The old “there’s two kinds of people” thing is something I’ve never been nuts about. Still, I do think it’s appropriate when it comes to buying a new car and whether to sell the current car oneself or trade it in at the dealership (and we’re talking “normal” daily drivers here, not collector cars or creampuffs). Surprisingly, I used to be staunchly in one camp but have now crossed over to the other.
Years ago, trading a car in was absolutely never an option I’d choose. I knew I’d be getting ripped off by the dealer, and even if I made just an extra hundred bucks selling a car myself by putting an ad in a local paper (yes, I’m that old), it was worth the hassle. That way, I didn’t feel like I was leaving money on the table. Back in the day, it wasn’t a huge hassle. I’d get a few calls, a couple of people would take a look at that car, and one would pay close to what I wanted for it. Hell, I would have been embarrassed to even tell other car guys that I traded my old vehicle; that was for people with more money than sense in my book.
Today, that isn’t the case for me. I buy cars used and keep them forever – at least ten years, and only sell them when they have some kind of issue that I don’t feel like resolving. The value when I’m done with them is so low, and the amount I’m paying for the replacement car seems so astronomically high that any difference between trading in and selling myself won’t be much. Besides, I have Mercedes Streeter to pay trade-in value for my old ride and not complain when the cooling system blows up (it did).
Most other buyers would yell and scream that I sold them a rust bucket when they start to dig into the rockers (I had no idea it was that rotten), but Mercedes has never tried to get me blocked from Craigslist or sent threatening texts. You’d be surprised how many purchasers of a $1,500 example of what once was a $52,000 new car expect perfection, or else.
Worse than lousy buyers is the fact that the internet has turned the selling environment into a cesspool. Maybe our own Stephen Gossin or Ms. Streeter can deal with dozens of IS IT AVAILABLE replies, but the worst part is potential buyers who know from the web what I’ll get for my car in trade and think offering that amount or less IN CASH will make me want to hand them the title. Tell me why I’d do that and not just call Carvana.
I’ve also wasted Lord knows how many evenings waiting for no-shows or people who drive the car at wide open throttle and “will come back, but please hold it.” I don’t have the time, and the few hundred bucks (at best) I might make from a private sale isn’t worth it. The bigger issue is when trying to privately sell cars worth Actual Money. Most people do not have $15,000 or $20,000 in cash sitting around, so trying to privately sell some late-model car can be an even bigger exercise in frustration as prospects try to secure credit union loans or similar crap.
I must admit to feeling like a chump when I first traded in a car a few decades ago. Actually, it was sold to Carmax, a way to get rid of a car that didn’t even exist decades ago.
Still, what a liberating feeling; hand over the keys, walk away, and nobody is going to call or text me with YOU SOLD ME A LEMON I WANT A REFUND or subject me to the worse nightmares that Mercedes Streeter has had (hint: do not leave your plates on the car). I’ve never looked back; I’m simply paying for a service to avoid a task I don’t want to do myself, like painting my house. I still die inside a bit every time, though, and know that 22-year-old me would think I’m a loser. Still, 22-year-old me would think I’m a loser regardless; I probably do have more money than sense than I did then.
How about you? Are you still braving the interwebs of half-price lowballers and people asking IS 300ZX A FOUR DOOR, or will you battle it out in the sales cubicle for your next whip? Let me know and I WILL GIVE U $1000 CASH FOR UR CAR.
Top graphic images: Facebook; DepositPhotos.com
As an apartment dweller, I’ll trade if I don’t have an acquaintance lined up that needs (or wants) the car. It’s just too much of a pain to try and juggle 2 vehicles otherwise.
It depends on the situation. Sometime I have a token car that’s basically scrap I want to get rid of and will take their token $1k just be done with it. Sometimes I will shop prices around and use it to negotiate.There were times in the past where I sold to one dealer or carmax or carvana and bought from a different one. I try not to sell anything over $5k myself the transaction starts to get messy. Dealing with casher cheeks, wires, with buyers loans can take a lot of time and headache. Cheap car buyers have become more problematic over the years too. Marketplace is a downgrade in so many ways.
We have bought very few “New” cars over my lifetime, and it’s always wound up being my wife’s car, and only replaced when “worn out” or handed over to me to wear out.
I have always handled the sale, and FB Marketplace is usually the way to go, but when I’m selling something it’s something that’s less than 5K.
My last 2 sales were a 2004 Miata (165K miles, original clutch and rust), an 2013 Mini (165K miles original clutch) to buy my 2016 TDI with now 160K miles 100K of which is mine)
I have Mazda that I tried to sell to Carmax, but did not like experience and have handed it down to my son.
Never traded in always sold privately and was worth it every time vs. the book and trade-in values dealers’ were offering.
I’ve never had the means to buy a new car (at least not one that I’d want), and as time passes, that just gets farther out of reach for cars I’m less and less interested in owning.
My cars come from Craiglist and they leave on Cragslist.
I sell the cars myself. This is mainly because by the time I sell a car, it’s over 10 years old and the dealer won’t give me shit for it. The last car I sold was my wife’s Nissan Versa that was 15 years old. Dealer would have given me a nickel for it. Sold it quickly on FB marketplace.
The next car I plan to replace (although not any time soon) is my Odyssey and that is already 10 years old and will be probably 15 by the time I replace it. Definitely not going to get anything for it if I trade it in for a new one.
None of my cars were useful to any dealership other than a sleazy buy here pay here used car lot so I used to sell them by simply putting a for sale by owner sign in the window along with a lot of details. Probably about 15 years ago I switched to never displaying any contact info whenever possible so I’ve generally had a friend sell them for me on Craigslist / FB Marketplace with the general agreement of anything you get above $X amount is yours, or above $X dollars you keep half I keep half if it’s slightly nicer.
Now that I think about it that’s not that different than trading it in except that no dealer would likely accept the car as a trade-in. I still outsourced the hassle of selling it to a different party.
Vehicles in my jurisdiction require a safety certificate upon registration with a new owner.
Selling a car without the safety is possible and legal, but those cars generally trade for lower value as the likelihood of expensive repairs required before legally registering it is exponentially higher.
I generally own my vehicles until they’re pretty depreciated (and fairly worn), and the bother/cost of getting a safety done on the thing isn’t worth it given the relatively stringent corrosion safety criteria here.
The hit on trade-in versus the hassle of selling to…other people I am forced to share the planet with….isn’t worth the squeeze for the few bucks.
The dealer has the advantage of wholesaling the car to a jurisdiction that is less stringent for safety checks.
Both. I’ve had well over 50 vehicles over the years. Most I’ve sold private party, but a few, mostly recently, I’ve traded in. The recent ones, the trade-in value has been high enough that when coupled with the reduction in sales tax offset any potential gains in sale price I’d get private party. The others were traded in out of convenience, as selling private party just wasn’t worth the hassle at that moment in time.
Depends on what it is and value. In NY, you deduct the trade in value from the amount from which sales tax is calculated from (example: 10k trade in deducts 800 in 8% sales tax)
When I was looking to replace my 03 accord with 220,000mi in 2014, I planned to sell private. The dealer offered 500 just to say they did.
For my 2017 accord this summer, a dealer offered 7500 and 8000. Ended up selling to a carvana like placed for almost 12k instead (now on a lot for 15.5). Could I have made more selling straigjt private? Yes, but not worth the hassel. A sub-5k car seems to sell easy because people might have that cash ready. Over 10k, much harder.
I’ve come around to trade-ins for similar reasons to Bishop. Both times I’ve traded in a car, it’s been roughly equal in value to the down payment on an EV lease, and I’ve told the dealers at the outset of negotiations that I don’t want to pay anything toward the down payment. That way the conversation becomes about whether the lease math will pencil out if we can use my trade-in to satisfy the down payment. This has been a good strategy because the dealers seem to have more leverage to negotiate over trade-in values than just decide to lower your monthly or down payment because you asked nicely.
The first time I traded in a 2011 Impreza (which the dealer falsely labeled as a WRX on the trade in paperwork for some reason) with a notable oil leak and recently repaired damage to two doors and a front bumper. I got a 2021 Kona Electric that I loved for the three years I had it. They offered $2k and I think I talked them up to $3k. The second time I traded a 2012 I-Miev with a ton of cosmetic issues and who knows how many dead battery cells that I had paid $1,650 for and got a 2025 ID.4 S. The VW dealer offered $1,000 and got them to agree to roughly what I paid for it in trade value. The Impreza was later listed for something crazy like $11,000 on the Hyundai lot, and the I-Miev later got sold to a BHPH and listed for $3,999.
Yes, it stings a bit to not only get a lower valuation than on the open market and also put the trade-in toward something that I won’t even own at the end of the lease term, but I’d never be in the market for buying a new EV anyway. As I see it, this strategy plus living in states that have had solid rebate programs for which leases are eligible has been the only way for me to access the experience of having new EVs in my driveway with affordable (sub-$200) monthly payments.
This is the way. Negotiating selling price is a fool’s errand especially with in demand cars. Negotiating the best trade in value is the way to go.
I have only sold cars my cars and motorcycles private party, but for the most part they have been worthless to dealers, but more valuable to the private market. I usually find the cheapest functional version for sale locally and beat or match their price. 80% of the time that has resulted in a quick sale with little to no dicking around but also a better return then I can get from the dealer, 20% of the time it still sucks. Until recently I have mostly dealt under $5k, which is worthless to a dealer.
My wife generally drives appliances, and the last one was traded in, the current one will depend on its condition when we need to replace it. We are also entering a point in our lives where we buy dailies from dealerships; my toys are pretty much the only thing we get used from private classifieds. Anything over $10k I am leery of the buyers ability to pay, if they need a loan, or want to bring a check I ask that we meet at their bank so I can confirm the payment is legit, and that is a real hassle.
My first big Facebook sale was to trade my wife’s 2011 Kia Sorento SX for $8500 in 2021 just before car prices went absolutely nuts in 2022.
I had a flurry of people blowing up Messenger for it, and one guy drove almost 3h for it and gave me a stack of cash on the spot. I was actually dumbfounded that the deal went through as I marked the listing as ‘sold’.
It paid for nearly a third of a used $30k ’16 Explorer Platinum with 39k miles at the time. That car had a MSRP of $53k!
But I have sold another car (a Saabaru Aero) and my ’96 VFR750 on FB and both went great.
I hate getting screwed over on trade-ins, so this is the way.
I’ve traded in cars so far. None have been unique and they’re part of the negotiations. Also at least in the states I’ve bought in so far the sales tax is on the net of the transaction, so you save a little sales tax.
I’ve done both.
My GF just signed a lease for a new Kia Niro last weekend and they were only going to give her $450 for a trade in on her old Fiat 500X. I mean it’s not great, but I’m pretty sure I will get $1-2k for a running small SUV thing.
But I don’t look forward to Marketplace.
Just depends on which way will get me the best deal, including time spent dealing with it. It only comes up once a decade or so, though, so conditions change wildly between selling one car and the next, and I have no idea which way I’ll go next time until I get there and see what the market is like.
I’m in the private sale camp. When I had a brief stint in auto sales twenty years ago, I learned the dealer needed a 5-6K USD spread between trade and resale price to cover expenses. I imagine that’s closer to 10K today. I’m too thrifty to take that kind of haircut. Besides, I’m good at haggling and I enjoy weeding out the idiots and scammers. YMMV, and do an ‘as is’ bill of sale signed by buyer.
I’ve sold to Carvana the past couple times I have needed to get rid of a car since they were offering several thousand more than what any dealer would offer. They spend about 5 minutes looking at the car before giving you exactly what was quoted on the price and you leave. The whole process took under 15 minutes the last time I was there.
I’ve only ever purchased one car from a dealer and have never traded in, so there’s my answer. I’m willing to deal with some of the hassles of selling a car to make more money.
Second verse, same as the first. Bought one car from a dealer and hope to never do so again.
I’ve owned over 50 cars and have only traded in ONE. I tried for months to sell it. It never failed though, something would always go wrong. I couldn’t keep it fixed long enough for someone to actually buy it. An yes, I feel guilty selling a giant piece of junk that couldn’t get someone to work. So I traded it in for a pretty big loss but I honestly didn’t care. The car a traded for was older and japanese and needed a few fixes but I knew it would be miles better that the one I traded in. If anyone’s interested it was a 2001 volvo xc70. I have refused to own another volvo since then.
I will sell privately for a cheap old vehicle that will get me almost nothing as a trade, but I’ll sell to CarMax or trade in to avoid the hassle on anything worth enough buyers might need to get loan or any time the value difference isn’t massive. And the additional value in sales tax savings if I’m trading it in may not be massive, but it is often enough to make a difference.
Last time I tried to sell privately, my friend had a mirror/mirror collision with a parked car, several people wanted to offer too low, one wanted to buy the shell, not the pickup, and the kid who did buy needed me to hold it until he could get his car to CarMax…he did actually show up with cash in hand, though.
I’d be curious to know how many states offer a credit for trade-in on the sales/registration taxes for the new purchase. That ultimately influences my decision since the difference between the private sale price and trade-in value rarely is enough to cover the credit I’d get on trade-in.
Edit to add: Does any state allow that credit from private sales? Probably not since that would be ripe for fraud.
I’ve never had some rare, old or exotic that might make things different in that calculation, just normal cars. So I have nearly always traded my car for the next in line.
My rule is that any vehicle I expect to get $5k or less for, I sell it myself and deal with the flakes and tire kickers. Above that level, I will trade it in or sell to CarMax/Carvana.
I found that $5k is around the max you can find someone who can pay cash. Anything above that and the number of people that ask about payments goes up significantly.
The 5000 number applies to any toy you might want to sell also.
In my State, Washington, trading in a car to the dealer you are buying your next new/used one from reduces your sales tax burden. So trading in a 10k car on a 30k one means you only pay sales tax on the difference of 20k, which at 10% means you’re basically getting an extra 10% on your trade in.
That said, when I bought my Maverick I traded in my Focus ST and they gave me a garbage price for trade in, 9k, so I walked across the street to Honda and they gave me 12k. So I didn’t get the tax credit, but it was close enough to a private sale that I didn’t care.
When I buy my next car, I’m simply keeping the old one.