How do i get the best price on trading in my car?

Question

I'm trading in my VW Passat GLX 4motion. What can i do to get the best trade in price?

Answer 1

Check blue book listings..Usually you get better deals selling it out right...

Answer 2

First of all, you have to be realistic about the value of your car. Before you go into the dealership, you should have done some research on what the transaction prices are for the car you want to purchase. I have found that www.edmunds.com has the most accurate True Market Values when it comes to what the purchase price should be. You can also use that site to see what your trade vehicle should be worth. You can also go to www.kbb.com for your trade value. You'll find discrepancies between the two sites, but remember, neither of them will buy your old car. There is an auto industry book called Galves that dealers here in NJ use. It is very accurate based on cars that have gone through the auctions the prior week. You can have access to that site too, it costs a lot of money, BUT it is accurate. Even so, it's not worth buying a subscription for one car.

What a lot of people do is go to a website to do their research and negotiate a sale price on the new vehicle, then pop the trade after that price has been set and try to get what kbb.com or edunds say is retail for their car. Remember, if you don't want to pay retail for your new car, the dealer won't pay you retail for your trade.

What I do, is figure out a fair price on the new car, based on my research, figure out a fair number for my trade, and look at my bottom line. I don't care how the dealer gets to that number, or below, but that's my comfort zone. I don't get into heated negotiations, I just know what I present to the salesman and if he can meet it, then we have a deal, if not, I can walk. I'm not married to any car or deal.

I do see some answers here saying that you should sell it yourself, and that is an option. I have very little patience when I decide to get a new car and can not wait for the "right" person to pay me that pie-in-the-sky number I may think I can get buy retailing it myself. I also don't want to waste my time with tirekickers. So for me, the fact that I could get more selling myself has no appeal because the value of having the dealer give a price he is willing to pay that day is worth it. (A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush). This is especially helpful if you need the money from the trade to purchase the new car. I've known plenty of people that didn't like their trade value, decided to sell it on their own, and months pass, no sale, and wind up trading it in anyway(for less, since the car depreciated). There are those that have sold it on their own and are happy, but since I'm not in car sales/finance any more, I don't like spending my off time selling cars, even my own, I have better things to do with my time!

Answer 3

id suggest getting a ballpark figure from kbb.com its respected and the most used, u cant argue with it, my problem with edmunds, is they test bone stock vehicles, with no options, so say your car was estimated, by edmunds to be 7,000, add a disc changer ,moon roof, alloy wheels, premium sound, leather, privacy glass, etc.. (if your vw has options like that) kbb takes into consideration the options and increases your value too 9,500. dealers charges you for things like that when u bought your car, so dont forget that when u sell it.


P.S. i might be spreading a rumor but i heard, edmunds low balls the price to increase dealers profits (didnt hear that from me),

P.S.S. ifi were you id try to privately sell your vw, u can get much more that way u never get full value from trade-ins

Answer 4

what price guide do car traders use when you trade your car in? The prices seem to vary from parkers, glass, what car etc...

Answer 5

Be welll informed before you go to the dealer, get the blue book price and take the book with you to prove the right price to the dealer.

Answer 6

Detail it really good, and sale it yourself. You'll never get what it's worth at a dealership, because they leave room for repairs and so they make money. If you still want to deal with the dealership. Get you high an low blue book on it. You can't expect to high for yours and pay low for there's. It's either high-high, or low-low.

Answer 7

www.nada.com
www.kbb.com
www.edmunds.com
Go to all sites . You could probably get almost retail book for your car on a trade for a new VW.

Answer 8

By selling it out of your yard. Car lots will **** you over. They'll add the amount they gave you for your car to the price of the one you want to buy.

Answer 9

You can check "bluebook" online.
Regardless, you'll still get the price
selling car outright.

Answer 10

sell it out right you'll get more money.If you take it to a dealer they give you less than blue book value on it.