How to get best price for trade in?

I know this doesn't answer your question but I advertised mine and sold it for more than the dealer would have given me. If you have the time and don't mind the hassle that's a pretty good way to go.

Most "experts" will tell you that you should keep the two transactions seperate, that is your trade in and the new car price. Of course most of us paid MSRP for our Prius so that part is pretty cut and dried. It might help if you went to Edmonds and Kelly Blue book sites and got a real good idea what your car is worth before you take it in. You should know exactly what they are going to pay you for your car before you agree to anything on the new one, in other words don't commit yourself until the whole thing is laid out in front of you and you understand it. That would include the price of the new one, trade in value of yours, financing if any, any extra stuff they may expect you to buy, etc.

 

I'm really bad at that myself, so I have no advice for you -- my strategy is to keep the old car long enough that it's not worth much anyway.

One thing I've been considering is getting an appraisal/offer from someplace like Carmax before going to the dealer -- but I have no idea how high/low their offers tend to be, or whether this would just be a waste of time.

 

"Best price" and "Trade in" is an oxymoron. "Easy" and "Trade in" is more accurate.

Your "best price" will always be selling your old car yourself to another private party. The easiest way to go is to "sell" it to the dealer and they will in turn resell it to someone else, at their (often substantial) profit.

For car buying 101, you handle the selling of your car completely separate from buying your new car. You basically go dealer to dealer looking for the highest written trade in value. The salesperson will do everything possible to prevent you from doing that though, so beware.

Typically, you walk in and say "What are you willing to give me as a trade in on this car?" They will say, "Well, that depends on what you want to trade it in on." That's total BS. It should have no matter on what you want to buy, you are simply seeking the highest $$$ BEFORE you decide WHERE to buy the car. YOU already know what you are going to buy and that you are most likely paying the sticker anyway. The dealer DOES NOT need to know anything other than you are going to order a car from the place that offers you the highest trade in price.

With the Prius you are really stuck though because you might be waiting MONTHS for the car to come in and who knows what is going to happen to you old car in the meantime. It's much different if you are buying something off the lot.

 

In addition to convenience, the other benefit to trading in (at least here in Colorado) is that you only end up paying sales tax on the difference between the cost of the new car and the cost of the vehicle you traded in. So for example, if you are buying a Prius at $25000 and trading in a vehicle for $15000 then you only pay sales tax on $10000 ($25000 minus $15000). Assuming a 7% sales tax, that's a $1000 difference in sales tax, which in addition to the time saved, may make it a wash.

 

How to get best price?

Do not trade with dealer!

Sell privately, if possible (I've done this with two of my last 3 car sales and gotten substantially more than dealer offered)

A middle of the road alternative - try CarMax, if there's one in your area. I sold my last car to CarMax and got a price only a few hundred less than what I expected to sell it for privately and much more than what the dealer offered. And the transaction was easy -- 30 minutes to do the appraisal and another 45 minutes to do the paperwork.

 

When I traded in my 04 Prius for my new 05, it was the first time I ever traded a car in. U sually I always sold it myself or sold it to a local well know used car dealer that always pays a little more than other dealers would on a trade in. My 04 Prius was the first car that kept it's value so high that it was worth trading it in. Since I got so much for it, it paid off my loan and the sales tax was alot less on the new one.

 

I concur with the majority of posters - the best way to get a good 'trade-in' is to sell your car to a private party (I suggest autotrader.com as a good way to do this).

When I ordered my Prius, I went in with NADA and KBB trade-in figures for my current vehicle (they both hovered around 11K). The dealer offered me $9,000 and they as much as said that I should try to sell it myself. It's not much fun ordering an in-demand vehicle.

When I got home I immediately put the car on Autotrader and have had two people come out to check it out. I predict that it will sell way before I get my Prius (which poses problems of its own). But I will get way more than 9K, I can tell you that.

 

For me, Autotrader was basically useless. I tried to sell one car that way (an old 91 Camry V6 back in 01) and got virtually no contacts. One of them was in Oregon, which is odd since I lived near Seattle at the time. It wouldn't have been worth their while to come up and buy a car off me.

I ended up selling thru the classified ads web site that my employer has for its employees and friends.

I concur w/the other posters that if you want top dollar for your car, do not trade it in. Sell it privately. However, it is sort of a hassle and sometimes you'll get ridiculously low offers.

 

I concur. Trade it in to the dealer only if you want the convenience. And don't buy the line "we will make sure we handle all the DMV paperwork". I had clear Title, but call up your Lender if you don't and I'm sure they will advise too.

The most important thing on the sale is the "Notice of Release of Liability", which you can get from DMV or AAA. As soon as the new owner drove away and before the ink was dry, I rushed to AAA to have them time stamp the Release of Liability, and they notified DMV. You might also want a Bill of Sale (CA DMV calls it "Vehicle/Vessel Transfer and Reassignment Form", assuming you are in CA) I had a very old (but fair shape) Saturn. I used kbb.com (go there and price yourself) said private party was $1480. Dealer offered $400! gasp!

I knew it needed about $500-$1000 in work, so I offered $1,000 cash, AS-IS, here's what's wrong with it, don't try to negotiate with me, here's the kbb print-out, this is a great deal and we both know it "attitude". I sold it in 2 days. Could I have gotten a bit more via private party, probably. Did I want the new owners coming back to me saying I didn't disclose the problems, no way. Did I get more than the trade-in, you bet.

With all the news about Katrina used cars "flooding" (pardon the sick pun) market, I also stressed that I was the original owner and could prove it.

Now my garage is empty, cleaned out and I am picking up my new baby tomorrow. I will be car-less for only one day.

If you have a reliable mechanic for your current car, I suggest asking him if he would "put the word out" I told my mechanic that I wanted $1K, but if he found someone, I'd give him $200. He told me I'd sell it in a week and probably didn't need him. He was right!

Good luck!