when trading in a car...

[Synack]

Originally Posted by denverizzles

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

This Toyota dealership is giving me about $1500 more than KBB quotes for Excellent. Too bad Camaro's trade in value is crap to begin with.

[denverizzles]

Originally Posted by Synack

This Toyota dealership is giving me about $1500 more than KBB quotes for Excellent. Too bad Camaro's trade in value is crap to begin with.

Then i think the best advice would be to shop around and see where you can get the most money. Whether you trade your car in or sell it, the money from the sold car is going towards the down payment.

[Shagaliscious]

It depends...if your vehicle has over 100k miles, I don't think cleaning it would get you anymore money, but a new vehicle definitely. They might pay more than you think if they can turn the car around quickly, but that all depends on your area.

That being said 6k miles is a descent amount...I would get your brakes taken care of.

[pr086]

deeznuts you sound very knowledgable on the subject. my car also has a problem with the paint on the roof, there are blotches where the clear coat has eroded and left it dull. this is a problem with the paint on the 8th gen si's and there are many documented cases. i could probably raise a stink and get honda of america to pay for at least some of a repaint, but again, i don't know if it's worth the time and effort of bothering a dealership to contact HOA and go through the whole process. how big of a deal are paint imperfections when trading in?

[DeeezNuuuts83]

It's hard to gauge "how big of a deal" paint imperfections are. But if it's a paint imperfection on the roof, unless it's that obvious (or if the person doing the appraisal is tall enough to the point where there is no way that he'd miss it), I'm not sure if it would get noticed, since it's not a common place for imperfections to be, as opposed to the sides of the car showing door dings or the front/rear bumpers with scrapes or the wheels having curb rash.

[Synack]

What about a car ding from a shopping cart, about 3/4 of an inch. Get it fixed or leave it?

[DeeezNuuuts83]

If it were me, I'd leave it. Dings aren't good, but a dealership can't realistically expect for every car to be in pristine condition for them to give a reasonable trade-in offer. Obviously they'll use it as ammo to give you less money, but you can always ask for them to give you more, though I don't see it as being a serious issue.

[Synack]

Originally Posted by DeeezNuuuts83

If it were me, I'd leave it. Dings aren't good, but a dealership can't realistically expect for every car to be in pristine condition for them to give a reasonable trade-in offer. Obviously they'll use it as ammo to give you less money, but you can always ask for them to give you more, though I don't see it as being a serious issue.

Thanks. I hate worrying about small stuff.

[Hix]

When I traded in my old pickup I knew the transmission and the diff were both completely destroyed. They made the whining noise so what I did to mute it was stuff bananas in the transmission and diff. It was perfectly silent and drove great. I just hope the problems surfaced before they sold it.

[pr086]

Originally Posted by DeeezNuuuts83

It's hard to gauge "how big of a deal" paint imperfections are. But if it's a paint imperfection on the roof, unless it's that obvious (or if the person doing the appraisal is tall enough to the point where there is no way that he'd miss it), I'm not sure if it would get noticed, since it's not a common place for imperfections to be, as opposed to the sides of the car showing door dings or the front/rear bumpers with scrapes or the wheels having curb rash.

they're pretty noticable... probably about 2 grapefruit sized areas near where the top of the windshield meets the roof then another smaller spot behind the sunroof. the front ones will be pretty noticeable when viewing the car head on since they're near the front. what kind of a hit should i expect to take to clear coat damage like that. you know the kind, when it looks like acid was poured on the car or something.

[Razz]

Originally Posted by TuxedoCartman

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.

Bingo!

[fknlo]

A chick turned left in front of me at an intersection a few months back. I got money but haven't fixed it knowing that I would be getting rid of the car this year. Fixing it isn't going to get me an extra $2500 on trade in, so why bother?