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Tuesday, July 02, 2013

Should I Trade In My Car Or Sell It Myself?

When buying a new car, should you trade your old one in or see how much you can get on the open market? The conventional wisdom is that you get more money on your own, but meeting with buyers and doing paperwork is a hassle you may not want to bother with. Also consider the tax advantages in some states if you trade in at the same dealer where you buy your new car. [Consumer Reports]

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

always sell it yourself if at all possible.
dealers rip you blind on trades.

Anonymous said...

If you're lazy, trade it in. If you like money, sell it yourself.

Anonymous said...

I have found that locally it needs to be a car priced under 10K to sell yourself.

Anonymous said...

It's certainly better to sell it yourself as long as you don't mind strangers knocking on your door.

Anonymous said...

Selling it your self makes more money for your self. Trading it you don't make as much since they are running a business that requires time and money for employees. So sell it your self takes time. Trade it you lose money. but with today's economy trading it is better and you don't have to worry about selling it and you can get the new car faster.

Anonymous said...

First, you have to have something someone is willing to buy. Second, you have to find someone with the cash or credit to get the cash to pay whatever price you ask. Third, private sellers won't tell you what is wrong with what they are selling since they want the highest price they can get.

If you have a popular, well maintained and reasonably priced vehicle, sure, it would probably be worth your time to sell it yourself.

Other than that, it will take awhile to unload it, you will have an untold number of strangers knocking on your door, and an eyesore sitting in your yard with tall grass around it.

But hey, you might make an extra 500 bucks. That is so worth the headaches...not.

Anonymous said...

People will buy anything.
I sold a 2002 grand am in 2011.
it had lost it's anti lock brakes, the dash board was coming off, it needed all new tires, and one window did not go up and down.
it booked for about $4000.00.
and someone that was a fixer upper, gave me that exact price.
sold on delmarvalife classifieds. transaction took a total of 22 hours from when first contacted.
dealer "generously offered" me $2500.00.
i used the $4000.00 as cash and got the deal even sweeter.