when trading in a car...
 

should you perform maitenance and fix defects before trying to trade in?

my car is due for new brake pads and resurfacing of the rotors. i plan on trading it in within 6k miles, it seems pointless to pay for this if i'm getting rid of it soon. but if it will significantly increase the trade in value then i will?

i also have 1 small door ding. is it worth the cost and trouble of trying to get PDR done to it or will it not make a big enough difference in the trade in cost?

You will not raise the trade-in value enough to pay for the cost of repairs. Let the dealership you're trading it in at deal with all that.

I'd recommend no. In my experience, the dealers have never inspected the car before buying it from me. Once they did a test drive, but no one has done a mechanical inspection of it before buying it from me. But this is just 2 cases in the last 6 years, so kind of sparse data.

I think used car salesmen are so arrogant that they think they could literally sell a piece of shit, so they probably don't care what condition your car is in. At least that's my take on it.

I traded my like new 2006 Dodge Durango and ended up paying them to take it off my hands... glad I didn't fix the A/C. :thumbsup:

this was my thoughts on it, i'd raher not take the time and money to deal with it and let them handle it.


good to know they might not even do an inspection on it.

I'm sort of concerned about my exhaust on my Camaro. I have just a couple of mid-pipes on the car and it makes it considerably loud. Should I go ahead and throw the stock mid-pipes back on? Or do you think I can give the dealership the original mid-pipes and they'll do it?

My comment in another thread when asked about trade ins.

Basically spruce it up as best you can and fix anything cheap. Don't worry about stuff you can't see. Most dealers won't drive the car. They may start it up or do a cursory visual inspection but things like brakes are not worth it.

Make it LOOK good so they can visualize it on their lot and it will go a long way.

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This is different at carmax. They are much more thorough and will drive the car to ensure everything functions properly.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?p=303636

Another post of mine on trades. Useful info....I think.

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Can you do it and then sell the aftermarket pipes? Closer the car is to stock, the more money you get. Mods = Abuse for appraisers.

Yeah I was gonna sell them and put stockers back on. I'm just lazy lol

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Get a quote from Carmax so before you go to the dealership you have a figure/idea how much your trade-in car is worth.

Good luck! :)

It would be nice to the next owner if you did those things (just think of how you have felt when buying a used car from a dealership, hoping that the last owner took care of it, despite what the salespeople say), but you don't have to. As others have said, if your intention is to increase the amount that the dealership would give you for it as a trade-in, then don't worry about fixing things that aren't obvious.

Having worked at a dealership before, the used inventory sales manager does take a look at it, but it's usually just a visual inspection of the exterior and interior. They don't road test it and will only look for issues that they'd notice while driving the car from wherever it is to wherever the manager will look at it, though if the dealership is small enough, they may not have to drive it at all. So unless your car has a bad belt that squeaks when the engine is running, they're not going to notice anything. They won't look at brakes or anything (unless they squeal like crazy), but if the car has tires worn to the point where they will definitely need to be replaced, then count on the trade-in value going down.

Regarding the door ding, the amount that you'd put into fixing it is likely more than what extra money they'd give you if it weren't there, plus they might have a guy at the dealership who could fix it anyway. Just make the car look fairly presentable, such as just giving it a decent car wash before bringing it in, since that may upgrade its documented condition in their eyes (i.e. going from "good" to "very good" if the paint is in good shape and is apparent when it's clean). If you bring in a dirty car, the used car manager might ding you for it (no pun intended) since they may have to account for blemishes that they can't see immediately, as some people try to hide scratches with dirt when getting rid of a car.

I wouldn't worry about it too much, but if I were you, I'd just swap the stock exhaust back in and sell the old one for cheap. I remember when I worked at a car dealership, a younger kid in his early 20s traded in a 2002 WRX for a used 2004 M3. He had come in earlier that week but had swapped out his aftermarket turboback exhaust, but I think it's because the sales manager said we couldn't take it like that, but it was probably because it wasn't technically street legal and certainly wouldn't pass smog in California. Before re-conditioning it once we took it in, I noticed that the aftermarket exhaust had been stuffed into the trunk, though my manager said that I could have it if I wanted it since he'd just throw it away. I sold it on nasioc for $250... easy money. You might as well be the one to pocket it.

Wash/vacuum/etc. A nice looking vehicle makes a good first impression, tells the dealer you care about the car and kept it clean and maintained.

Just get your car REALLY shiney and then sell it to carmax. I was able to sell my car for $1000 less than the blue book value. I actually think carmax overpaid for my car =P