Trade in values?

Just traded in my 2005 Toyota Prius for the new Toyota Prius 2008. Difference paid including tax is going to be $9700. Trade-in valued at $15,200.00...
Some of my friends got higher - but well, I took a few dings and bumps parking in New York City. A couple scratches too... so well, I'll take what I can get.
Vrooom vrooom!!!!

More/Actual Info:
Year Bought/put in service: Jan. 2, 2006
Year Sold/Trade-In: Feb 25, 2008
Condition: Mint (above average - not quite pristine)
Trade-In Value: $15,200
Mileage: 27,635 miles
Gasoline Consumed: 520.5 gallons
Total Cost of Fuel: $1686.456 (91 octane or better)
Onboard computed MPG: 48.6mpg (avg of an avg)
Actual MPG based on totals: (27635/520.5) = 53.09 MPG
Max/peak MPG achieved: 62.6 mpg (actual miles driven over refill)
Average Cost per Gallon: $3.24

You guys can figure out some of the other stuff if you really want too... I probably could of gotten more - but shrug - considering my "dings" on the car, I didn't want to push it. Mmmm - pretty... $1700 for gasoline... better than the $2400 I was spending on my Maxima for just ONE year back in 2003/2004 - no inflation HAH! at $3.50 a gallon!?

Anyways getting:
2008 Toyo Prius
Option package #2... except now with backup camera and VSC! which my old one didn't have. So ... urmmm yay? I get a backup camera? I'm still gonna probably do it the good old fashioned way... but then again, I used to say the samething about my passenger side view mirror too - because my first two cars never had em. Or was that the driver's side side-view mirror? *sigh* soooo long ago... I can't be that old...

 

Go to this site:

Kelley Blue Book values | Used Cars for Sale | Sell My Car - Official Kelley Blue Book Site

and enter all your car's info.

 

I just traded in my '01 Odyssey for '08 Mazda CX-9.
Depending on what your dealer-to-be use as reference (some use kbb.com, others use edmunds.com), the price difference can be large. For the Mazda dealers I went to, they all use edmunds.com (in SF Bay Area). They said it is more realistic than kbb.com.
However, we don't enjoy tax benefit with trade-in in California. People trade in their vehicle because they are reluctant to deal with the hassle of selling by themselves.

 

*heh* Yeah - only reason why I traded mine in as well... Like I said, my deal wasn't the greatest... but it was relatively hassle-free.

 

You should come out better selling it yourself. It sounds like a hassle to sell a car, but it really isn't all that bad. Well worth the extra few thousand dollars in my opinion.

 

This site is also very useful.
edmunds.com - AutoTrader.com

 

Don't forget the tax difference when you sell you car and add it to your bottom line price. On a trade in you only pay tax on the difference

 

Yup! The tax differential is what I was looking at. I saved just over $700 in taxes by trading in my 03 Toyota Matrix for my Prius. I also got a smoking deal on it ($8800 for it with 84K miles).

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cf_coder