Sell private or Trade in, which saves more money?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ystasino @ Jun 4 2007, 11:16 AM) [snapback]454942[/snapback]</div>

Hmm, I would say selling out rite would be the best way, however if it doesnt sell quickly you'll still be making the payments..

Trading in is pretty good, but remember the dealers there to make money, They may give you close to pay off / ie they pay off your car and tack the remainder onto the back of your new car loan, depending on how upside down you are..... Ive had it done twice, I think my next car will be a 71 VW cabrolet...

 

There's really only one way to trade from my perspective.

1. DON'T mention the word TRADE until you negotiate your best price for the vehicle in question.

2. After getting your best potential deal then bring up the notion of trading.

3. If your vehicle is genuinely super clean, etc. then take NOTHING less than Back Book clean wholesale for it and if they will not show you that value you should walk.

This scenario plus the taxes you will not have to pay based on the trade-in value "may" make the trade worth it over the private sale.

 

I haven't looked at the US Toyota site, but the Canadian site will look up the "black book" value of your trade in for you in the final financing stage of "build your Prius". This is the wholesale price. It gives a range. The dealer will try to get you to the lower of the two numbers. When he sells it he will use the "blue book" (retail) price as his basis. So he will get "from you" perhaps $2000 on the black book price, and then another $2000 from the purchaser when he resells at the retail price.

The dealer will base his "best price" on the Prius on how much he can make on the trade in as well. He knows the prices, he knows how he makes money. Your job will be to keep his profit "reasonable". Difficult when you don't know the prices as well as he does.

When you buy your Prius you will pay taxes on the full price if you do not trade in. So in your case 8.65% of $24,000.

If you trade you will save 8.65% of the price the dealer gives you on your Murano on taxes. BTW, this is not a morality issue. The govt. set it up this way. So don't worry about it (to use NY parlance).

Is the tax savings close to the loss between wholesale and retail price of the Murano?

Are you willing to wait while your vehicle sells? What is a quick painless deal worth to you?

I traded my 2001 Pathfinder, as I didn't want to wait - the market is flooded with SUVs. I saved $800 in taxes. Difference between wholesale and retail was around $2000. So I "lost" $1200 or so. It was worth it to me for no hassle.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(nowatch @ Jun 4 2007, 08:47 AM) [snapback]454958[/snapback]</div>

From NY DMV web site, tax should be based on total purchase price:
"Total purchase price (include cash payment, balance of any payments you may have assumed, and the value of any property given, or services performed, in trade)"

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jrfaris @ Jun 4 2007, 12:18 PM) [snapback]454978[/snapback]</div>

I just purchased mine in NYS a couple of months ago and I can confirm that the price of the trade-in was deducted prior to calculating sales tax.

 

I had the same decision to make for my 2003 Mercedes C230. I listed it for a while on Craigslist for $20,000 which was a little higher than private party blue book value 'cause it had really low miles. A couple of people looked at it, but no offers. I really wanted the Prius so I just took it in to the dealer to find out how much they would give me for a trade in. They offered $18,300. However, I don't have to pay sales tax on this portion if it's a trade in (and the sales tax rate here is 9.1%). So, even though I traded it in for less than I would have sold it for the sales tax savings made up the difference. And, I didn't have to deal with the hassle of showing it to people and dealing with the paperwork.