Sell My Car but Don't SCREW ME on the Trade-In | How Dealers Determine Your Car's TRUE Value

💰 Get more money for your trade-in! Compare offers with CarEdge:

CarEdge Trade-In Article:

🚗 Join the CarEdge Community:

🚗 Get educated on buying a car with CarEdge's Deal School 3.0:

CarEdge Podcast: Daily News You Can Use

Check out CarEdge merch:

Ray and Zach give you a crash course on how to get the BEST value for your trade-in at the dealership. Ray leverages his 43 years in the industry to show you how dealers determine the value of your trade-in and what they have in mind when they make their offers.

[achim]

i literally walked into the dealer and said i pay that much and i want that much for my trade! they gave me a low ball offer and i walked! They called me a week later ( closer to a quarters end) if i could come back in? I said sure! Then instead of being $5000 apart we came closer to about $2000. I walked again, said call me when i get what i want! They called me on 3.31st at noon to do the deal! I was very proud of myself and still happy with the deal i made!

[johncho]

I just went to a dealership and used some of the information and caught the salesman fumbling his nonsense and admitting to things I caught him lying about. This channel is amazing.

[PilotArt]

I used Car Gurus to find a new 2023 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid listed for $2, 000 below MSRP. I contacted the dealer, confirmed they had the car and then used their website to determine the sales price was $2, 000 below MSRP, a value they would pay for my trade (they offered over 5K online) with me inflating the mileage the car had and saying it had cosmetic damage when it doesn't. I drove two hours to the dealer, test drove the Sonata while they appraised my trade in. After the test drive they said "corporate" could only offer $1, 000 for my trade and the Sonata was actually full MSRP because the price online included every incentive offered by Hyundai and I only qualified for one. I showed my printed screen shots of emails with the dealer and the quote from their website showing the car in worse shape than it is but valued higher than what they were offering. The sales manager wouldn't budge claiming "corporate" wouldn't let him. I walked out to my trade-in and drove two hours home. I was there because I wanted a new car, not because I needed one. Total waste of time.

[mikeadams]

Thank you. Read this just before buying a new car and came out $6000 better than I expected.

[bradysimmons]

We bought a used SUV recently, and the dealer we bought it from lowballed our trade in at a ridiculous amount. We simply bought the SUV w/o a trade and got a much better cash buy offer at a different dealer. Was extra steps but ended up worth it.

[gnawty]

This channel is one of the most important out there. Well done gentlemen.

[fcodxdart]

Beyond the educational value of your videos the entertainment is great as well. Y'all have such a great dynamic and it's so easy to watch. Every video is captivating.

[Shakashack]

Great advice, thanks! Our Tesla & MINI dealerships were our BEST EVER shopping & purchasing experiences! Yes a business making their profit, we expect this from all retail. But zero bs interaction, civil negotiation, & simple financing paperwork. Why are some dealerships just gross?! I walk out as soon as I sense uneasiness from the salespeople’s desperate energy.

[grandcherokey]

Recently had a bad experience trying to buy a ‘used’ car using my current car as a ‘trade in’. The dealer low balled the value of my car (compared to Kelly and Edmunds) as expected; and then increased the price of the car I was interested in by $1K more than it was listed for on their website! -> How can they get away with this? - Simple, it’s their dealership, their cars and their terms. YOU HAVE to be prepared to walk out at any point during negotiations.
And you must do some research on vehicle pricing PRIOR to going shopping. Yes ‘time is money’ and if you want to save some money you gotta put in some time. So much can be learned from the internet these days. Good luck to all and try not to get discouraged. 🤞

[RACH-Hart]

This just happened to me. I made the mistake of not looking up my car value before I went in. They offered a ridiculous price on my trade in and that ended the conversation. I would rather set my car on fire than allow you to steal it from me. This also gave me time to reflect on the new car and realize my old one is actually nicer.

[Sallyweber-gr]

I think that not everyone is out to steal your trade in. Easy way would be to check with multiple sources that would buy your car and bounce that against what the dealer is offering. I valued my 2017 Ford Focus SEL Hatchback at $9K . Carmax offered $9600. Dealer without any prompting offered $10K. Since I purchased the vehicle new and my out of pocket costs were $15K, I did not feel like the dealer was trying to steal the trade in. I purchased a Chevy Equinox Premier and the out the door price was under 37K. Overall very happy going with the dealer trade in.

[davidthomas]

Most of my trade-in were worn out, so I was just glad to get rid of them!

[Gerald-cv]

My dealer only wanted to give me $14.500 for my F150 4X4 with 118, 800 km on it. We had the dealer but it on the auction for 3 hrs and it hit $18, 450 I than waited 15 mths for my Ford Maverick to come in. They still gave me the $18, 450. Ford also gave me the Maverick for the same price as the 2022 price as the one o did get was a 2023 I got $5850;off the 2023 Maverick so got it cheaper than the 2022 model Very happy with my dealer they sold my trade in in 2 days sold it for $21, 500 they made some on it.

[dougf]

All 100% correct info, based on my years of selling vehicles. Sometimes your trade in offer will hinge on the mood of the day of the sales manager. If he is feeling bitter and tight fisted that day, you might get a lower offer than if he's feeling great that day. Get all the online offers first 100%. I'd totally ignore KBB and NADA. Their estimated trade values are often wildly off base.

[MrNegative]

Almost exactly what I did. I knew the value of my truck. Multiple sources checked. The truck was in pristine condition. Not a mark on it, less than 8k miles, well equipped. Recent first oil change and the service department couldn't believe it was 1.5 years old. A bath and it looks brand new. I wound up selling it to my dad at the high trade in plus tax savings. Dealer was a little disappointed.
Nissan Frontier with the long bed comes standard with the tow package. Hard to find the long bed in crew cab. I don't think most people realize the long bed is available. I haul stuff.

[djchino]

Great video and I think it’s safe to say that Caredge will take over as the premier 1 stop shop for car buying 👌🏼

[ml]

What I get a kick out of on the dealership lot is when they have new vehicles that have been on the lot for over 200 days because they are greedy to not break on the price, but then put on the truck $3k off the MSRP and still can't sell it. Why because they won't break on the actual price of the truck. A dealership has a little lead way between the MSRP and dealer invoice price (DIP) to give the customer a little break on the vehicle for the customer to see that they getting a deal with something off plus the rebate. The trade in the dealer always tries to screw the customer and a lot of customers really don't realize that and they think they are getting a good trade in and really the dealer gives them about a $1k to $1500 less than what they should have gotten.

[wheeldrive]

In many states you can still get the tax benefit of reducing the sales taxable amount by the “trade-in” if you sell your old car yourself within a few weeks of the new car purchase. It is not as convenient as trading in at the dealership, but in many cases you’ll make out hundreds if not thousands of dollars better off. The easiest way is to sell your old car first before buying the new car, use the proceeds as down payment on it, and then register the new car yourself, showing the old car sale as “trade-in”. (You pay the tax during the registration process. The seller doesn’t need to collect the tax if they won’t be registering it)

[johncho]

I wish I can facetime your dad and ask a few questions. I learned so much in just a few hours. Bless him!

[aaronbritt]

Best way to calculate your dealer trade in ACV in Vegas is to look up the KBB trade in value in poor condition. That's what the dealer is going to offer. You might be able to talk them up to fair condition value, but that's it. My cars are always in immaculate condition. Trade values are for beaters in need of tons of recon or that need to be wholesaled. It's for this reason, I always sell my cars myself. I've never had to list a car for longer than 2 weeks because I price them accurately and like I said, keep them immaculate.