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
If I’m for sure getting rid of it I’ll get the trade-in offer and see if anyone I know wants it for that price + tax offset. If nobody bites, I’ll just trade it in. Well, if I am 99.99% sure it’ll pass SMOG.
I used to be a sell it myself person, but after I got t-boned in the car I had up for sale on the way to clean it up to show an interested party (and had already purchased its replacement), a very stressed out younger version of myself was on pins and needles hoping it would get totaled (it did). I did the math on the next purchase, and offsetting the sales tax from the trade in made it no longer worth my while and stress to sell.
Everyone has a different situation, but can we all agree the FB marketplace algo sucks.
Usually the dealer offer is laughable, but sometimes they act like they can’t budge on the price of the new vehicle but can add some to the trade-in. I got a decent offer on my Focus ST, honestly it was cleaner than the 7 years newer van I was buying. Decided to keep the ST and still buy the van.
I was surprised as to what the dealership offered me for my 15 year old F150 with 150k mailes on it, it was about $9k so I happily traded it in. And it when Ford was doing employee pricing so it wasn’t because I was getting fleeced on the new truck sale.
I’ll never trade in a car because I’ll never sell a car worth more than a couple grand.
In the explicit definition of ‘Trade’ In, I’ll also never trade in a car because I won’t be buying a new car, or new enough car that I’ll need the value of my current vehicle to offset the price tag.
I do need a ruling on scrapping a car, since I’m technically selling it to a business based on a price they gave me.
The last car I sold was a few weeks ago. Entire deal took 5 minutes from deciding to sell it to a friend of a friend agreeing to give me $300, sight unseen. It was a clapped out SN95 Mustang V6 stick with zero options, severe rust, a misfire, and a broken odometer north of 200k miles. Even at $300 I feel a little bad, but not my problem.
Trade in
I don’t think my ’16 Escalade would catch much money, and trading it in is less hassle
Milk spilled and soaked somewhere in the back, so the whole car smells like rotten eggs. The A/C doesn’t work. I’ve seen some mold on the B pillar. The screen has a dead spot. And the transmission makes very scary vibrations when you downshift.
Oh. And it took a few trips of about 3,500 miles without any rest, which I don’t assume does any good for it.
And we got it from trading in our G8 (yes, I know, terrible decision, but I already have a Firebird and C3 Vette and sedans don’t work for me daily) and it was already in questionable condition
I’m like you. I used to sell them on my own. I habitually run my cars well past 100K miles. I sold my 16-year-old Jetta TDI to a friend for the trade-in value. The 2017 Accord I replaced it with hasn’t turned 100K yet. It’s the last of the V6 Accords and I don’t know how much longer I will want to drive it, but I do know that I will not be bothering with a DIY sale.
Hint: Look up your state laws. In mine, the plate stays with the car.
The only vehicle I’ve sold privately was my Honda PCX. Every car got traded in because it’s less hassle, and if the amount extra I stand to make selling privately is less than (or close to) what I’ll lose in taxes by not trading in then it’s a no-brainer.
For most of my car buying life, I’ve dealt exclusively with private party sales, both buying and selling.
However, starting about 6-7 years ago I started buying from dealers, and now 4 of the last 5 cars I’ve purchased have been from dealers because dealing with finding and purchasing one from an individual has just gotten to be too much of a pain – and due to my semi rural location I kept missing out of cars I wanted to buy because the timing didn’t work out (they would sell it to someone else before our schedules would be compatible.
However, I’ve only sold via private party, generally my cars end up only being worth a few thousand bucks and I’m not willing to give them away to a dealer. Surprisingly, my last two car sales went pretty well and fast, the first person came to see them and bought them at my asking price.
I have 2 now that I need to sell.
Normally, my ‘old’ car is worth so little* I’ll take any option which leaves me not responsible for it any more. My last car was actually worth maybe a couple of grand, except that I knew I’d hurt the engine, and didn’t want to sell it to an individual, because I’d feel bad for selling them something that would likely blow up. Instead I sold it to one of the many car buying sites in the UK, and accepted the £600 ish they gave me.
Last I checked, they’d cleaned it, sent it to auction, and some dealer in London is trying to sell it.
*(In the UK, a car without an MoT might be worth a negative amount of cash)