Are you wondering, “should I trade-in my car or sell it to myself?” well, if you don't like to deal with the car selling hassle, it is better to trade-in your vehicle. However, if you're looking for more cash, you'd better sell your car yourself privately.
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It is very exciting that you decided to buy a new car and the main question now for you is it better to trade or sell your old car.
Depending on your vehicle type and your personal goals, answering this question can differ significantly.
For example, if you’re looking for the most cash, you’d better go with selling your car privately. However, it is associated with the most hassle, especially when dealing with strangers coming to your private property.
This article walks through the main pros and cons of selling versus trading in your car. We advise that you read them in detail before making a final decision.
Should I trade-in my car?
One of the most frequently asked questions we receive from multiple customers, especially when they want to buy a new vehicle, is “Is it worth trading in your car?”
By training a new car, you get a lot of benefits including:
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No hassle in the car selling process
In general, it is known that training in a car to a dealership is one of the easiest methods to sell old vehicles if the dealership accepts your car.
You don't need to worry about all the necessary paperwork. You don't have to go through the DMV website to understand what necessary paperwork is needed to finalize the deal. You don't need to deal with multiple strangers to come to your private property to check your vehicle.
Also, dealerships are the fastest method to sell your old car, and in many situations, you can finalize the deal same day and walk home with the payments.
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Taxable sales reductions
Also, when you sell your car dealership, you can take advantage of paying much lower taxes on sales.
Some states might only charge you taxes on the difference between your trade-in vehicle value and the brand-new vehicle.
On the other hand, one of the biggest drawbacks of selling hard to the dealership is getting a lower offer.
Dealerships are great at negotiations, and they can pinpoint multiple problems in your vehicle to provide and what was offered possible.
They usually will provide you with an offer that is much lower than the used car's market value, the same as they're willing to pay for the car's manufacturer.
Should I sell my car myself?
While trading in your car is a great option to get you a fast and safe car selling process, it doesn't provide you with the top offers, as we mentioned earlier.
The great thing about selling your car yourself is that you can get whatever offer you are interested in, and you will not be forced to accept the deal unless you find the best buyer.
The first step to successfully sell your car for the most cash is to evaluate it. You can use one of the following methods:
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Kelley Blue Book instant cash offer
Kelley Blue Book has an online tool to input information about your vehicle's type and condition, and mileage. The tool then provides the minimum and maximum values you can expect for your vehicle when selling it privately.
Keep in mind that the Kelley Blue Book value does not reflect any major problems in your car, and you have to subtract the cost of the problems from the KBB value.
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Visit a professional mechanic
You can also take your vehicle to our mechanic and have him inspect the car to tell you what it's worth. The mechanical pinpoint initial problems in your vehicle and subtract them from the total value of this car.
Some people find it a lot expensive to perform a pre-selling inspection, which might sometimes be higher than the value of the vehicle, especially for non-running cars.
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Cash Cars Buyer online tool
Cash Cars Buyer has an online form where you can input the basic information about your vehicle's type and condition and get a rough estimate about how much you pay can buy it from you. With that, you can have a good understanding of how much your vehicle is exactly worth around your area.
If you would like to know how much extra money can make when selling your car privately versus training at the end, you can use some of the available tools online like Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds.
Both tools will provide you with a trade-in value and a selling privately that value. With that, you can understand if it's worth going through selling your car privately or it's not going to make much more money than trading your vehicle in.
While it is awesome to sell the car privately because it will get a lot of money, the process can be very complicated, especially for inexperienced car sellers.
For example, if you decided to sell your car through a classified website like Craigslist more eBay motor, you have to deal with a lot of hassle learning how to create the posts and dealing with multiple potential buyers who might not end up buying your vehicle.
Also, dealing with private buyers can be a whole hassle, especially for those who are not comfortable meeting strangers on their private properties. Besides, it's been reported that a lot of people got scammed, especially by people who found them through classified websites.
When should you trade-in your car?
Some people believe that you should change your car once every two to three years. You could either sell this car or trade it in. But the question always remains when it's the right time to trade-in your car?
Well, the best answer here is to compare your car's trade-in value to the normal selling value while taking into consideration multiple other factors.
If you notice that your vehicle is requesting a lot of maintenance that is causing you some good amount of money, it might be the right time to trade-in the car or sell it. However, deciding between selling a car or trading it in depends on your main goals. For instance, if you're looking for the most money to use towards your new vehicle, you can sell it privately.
You need to keep in mind that it's never recommended to trade-in your relatively newer vehicle. Did you know that immediately after you purchase a vehicle and walk away from the dealership, it surprise reduced by about 10% to 20%?
Then, if your vehicle is relatively new, it is never recommended to trade it in because you're not going to get a good offer.
Let's take a look at some of the common factors bad can help you decide on the perfect timing for trading in your car:
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Mileage
While many people think that their vehicle mileage might drop the trading price significantly, according to Edmunds, your vehicle's mileage will not affect the overall trading price buy a whole lot.
It's known that you might see a slight reduction in your vehicle's value every 10,000 miles, and even this reduction is not considered killing.
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The model year
If you're trying to trade-in civil in your vehicle, expect that this vehicle will retain about 60% to 70% from its original value even if your car has a good number of miles.
This did not necessarily mean that except older vehicles. A dealership will pay you a good offer if you well maintained your vehicle and if your car is in good shape, even if it's five years old or older.
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Trade-in month
In general, we all tend to search for discounts and end-of-the-year sales for any item to buy.
The same goes for vehicles and automobiles. At the end of the year, the dealership might offer you much more money than at the beginning of the year.
On the other hand, there must be a good reason for you to wait until the end of the year to sell your car because the more you own it, the more valuable it will depreciate.
Another thing to keep in mind that dealerships are willing to buy more cars at the beginning of the year versus at the end of the year because there will be much more buyers in the first couple of quarters.
You need to be wise and mindful about negotiating a trade-in value with the dealership in October versus in March.
What is the best mileage to trade-in a car?
Any vehicle below 100,000 miles is good for trading in. After that 100,000 miles mark, dealerships will see your vehicle as a wholesale, and they will offer just the trade-in value as the auction.
Keep in mind that the vehicle's value faces depreciation, which means that the older your car and the more mileage it has, the lower its offer.
However, as we mentioned earlier, your vehicle's mileage is not everything, and there are many other factors that dealerships take into consideration before coming up with the final offer.
How to trade-in a car that is not paid off?
Trading in a car that is not paid off is not very rare. You can reach out to the lender and ask him for the amount you'll still oh.
Once you have that amount, the next step is to check your vehicle's value and receive multiple appraisers from different dealerships.
The dealership will usually pay off the money you all have on your vehicle and subtracted it from your vehicle's value. Once they complete the difference, they put this amount towards your brand-new vehicle.
For example, if you have a 2012 Ford Focus worth $6000 by your dealership, and you owe $2000 on this vehicle, the dealership will pay off the loan and evaluate your car as $4000 only. This $4000 goes towards your brand-new vehicle of choice as a down payment.
Should I trade-in my car or sell it Reddit
If you are still unclear about whether to trade-in your car or sell, it's come with all the advice to look into some of the people's feedback about their experience with selling versus trading in their cars.
A good start point would be to check on Reddit and see the customer's feedback.
On Reddit, several people put questions and give many discussions from experienced car sellers that might be around your area. You might get some hints about the best timing to trade-in your vehicle around your area, and at the same time, you can get some ideas about how complicated it is to sell a car privately.
The bottom line
There is nothing more exciting than buying a brand-new vehicle. However, the challenge comes in when you need to get rid of your old one.
When it comes to whether to trade-in your car or sell it, the answer depends on your mean goals and objectives. For example, if you are one of those people who hate to negotiate and don't want to deal with paperwork while needing to get rid of the car fast, dealerships are a great option for you.
On the other hand, if you're looking for the most money out of your car, dealerships will not provide you with the top offers, and it will usually be below the used car market and, you better go with private buyers.
If you feel that you are still not happy with both methods, we advise her to reach out to Cash Cars Buyer. Cash Cars Buyer is one of the top-rated companies that guarantee to buy your car despite its type or condition while providing the top offers.
To get started, you can give us a call at 866-924-4608 or visit our home page and click on the free instant online offer.