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Real Value of Your Vehicle - When Trading
Of course, if you don't have the time or feel too intimidated by the process, feel free to trade-in your old car or even donate it to a good charity. If you do decide to sell it yourself, this article will help you obtain a fair market price for your car. Although the trade-in is very profitable for the dealer, it could be one of the weakest parts of the new car deal for you. The dealer will rarely give you your car's true market value when you trade it in. Instead, he'll give you only a small percentage of its fair market value – the smaller the better, in his opinion. In most situations, trading your old car in for that new one will cost you money. In some cases, it could cost you a lot of money. In other cases, even more. In a perfect world, your old car's trade-in value would be no different than its actual private market value. Unfortunately, however, if your dealer offers you market value for your trade-in you can be pretty sure he's probably making up the difference somewhere else. For some though, the convenience and straightforwardness of trading in their old car at the same place they buy their new one will be a deal they can't refuse. Before you even consider trading in your car, it's essential that you research its fair market value so that you can negotiate a fair market price. Getting a great deal needs plenty of research, lots of knowledge, and tons of work. Here are some great web sites and other destinations, both on and offline, that you can use to get a good reference point when trying to pin down the true market value of your vehicle. Remember, information is your friend so gather as much of it as possible. Edmunds.com is perhaps one of the best-known web sites for determining a car's fair market value or, as Edmunds.com calls it, its true market value. TMVs found on Edmunds.com, however, may be tilted slightly and unrealistically in your favor. Kelley Blue Book provides similar statistics as Edmunds.com and is a source used and preferred by dealers. NADA is similar to both Edmunds.com and Kelley Blue Book but is a source that is mainly relied on by banks and other financial institutions. Some other great sites to go to for information are Cars.com, AutoTrader.com, CarsDirect.com, Auto123.com, and even AOL, MSN, and Yahoo. Most of these sites provide very down to earth information from real people. If there is a CarMax store near you, take your car in to get a free appraisal. You may even want to stop in at a few used car lots that sell similar vehicles to yours, see what they're asking for theirs, and find out what they might offer you for yours. eBay can also sometimes be a big help. I've personally used it countless times and it has served as a fairly good resource for researching used vehicle pricing. Remember to always search through the completed listings where you will see the full details on the cars and their prices as well as which ones sold and which ones did not. This should help to give you a better feel for used car prices. Pore over the automobile classifieds section in your local paper to see what individuals and dealerships are asking for similar used vehicles. If you really want to get into it, try placing a free ad on Craigslist. Don't include a phone number if you don't want to, just have all inquiries sent to you via email. This tactic can show you the amount of interest there is in your car as well as its average fair market price. Once you've determined the trade-in value of your car at the low end and its average private-party value at the high end, you'll be armed with all the information you need and ready to rumble. When the dealer asks you what you want for your car, immediately hit him with a number that is both high end and realistic. Remember, you want to try to get as close to retail value as possible, but don't be afraid to go down a little so that he can make a little money too. |
Finding What the Real Value of Your Vehicle.