Car Trade in Value

One aspect of the car trade in process that was always… well interesting to deal with was the price that a potential car buyer would think that their car trade value was worth.

As a sales manager this was always an interesting conundrum.

In a off beat kind of way for the buyer; now the shoe is on the other foot for this moment in time.

When discussing the trade value of their car the owner would undoubtedly be wanting a near retail price for their car. Of course, that’s what you should want, but you really can’t expect the dealer to give you a retail price for the trade-in car.

Now keep in mind, when I say ‘give you’ I want to keep that in the context of ACV (actual cash value). Dealers can and do shuffle numbers on paper all over the place as part of the shell game, just get you to ‘feel good’ about what you are getting for your trade.

I will discuss things such as ACV, and more of the specifics of trading in your car in other articles but for now I just want to set your expectations and get you started in this area. Just know that the world of used cars, trade-ins, automobile auctions, and such is pretty nebulous subject matter that we’ll discuss a bit later.

For now, suffice it to say that you will probably not get as much for your old car in trade as you would if you’d sold it yourself. All the number shuffling aside, a dealer can’t pay you a retail price (or too close to it) and then try to turn that car around and sell it for what?

Retail plus a bit of profit?

Would you buy your car now at a price above the retail market? Of course not, so let’s be a bit fair here. Having said that, I can assure you, even with all the number shuffling taking place, after the dust settles, that dealer knows exactly IN CASH, what they put into your trade-in.

Trading your car in will offer you some advantages though. Certainly the cost of running an advertisement in the local papers won’t be incurred. And you won’t have to deal with tire kickers calling you up and coming by your residence only to insult you with what they offer… hey the dealer can do that! And as part of the car buying process you can unload what might be a difficult car to sell right there at the dealership.

The first step you should take is to look up your car’s trade-in value on Edmunds.com. Edmunds you can plug in all the necessary information about your old car such as year, make, model, mileage, etc and Edmunds True Market Value® (TMV®) Used Vehicle Appraiser will give you trade-in values.

Now keep in mind at this point this is just an estimate, but it does give you a good place to start. At the dealership there are other factors that come into play specific to the dealer like the state of the dealer’s used car inventory, do they already have many cars similar to yours, the time of year it is,… what kind of day the used car manager is having. Even what make and model of new car your looking at will affect the amount of trade-in allowance you may get.

Since the idea here is for you to get the maximum trade allowance (note that I said allowance and not ACV) for your car, you should visit other dealerships and shop your car around.

The time spent doing this may surprise you as to the numbers put on your car in trade value. Just remember that the legwork and time you spend doing this will very likely pay off for you and may ultimately be a better deal than actually selling your old car yourself.

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