Quote:
Originally Posted by TitaniumBones
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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In most states, you receive a tax break for the new vehicle if you trade in your old vehicle. The question then becomes, can you sell your car 2-4k more than trade in value just to break even? If you're going to break even selling privately, it would make sense to just do the trade in.
It looks like California doesn't have the tax incentive.