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

Stumble It!

Trading In- Why Pay More?

Dear Miss Mota Mouth,

Why is it that you pay more for a vehicle when you trade something in than when buying it outright? That has NEVER made sense to me!
Misty, MO

Dear Skeptical in Springfield,

Any Motley Fool can tell you that Cash is King!

If you are buying your car outright, it means that you will be handing over the cool stuff that makes a car dealer weep with joy. Sure- they make money on financing and extra services but a simple easy cash transaction will do them just fine, thank you very much.

If you have a trade in and you think that you are paying too much, it is probably because you have an unrealistic expectation of what your old car is actually worth and so in order to keep their dear customer happy, they are letting you think that it is worth that much but actually rolling their loss into the price of the new car.

For example, if your car is worth $2,000 to them and they know they can sell it for $4,000 but you insist that you need $3,000 for your car, they will tack the extra grand on the new car.

It really is that simple and just being realistic about the value of your trade in or, even better, selling it yourself so you get higher than wholesale, can save you quite a chunk of change.

Frankly,

M

Stumble It!