Trade ins are always a bad deal as most dealers only want your car if they can steal it from you. Best way of course is to sell it private party. Either way, you want to establish what is called a 'BATNA' (stupid attempt at an acronym I know, but it's a sales training thing). Best alternative to a negotiated agreement. Bring the car to carmax, get a quote. Bring the car to a couple of dealers, get a quote. I've found cars.com does an online quoting thing that can get some decent offers from independent dealers also. Whatever the best offer is here, you know is the BATNA. Try to sell it private party for anything above that if you want a quick sale, or bring your best offer to the dealer you like. Have them quote the car, then if it's worse than other offers give them the best you've got and say they can have it if they beat that offer.
Time is really your friend on selling a car, if you can be patient for a private party to find that just right person who loves your particular car and have the luxury of turning down mid tier offers you'll get top dollar eventually from some grandma that thinks kelly blue book private party is a bargain.
Just never let your cars trade in have anything to do with the negotiation of your new cars price. They should be two independent transactions.
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Originally Posted by ayau
Agreed. The first batch of a new vehicle, especially if it's obvious there's more demand than there is supply, MSRP seems to be reasonable.
How do you handle getting the most out of your trade in? You pretty much have to go to the physical dealer to get an appraisal done.
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