What is customary/what do the look for a trade in car/truck?

[BAJA_05]

My neighbor who has a 2011 Sonata 2.0L Turbo with 147,xxx miles had 3 cylinders drop/low compression. Talked to him this morning, he said -- "was gonna trade the Sonata in for another vehicle while it still runs/drives." What do dealerships typically look for when trading a car/truck in. I myself, never traded a car or truck in. I always privately sold them outright.




Dale

 

[Donald]

They look for basic condition. Its going to an auction.

The whole trade-in deal when buying a car is kind of a scam. They give you more than trade-in is worth but then want you to pay MSRP.

Its best to negotiate the new vehicle without regard to a trade-in. After you settle on the price they can look at your trade. Maybe you will try and sell it on your own.

 

[jsickz32]

if 3 bad cylinders are bad on that car then it will be noticeable and will probably have a check engine light.
they will offer him $500 for trade in and then send that car to auction

 

[ragtoplvr]

Donate it to charity, like PBS has a program now, and take the retail value off your taxes. Retail is probably over 4K. Auction value is under 1000, probably around $500

Rod

 

[mk378]

Car dealers have little interest in cars more than 6 years old or more than 100,000 miles because most finance companies won't loan money on them. This is before you even consider that the engine is bad.

 

[69Torino]

Originally Posted by ragtoplvr
Donate it to charity, like PBS has a program now, and take the retail value off your taxes. Retail is probably over 4K. Auction value is under 1000, probably around $500

Rod


This is a wonderful idea.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by ragtoplvr
Donate it to charity, like PBS has a program now, and take the retail value off your taxes. Retail is probably over 4K. Auction value is under 1000, probably around $500

Rod



Can't do that anymore. You used to be able to take the book value of the car in a tax write off. Great when the car isn't worth it. However now you get a statement as to what they actually got for the car so if book was 4k and they got $500, you get to write off $500 on your taxes which if you're in the 25% bracket is really worth $125. You mind as well just get the $500.

 

[supton]

Is the CEL on or off? I suspect they will do a quick check, maybe run it around the block, but ultimately it won't be worth much. By all means, clean it up, make it look like it was taken care of. But I doubt that a full detail is going to increase value by that much (they can do it too, after all).

But focus on the out the door price. They could offer some crazy high value but then expect him to pay MSRP or more. And then try to get him into extended warranties etc.

Does he feel like he has to get a lot out of this? Or does he not care? If he doesn't care, and feels like he got his money's worth out of it, then just trade in. Otherwise he could gamble on private sale.

 

[spavel6]

Try CarMax and see what their cash offer would be. Some folks have been pleasantly surprised. CarMax bases their appraisals on the quality of the car and the demand in the marketplace for the model.

Then you can go and negotiate the new car separately, or have a baseline trade-in value in your pocket for negotiations with the new car dealer.

 

[aquariuscsm]

They will probably give him $200-$500 for the trade-in.

 

[silveravant]

Also with the increase in the standard deduction many people don't itemize their deductions.

This hasn't been a good thing for charitable donations.

 

[Donald]

Donate it to local fire company so they can use it for practice. Might be able to take a higher write off since it will not be sold.

 

[ragtoplvr]

Well, then you can also chec with thigh school vo teck and see if they want a project car. They rebuild it, you pay for the parts, it might be 2 months, when it comes back it is new motor.


Rod

 

[geeman789]

Most likely, the dealer will offer him $ 200 - 400 as a goodwill gesture to get him to buy a car with a few thousand dollars or more of profit built into it's price. And make it sound like they are doing him a huge favour at that ...

Most dealers don't want 9 year old generic cars. Banks won't finance cars that age, and there is usually too much work involved re-conditioning the car to a road worthy level to ever be able to sell it for a profit. The retail value for the Hyundai is MAYBE $ 2000 - 3000. By the time you inspect it, detail it, maybe put tires on, do some steering / suspension / brake work, oil change etc., then pay a commission to sell it, you have likely spent way more than the car is worth. And if they do spend the money, then ask say $ 6000 for the car, people will say it's too expensive ...

 

[Lyman]

Originally Posted by spavel6
Try CarMax and see what their cash offer would be. Some folks have been pleasantly surprised. CarMax bases their appraisals on the quality of the car and the demand in the marketplace for the model.

Then you can go and negotiate the new car separately, or have a baseline trade-in value in your pocket for negotiations with the new car dealer.

+1 Around here CarMax is the best place to sell a used car.

 

[Danno]

I work at a dealership and appraise pre-owned cars.

That Sonata might go to auction or sold in "as is " condition. It may bring in $2000 for the seller.
As for the "The whole trade-in deal when buying a car is kind of a scam" here's how our math works. YMMV

Trade-in price plus profit plus estimated recon cost = selling price. And the selling price needs to be competitive with the market and needs to sell within 60 days.
Trading in gives a sales tax advantage to the seller of 13% in our case.

As for the new vehicle people may buy on the trade-in, there are no secrets in pricing, we price ourselves within a 300 mile competitive zone.
We are dealing with making admin fees and maybe $1500 on most of our new vehicle sales, money is made on financing and add-ons.
Cash buyers are "death" to the car industry.

 

[thastinger]

I'm not aware of any dealership who routinely performs compression checks on used cars. If it isn't throwing any codes then he might get decent money for it. A car with that many miles will end up in the sub prime market, the dealership will sell it directly to a wholesaler, who will sell it at auction or put it on a sub prime lot.

 

[aquariuscsm]

It'll end up at a "pay by the week" lot.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Cash buyers are pretty much laughed out of the dealership. The days of "paying cash" for cars are long gone. The "cash talks" mentality only works if buying from a private seller.

 

[Danno]

Originally Posted by aquariuscsm
Cash buyers are pretty much laughed out of the dealership. The days of "paying cash" for cars are long gone. The "cash talks" mentality only works if buying from a private seller.


We see cash buyers everyday, mostly on used. But we definitely do not "laugh them out".