My husband and I will be buying a minivan next year. We're debating on whether to trade our '99 Civic in or try to sell it ourselves. What do you think?
Printable View
My husband and I will be buying a minivan next year. We're debating on whether to trade our '99 Civic in or try to sell it ourselves. What do you think?
If it were me I would try to sell it first. I have never had a good trade in price. You could use the money as a down payment so you payments won`t be as high.
Well we have to keep the car until we have the minivan because it's our only vehicle with a backseat, but if we sell it afterwards we can apply the money to the principal.
You can probably get more for it by selling it yourself, but it's much more convenient to trade it in on whatever you're buying. If you sell it yourself, not matter how honest you are with buyers or potential buyers, there's always the possibility the vehicle will have a problem shortly after the sale and the buyer will blame you. So, yep, I don't do things in the best financial manner, but I usually go the trade-in route.
Sometimes I also do things that aren't the best financially but that I'm more comfortable with. If we end up selling the car, that'll all be on my husband because I don't want the hassle.
You should look in the internet to see what is the blue book value. That way, you will have an idea what is the optimum price you could get for it. The dealer will never give you the real value because they know how to muddle the water, but you can go with information and press the issue. You might be able to get a good trade in price.
You should wait for the good deals dealers have for Christmas. They want to get rid of the 2010 inventory and sometimes offer a 0% interest rate, no down payment or both. I have even heard of some of them offering $3,000 for your trade in regardless of how little are they valued at.
Right, I have to agree that right now is the best time to buy a car. After this your next good sale wont be until June or July. So if you are going to trade it in those are your three best months. All other months.... I say sell.
If you do decide to use it as a trade in where no rebate is offered then don't submit it until you get a good deal or the last offer of price with out a trade in then ask for a price with the trade in.
Thanks for the tips, everyone. I wish I could trade it in before the holidays but it'll be June at least before I can afford to do it. I have to pay off another car first.
So you play games with the salesman. And you should know if he has very much experience in the business, he knows the game better than you. You can look up the "blue book" values (Kelly Blue Book) and you can look up the NADA values (National Automobile Dealers Association) and those 2 will probably be quite different. And you may consider your trade-in to be in excellent condition while the dealer may consider it fair/good/mediocre so they may not allow what you expect.Quote:
Originally Posted by countrystepper
If you know the Blue Book value ahead of time and stand firm on getting that amount, you should make out fine on the one you want to sell. If they want to sell you a vehicle, they will work with you.
I have been through this and my advice is sell the vehicle on your own. I owed more for my truck that I traded in and they added it to my new vehicle price so it was like paying double interest and my payments are about $80 higher . I should not have fallen for that.
Much of what to do depends on if your state gives a tax advantage on trading in. If the new car is 10 bucks, and the trade is worth 3 bucks, the difference is 7 and you pay tax on 7 not 10.