Trade-In Value: Do Dealers Accept Any Car Condition?

Question

I have a 1995 Mitsubishi 3000GT. Kelly Blue Book Trade-In value of $2,970 in Fair Condition. The paint is chipping, it has a big dent on the quarter panel, and it's electrically malfunctioning as well. It has an after-market spoiler. The car is in bad condition, but not worst of the worst. Do car dealers accept just any cars for trade-in? I want to trade my car in ... Do they accept any cars in any condition?

Answer 1

Sure, they will likely give you something for it. A 1995 Eclipse with tons of miles and in bad condition will not be able to be sold again by the dealer.
Therefore, they will likely sell it at auction.

What they would probably do is estimate what it would sell for at auction, and offer you slightly less than that.

Unfortunately, most of the time on a car that old, you cannot go by what kbb says unless the car is in pristine condition.

Based on how you describe your vehicle, I would expect an offer of about $1,000.

Answer 2

It depends on the dealer. Some dealerships won't take any cars they can't put on the lot and sell as trade-ins. There's no way a dealership like that would touch your car. If they do take it they will really low ball you, so you might as well try and sell it yourself.

Also, keep in mind the low end Blue Book values still assume they car is in reasonable running condition in no immediate need or repairs. If your car is hanging on by a thread or needs some serious work, you must subtract the repair costs from the Blue Book value to get an idea of what it's really worth.

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Trade-In Value: Do Dealers Accept Any Car Condition?
I have a 1995 Mitsubishi 3000GT. Kelly Blue Book Trade-In value of $2,970 in Fair Condition. The paint is chipping, it has a big dent on the quarter panel, and it's electrically malfunctioning as well. It has an after-market spoiler. The car is in bad condition, but not worst of the worst. Do...

Answer 4

Dealers don one of two things with trades. They clean some of them up and keep them for their own used car lot. Or they sell the car to a wholesaler who puts the car up for auction to the highest bidder. Either way, you are going to get less than the private party blue book value. A car like this is not going to be very appealing to anyone in either of these scenarios. A dealer isn't going to want it and it would be hard to sell at auction. It can be done, and they will take the car, but you're not going to get much.

I would suggest listing the car for private sale. You might find someone willing to pay for it. It is a hassle sometimes, but it does work.

Answer 5

If you were a dealer's used car manager, how much would you want to pay for that car and what would you do with it? Hmmmm??

They can show you $5000 for it on a car they have $10000 profit in and still make $5000. Anything that they offer you is merely a discount on the new one you are buying. You can do a deal with it, but it REALLY has almost no value. At least you won't have to deal with disposing it.

Answer 6

Trade In Any Car

Answer 7

It would also depend on how many miles you have on that car. If you have really high mileage they probably wouldn't even take it. I just recently traded in my 2000 Nissan Altima with about 114,000 miles on it. The exterior and interior was in good condition and I did not have any mechanical problems. They were only willing to give me $3,200 on it since the mileage is so high and they could not sell it on the lot. They told me they were going to wholesale it. I went on KKB and they told me that I should've gotten 3,500 for fair and $4,300 for good, so obviously you can't go by what KBB says . . .

Answer 8

Yes, most do. But you will only be paid what the car is worth. If Kelly says the car is worth 2970, and the car is that bad, figure getting 1000 or less.

Answer 9

They will pretty much take anything but it doesn't mean your going to get anything.