Should I Trade in My Old Car or Sell it Myself?

When you trade in your old car on your next car, the dealer will try to retail your car or sell it at auction for more than he allowed you in trade. If he successfully retails your car, he will make about $2,000. If he wholesales it at the auction, the profit will be less. You should know that this is what the dealer wants to do. Sometimes it doesn’t work out that way and he will lose money on your car at the auction. Or, he may be unable to retail your car and then most certainly lose money when he is forced to wholesale it.

Obviously it is more difficulty for an individual to make a profit by selling her own trade-in than it is for the dealer. That is one of the main considerations you must consider before deciding to sell your old car yourself. Most people run an ad in the local paper and/or online (www.CraigsList.com) to advertise their trade. If you do this, you need to know what to ask for your car, and I recommend consulting www.kbb.com. This is Kelly Blue Book’s Web site and will tell you about what your car is worth wholesale and retail. Another way to determine this is to ask dealers for your make of your car what they will buy it for. This will establish the wholesale value. CarMax is a good company to consult if there is one near you. Once you establish the wholesale, you should consider a markup of less than what car dealers are asking. A $1,000 markup is about half of what car dealers are marking up used cars for and a good price for you to try. When deciding how much profit you want to make, remember that you’re losing the 6% (or whatever state sales tax applies) sales tax reduction that you earn when you trade your car in. This takes a lot of work and you will be dealing with a lot of “tire-kickers” and people who cannot afford to buy your car. I strongly advise you not to extend credit. Require full payment in cash. There’s also the “security issue” of having strangers visit your home and drive our car. Set a time limit on how long you will try to sell your car. Remember that your used car is depreciating every week and your cost of advertising will climb. I wouldn’t suggest you hang on to your old car for more than a month.

www.Ebay.com, is a good alternative to advertising your car in the newspaper. A lot of car dealers use eBay to retail used cars and it is very effective. There are schools on how to retail merchandise on eBay and eBay has tutorials. There are also a lot of books at any bookstore on this subject. There are companies who will do all the work for you and you only pay them a fee if they are successful in selling your car. If the dealer you are buying your new car from sells cars on eBay (most do), you can ask him if he will post yours eBay along with his cars for a fee. www.AutoTrader.com is also a good way to advertise your car online.

If you fail in your attempt to retail your old car, remember to be careful to maximize the amount you get from your dealer as trade-in. Often dealers will attempt to trade a car in for below wholesale. Be sure you have a firm handle on the true wholesale value of your trade. You can get bids from other dealerships to purchase your car for cash and you can check with www.kbb.com. If you are buying a car from a dealer franchised to sell a different make than your trade-in, be wary. This dealer will likely be unable to offer you as much as a dealer who is franchised to sell the make of your trade. People looking to buy a used Toyota are more likely to visit a Toyota dealership than a Chevrolet dealership. That is why it’s important to get bids from other dealerships before accepting the trade-in offered by the dealer you’re buying your new car from.