stupid question about buying a used car

[musiclawyer]

I know you can get more money selling a car in a private party transaction, but assuming I went to a car dealer, will dealer take a trade in of my 2 year old lien-satisfied car and apply it towards me getting another 2 year old car? Kelley Blue Book says a dealer should give me about 14K for mine, and the kind of used car I'm looking at runs around 17K. (I need something with AWD and don't want to pay then "premium" of a new car)

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. I'm not sure that'll work.

Remember, they want to make money. I don't think they'll just do an even swap. However, if you sell your car for about $14k, you can probably negotiate the dealer down to that same price.

[commander bunnypants]

2. no idea

but haggle..

CB

[Robroy]

3. You can sell privately for more..

but..., you only pay sales tax on the difference if you trade.

[unblock]

4. yes and yes. oh, and, you will pay through the nose

dealers very often take trade-ins when they sell cars, but you should approach them as two separate transactions (otherwise the dealer can better obscure his profit).

you should expect to get about $1,000-$3,000 less from the dealer than you would if you sold it yourself. but of course, the dealer makes it very easy and will take your car today.

you should also expect to pay $1,000-$3,000 more for the used car you buy from the dealer than you would if you bought it privately. but again, the dealer makes it easy, and you have better recourse if there's a problem with the car.


personally, i would buy and have bought a used car from a dealer, but i would be very reluctant to sell a car to a dealer, the premium is just too high, and the work involved is not that great. then again, i go to great pains to avoid any urgency in car selling/buying decisions. if you're rushed, you'll pay dearly.

best of luck with your trade!

[ET Awful]

5. Does it say a dealer should give you that, or does it say that's the

retail value? A dealer will likely offer you under the wholesale value of the car.

A good place to find a real-world value for your vehicle is at http://www.edmunds.com/ They have a "TMV" calculator tool (True Market Value). It was dead-on balls accurate for what the dealer offered me on my trade-in last time, and it was just as accurate for the price I was able to negotiate for the new car I bought.

[Nye Bevan]

6. Go to this website...

http://www.edmunds.com/tmv/used/index.html

You enter the details of your vehicle and it will give you 3 valuations: (1) the trade-in value, (2) the value you would expect to sell it privately for and (3) the price you would expect to pay if you bought this used car from a dealer. You will see that the private party value is higher than the trade-in value, but then of course you need to clean up your car, advertise it, and so on.