatche tire will go back on the spare rim and be the fifth, since right now there is just a bare rim hanging under the back of the truck. Any advice is appreciated, but I'm really looking for the inside scoop on how to maximize my trade-in value.

I probably will give it a week or so on CL before we trade in, just to see if I can get a quick sale out of it. But in reality, I don't see putting up with the hassle of tire kickers for even that long. Thanks.

 

[Donald]

Tires maybe, but nothing else. Just vacuum it so it looks neat. Remember the trade in price come more from the rest of the deal than what it is actually worth. But look up on KBB and see what it should be.

 

[D189379]

New tires and give it a really good cleaning/wax job.

 

[BigCahuna]

Dealers look up your car usally the NAPA book. That gives them the trade in value. either poor or good condition. I would expect the lowest number first, then if you balk and go back and forth a little you can get them up to the better number. They'll give you the speil about having to fix all the problems, but most of the time they just wash it and put it out on the lot, with the full "very good condition" price on it so it gives them room to haggle. You'll most likely do better selling it yourself. It's easier to just trade it in, but you'll get the least for it.,,

 

[FL_Rob]

Negotiate the price of the trade in first,THEN talk new purchase.

This is from experience with dealers around here,you have to go in with shields up.They're just too spoiled by easy marks. I've had'em walk away before...easier pickings elsewhere I guess.

 

[Rolla07]

Originally Posted By: BigCahuna
Dealers look up your car usally the NAPA book. That gives them the trade in value. either poor or good condition. I would expect the lowest number first, then if you balk and go back and forth a little you can get them up to the better number. They'll give you the speil about having to fix all the problems, but most of the time they just wash it and put it out on the lot, with the full "very good condition" price on it so it gives them room to haggle. You'll most likely do better selling it yourself. It's easier to just trade it in, but you'll get the least for it.,,


+1.

I would sell it myself privately. More $$

 

[ARCOgraphite]

NO TIRES! NO!
I would do nothing to the car other than clean it. If you are going to put new tires on - might as well keep the car! The reason for the trade is so you DONT have to service it. Dealer can get tires at a low cost jobber price you cant and thats a normal trade cost as far as most trades needing new rubber. The car sounds like it will be wholesaled so i would just private sale it to kmake an extra 1500 - 2000 which is NOT chump change. They arent going to "really" give you more than $500-1000 below current auction wholesale on this common vehicle.

 

[threeputtpar]

Like I said, I'll probably try for a bit to sell it locally but I would need to get 5% (our local sales tax) over what the trade-in would likely be to make it financially equal to just trading it in. Obviously, if I fix the rust and replace the tires it would be easier to sell. I'm just not sure that I could recoup the $1000 it would take to fix the two problems.

 

[Tboss]

Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
NO TIRES! NO!
I would do nothing to the car other than clean it. If you are going to put new tires on - might as well keep the car! The reason for the trade is so you DONT have to service it. Dealer can get tires at a low cost jobber price you cant and thats a normal trade cost as far as most trades needing new rubber. The car sounds like it will be wholesaled so i would just private sale it to kmake an extra 1500 - 2000 which is NOT chump change. They arent going to "really" give you more than $500-1000 below current auction wholesale on this common vehicle.
cant say it better my self +++++++1

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: Rolla07
Originally Posted By: BigCahuna
Dealers look up your car usally the NAPA book. That gives them the trade in value. either poor or good condition. I would expect the lowest number first, then if you balk and go back and forth a little you can get them up to the better number. They'll give you the speil about having to fix all the problems, but most of the time they just wash it and put it out on the lot, with the full "very good condition" price on it so it gives them room to haggle. You'll most likely do better selling it yourself. It's easier to just trade it in, but you'll get the least for it.,,


+1.

I would sell it myself privately. More $$
+1 Too much trouble???? Well, you'll PAY dealer for taking it off your hands. Unless you nail down the new car cost AND the trade in value, the dealer will play rope a dope with you on one or the other. If you don't really know the "Dealer Cost" on the new one, you'll never know the actual value of your trade in to him. Used cars are in short supply right now, take advantage of it. We don't call them "stealers" for nothing. BTW, don't tell the stealer you are going to "finance", either, but let him think you are. On a close deal, they count the kickback they get from the finance company they deal with as part of the profit. You know you got him by the short hairs when you tell him you have the cash and the PRICE suddenly starts to move upward because he is trying to make back the "profit" from the finance kickback. I've been told I couldn't buy the car at the agreed price UNLESS I financed with a particular dealer. I got the same price elsewhere. BTW, Google "Confessions of a car salesman", an Edmunds article wherein a writer was paid by Edmunds to get hired as a car salesman and then to write about the tricks he was taught. Good read.

 

[gfh77665]

Don't trade it! The stealership will exploit you on that deal for sure. If you MUST buy from the stealership, at the very lest sell your car privately.

Try to buy an almost new (one year old or less) minivan from an individual. Look around online. Be willing to travel just a bit and you can find excellent buys. Look in driveways, NOT on showroom floors!

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: FL_Rob
Negotiate the price of the trade in first,THEN talk new purchase.

This is from experience with dealers around here,you have to go in with shields up.They're just too spoiled by easy marks. I've had'em walk away before...easier pickings elsewhere I guess.
The best way to get a good price on a new car is to shop when you don't really need one , and look at cars you ain't that worked up about owning. Otherwise your "ID" gets the better of your "Superego".

 

[danthaman1980]

Originally Posted By: FL_Rob
Negotiate the price of the trade in first,THEN talk new purchase.

This is from experience with dealers around here,you have to go in with shields up.They're just too spoiled by easy marks. I've had'em walk away before...easier pickings elsewhere I guess.


1) ^This.

2) No tires. Just clean it up really well.

3) Make the dealerships compete against each other. Get quotes form 2 or 3 dealerships, then take the low dealer's offer to the other two and see if they'll beat it.

4) Don't be afraid to walk away. Before I bought my truck, I actually came to enjoy walking away from shady car salespeople. They're going to try to make you feel bad if you walk out - don't fall for it. Walk out - it's your only bargaining chip. (p.s., the easiest way to walk out is to stop talking and walk back to your car and leave IN COMPLETE SILENCE.)

5) If you bring your wife with you to buy the car, BEWARE OF 'DIVIDE AND CONQUER'. Car dealers are pros at this. They just have to hook one of you.

 

[needsducktape]

Not every dealer is a "stealership"

I worked for Honda Motorcycles last year, and I can't tell you how many times we LOST money on new product or made < $200


If you are buying new, I would wager they are making very little.

Profits at a dealership are made selling USED cars and up selling (rust coating, extra warranty etc etc)
NEW CAR PROFIT MARGINS ARE VERY LITTLE AND MANUFACTURES ARE SHRINKING THAT MARGIN.

Try to sell you car privately then buy the new car without adding : additional warranty, rust proofing, extras

 

[Danh]

Don't stick a ton of money into the car before trade-in as it's unlikely you will get much of it back. Detail it though, so it looks good.

One other suggestion: if you have a CarMax in your area stop there first. They will give you an offer to buy your car that can be really useful when negotiating with dealers. You may conclude it's better to sell directly to CarMax.

 

[javacontour]

An effective strategy for me is to simply negotiate the delta between the "new" car and the trade.

In IL, you pay sales tax on that figure, so it doesn't matter what each number is as you pay on the difference.

Calculate what you want to pay out the door as a difference and negotiate one number, the OTD size of check you have to write.

I.E "I want to trade my 2003 Mazda for a 2013 Mazda 3, I want to pay $15K OTD for vehicle stock number XYZ."

It eliminates many of the games and sets the stage for the real cost of what you are buying.

They take it or don't.

As others have said, be read to walk, buy when you don't really need to.

It doesn't take much to make selling privately pay off.

If the sales tax is about 7%, then I have to get 107% + ~$100 of the trade value to make selling privately pay off. (The cost of the tax advantage and having to get new plates as opposed to transferring existing plates. The approximately $100 depends on how many months remain on the plates.)

My calculation simply goes this way. I look at Edmunds TMV for both cars, calculate the delta between them, calculate the sales tax and the approximately cost for tag transfer and title (approximately $100) or with new tags if the old ones are about to expire anyway and that is my offer OTD, making it clear that any document fees and so forth appear above the line.

My offer is the size of check I will write to own the car having paid all fees, taxes, etc.

If there are any rebates not figured into TMV, then I take that into consideration as well.

I also begin to LOWER my offer if I sense they are playing games, letting them know that I value my time and if they insist on wasting it with games, that I'm even less willing to pay more for games.

That quickly ends most games and boils the deal down to reality.

 

[Panzerman]

Wash it, sweep it out and trade it. Really it is a 2005, so its 8 years old, they arent even going to keep it at the new car dealership. Anything that comes in over 3 years goes dierectly to the auction. If it has over a 100,000 definetely. Dont worry about the spare tire, dont worry about mismatched tires or rust. They will act like they care, bbut they dont. Pretty much take it in there like its next in line for the crusher. Keep in mind you are dealing with the Devil. I traded a beautiful Dodge Ram 4X4 in once, it was really nice, had 107,000 miles, all synthetic oil changes, the salesman kept commenting on how nice a truck it was and it really was, I traded it on a new Dodge 2500, I was signing the papers and realized, I wanted my front customized license plate off the front and asked if they could get it and it already left for the auction, I didnt even sign all the papers yet. So realize, we may think of them as nice vehicles, great deals, but they are just numbers and sales to them.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
NO TIRES! NO!
I would do nothing to the car other than clean it. If you are going to put new tires on - might as well keep the car! The reason for the trade is so you DONT have to service it. Dealer can get tires at a low cost jobber price you cant and thats a normal trade cost as far as most trades needing new rubber. The car sounds like it will be wholesaled so i would just private sale it to kmake an extra 1500 - 2000 which is NOT chump change. They arent going to "really" give you more than $500-1000 below current auction wholesale on this common vehicle.


^^What ARCO said.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Also,what the stealership is going to do is get out this book called a Black Book. They will then low ball you as low as possible and give you absolutely nothing for your trade. Sell it yourself or keep it as a spare car.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: gfh77665
Don't trade it! The stealership will exploit you on that deal for sure. If you MUST buy from the stealership, at the very lest sell your car privately.

Try to buy an almost new (one year old or less) minivan from an individual. Look around online. Be willing to travel just a bit and you can find excellent buys. Look in driveways, NOT on showroom floors!


^^THIS. Well said gfh :^)