How To Get The Best Trade In Value

You head out to the car lot. When you are purchasing a new car and decide to use your old one for trade-in, the dealer offers you a price. This amount will probably be less than what you'd get if you sold your car to a private party, because the dealer must account for certain costs (inspections, reconditioning, etc.).

How do you know what your auto's trade-in value is? There are several sources out there thant can help you. Two popular, free sites are Kelley Blue Book and NADA guides. Recently, the BuyingAdvice Team researched and compared these two sites' trade-in values for 100 autos. For most cars, KBB offered a value 10% lower than NADA. This is probably because NADA assumes the car is in good condition. However, the values came closer together for luxury or more expensive vehicles.

Kelley Blue Book offers more options when determining the trade-in value. For example, it takes into account your car's condition. It also has values for some cars that are not in the NADA database. However, we'd recommend looking into both sites. You can also try Black Book, although their system is more complicated and it takes a while to process info. The values listed in Black Book are usually in between NADA and KBB.

What factors need to be taken into account to determine your trade-in value? Any extras increase the value of your car. High mileage decreases value, as well as extreme wear and tear. To determine what price to offer you, your car will be driven around and inspected. A Carfax report will probably be used. Mileage and paint are usually really important. Also, don't think that the dealership should offer you the amount you still owe for the car.

You can always estimate a good trade-in value. However, the price you are offered will depend on many factors out of your control, such as how many same model cars are on the lot. If there is a lot of interest in Honda Civics, and you happen to offer one to a dealer when they're running low, you'll probably get a good price.

One last tip: if you think your car's value could be increased with a few minor fixes, go for it. Sometimes a few cheap repairs can go a long way. For more on used cars and trade-ins, go to this page.

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