I'm about to show my age/n00bish nature towards car buying, but I wanted to get you guy's advice on dealing with a trade-in.

I'm currently driving a '01 Eclipse GT (loaded) with 45k on it. I've been looking at the Z for a couple months now and hopefully I'll be in one by the end of next month. I've only had one other vehicle and I traded that one in for this Eclipse. This time I'm trying to get as much out of my vehicle as possible so I can get my Z payments down as low as possible.

So onto my question...did you guys have good luck trading in your vehicles at the dealer or did you sell it yourself? The only reason I'm worried about trading it in is because I don't want them to have leverage over the payments and price of the vehicle. I've been lurking around this board for a little while now and you guys seem to know how to get the best deal around. If you guys could give me any advice that would be great. Thanks.

 

The dealer will screw you on the trade-in. No ifs, ands or buts. Just take a look on kbb.com or edmunds.com at the difference between used car "retail" and used car "trade-in" values. For your car I would guess it's around $3000.

The only thing you can do to offset this is to attempt to sell your car privately, but this can be a pain in the *** or downright fruitless (like the dealers aren't aware of this). If you need to lower your payments as much as possible, you should probably try to sell it privately. As far as trading it in, don't be afraid to shop it around to several dealers...you may find one who has a buyer in mind and will give you a better price for it.

One final word of advice...never trade in a car that has negative equity (i.e. you will be getting less for it than the loan buyout).

 

I own the car outright, so I don't have to worry about negative equity. I got a pretty good deal on my previous trade-in ($7k for a 96 Chevy SWB truck in 2002), so it kinda makes me want to try and get a good deal again with the dealer...but on the other hand I've heard horror stories from people trying to get a good deal on their trade-in.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't want the dealer to say "Oh you're already getting a really good deal since we're giving you a bit for your trade-in, so the price will stay where it is." I need tips on how to get around that situation if you guys have any.

Edit: I looked up the Blue Book value on my car and it said it was at $11k.

 

There really isn't any advice to give. You just need to know the value of your car and take nothing less. In addition, do your research on Edmunds to find the invoice price with the options you want and present it to the dealer. If you go in with documentation you are less likely to get screwed. In all honesty it may be a wiser decision to sell your car privately though. When I traded in my Accord they only gave me the price between trade-in and retail...In other words I lost about $1500 just because I didn't want to wait to sell my car to a private owner.

 

one additional thing to consider is the sales tax implications. I'm not sure how Texas is, but in Georgia, you only pay sales tax on the difference between the new car and trade in. If you bought a new Z for 25k and they gave you 11k, you would only pay sales tax on 14k.

We traded the G in tonite on a Dodge Magnum and really got a good surprise. Although we only paid sales tax on payments, we still get full credit for the trade in towards sales tax. We saved 1800 in tax, which made up for the difference in selling ourselves and the pain in the assedness of it. Plus, we got more than the lease buyout in trade

 

speedracergt,

I've bought my share of vehicles, as I'm sure a lot of people on this forum have. What you have to learn, which I did thankfully at a young age (22), is that the car dealers basically use two sets of numbers when making the deal which involves a trade in.

1) retail to retail - this means they will take your card in trade for what is the "retail" amount, and in turn, they will sell you their car for "retail" as well. I don't know if the value of your car you stated is wholesale or retail, but here's an example, (pretty self explanatory but most people don't understand it.)

your car = $11,000
new Z = $31,000 (just an example)

difference = 20,000

2) wholesale to wholesale - again, self explanatory.

your car = $7500
new Z = $27,5000

difference = $20,000

so, you see, it's the same difference. however, they will obviously try to wholesale your car and retail their car. You have to be firm and tell them since they're "wholesaling" your car, you should get "wholesale" on their car. All dealers will understand this. I've made many a deal, and without wasting too much time, by being honest and firm with them. Not being an a-hole, but standing my ground. Never be afraid to get anything extra from them, as they will undoubtedly do it to you. Also, don't be afraid to walk out on the deal if it isn't to your liking. If you act as if you really don't care if you get the new Z or not, they'll believe you and will be more willing to deal, as they'll know you're not desperate for the new Z. Good luck.

By the way, I bought my 03 track in 6/03, for invoice, using the above described way.

 

Awesome. Thanks for the advice. I'll keep that in mind when I go to deal.