Selling a Car and Getting Better than Trade-In

Dear Miss Mota Mouth,

How can I sell my car easily without doing a lot of work and still get more than trade-in?

Jake in DC

Dear Distinctly Curious,

Good question! There are some hidden facts about trade-in that most people do not realize and selling it yourself is the better option.

The reality of the trade-in: The prices on Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds are not entirely true. Most people will never actually be offered that amount by a dealer. The first thing the dealer does is look up Manheim Auction numbers (an industry only resource) in order to give you a quote on your trade-in. They don't even look at the guidebooks or KBB and Edmunds. The reality is you are highly likely to do worse than guidebook published trade-in numbers when going to a dealer.

Doing your research: Go to Price My Car
and you will get a better idea of the real value of your car because that is data pulled from actual recent and successful sales of cars just like yours. Yes, it will be less than KBB but those are industry speculative numbers and not always real.

Making the sale easy: There are resources available such as Mota that can put your car in all the right places online and help you get the best return on your investment possible.

Best of luck,

M

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