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Sell or trade in?


Hahn

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Is it better to sell your vehicle and use the cash as a big down payment on a newer auto, or trade my car in to a dealer plus get a loan for the rest of the amount of the new auto? I have an 01 Ford Ranger Edge, 4.0v6, 4x4, 67k miles, reg cab. I need to upgrade when i return, to something with 4 doors since we got a kid now. Was thinking full size 4 door truck or maybe a 4 door Jeep Wrangler. Price being under 20k. Just wondering what the better route would be either selling or trading in the ranger.

 

Was thinking if i sold it i could get 6-7500 for it, but thats just guessing.

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its a tough call. certainly, private party sale will bring you more money--no question about it. but it takes longer, maybe much longer. you get people that you might not want near your house to come out and possibly waste your time, lowball you, and just basically bother you. there's always the possiblity of being scammed/robbed/etc. when it comes time to exchanging the money/car. some people don't understand the term 'as is'---if something goes wrong with the car 2 days/months/years after the sale they will potentially blame you.

 

all of this is avoided by trading in, but you won't get as much for the vehicle

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It still makes a squeaking noise. After I blew up and knocked one of the doors off the hinges at Carmax I figured that I was pretty much done with them. I will take my loss and just learn from it. The overall process of buying the car through Carmax was awesome. However their service department sucks and their techs do also. At least the ones they had working on my car. I will never go back to Carmax again. A warranty or guarantee does not mean crap if they can't fix it.
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I'll give you an example of when trading > private selling.

 

I recently had a customer come to pick up his Abarth. He wanted NADA Clean value for his trade, a 2009 Honda Fit with 4k miles. He doesn't drive very far to work. We would absolutely agree with his car's "Clean" rating.

 

NADA and KBB were both at around $15,400 for clean trade-in value. Carmax offered him $14,000. We took a look at the retail sale prices around town, including Lindsay Honda who is right down the road from us, and we were floored. Cars with similar miles and Honda Certified Pre-Owned warranty (up to 100k miles) were RETAILING for less than $15,000 and not selling. And these cars were even 2010s and 2011s. He was very reasonable about the process and ended up trading in his car to Carmax when he realized that not only would he go through the hassle of selling the car himself, he'd probably end up getting less for it than if he ran to Carmax to call them on their crazy offer.

 

Do your comparison shopping, and keep emotion out of it.

 

Also, consider if you're trading in on a new vehicle, this equation.

 

V*1.0675 (assuming you are in Franklin county) = ACV

 

where V= the offer made to you by the dealer and ACV = the actual benefit of trading your vehicle in, which includes a tax break. This does not apply to used car deals.

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How does this sound. Pay off the my truck now (have payments through Jan), then post it for sale now on craigslist, etc. That way i have 3 mths to sell it before i get home in Sept, and i can use the sale money as a big down payment on a newer truck/suv. Does this sound smart?
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Yes. If you can afford to hang on to it, clean it up and sell it by private owner.

 

This.. If you can hold onto it for 3 months with no issues and pay it off. Stick to your price when selling it privately and you'll make more money in the end and have more to put down on the new car.

 

Haggling sucks. I hate doing it. I spent 3 hours at a dealership back in '98 because I wanted to get the car I want at X cost per month and wouldn't budge from it. I should have left but after the 3 hours I got what I wanted.

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Also, keep in mind what people point out when buying a car...little annoying things that dont work and can be easily remedied. Usual they (i) will use them to bargain down the asking price. Fix the small stuff, chips in the paint or what ever you can fix in an afternoon or have been putting off.

 

This seems remedial, but its true. I cant tell you how much ive gotten off just because of this or that.

then put it up.

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^^this, and some dealers are paying retail at auction. The used car market is white hot. You just might be surprised what a dealer will give.

 

I'd listen to this guy that sells cars all day.

 

PS: Jason, you interested in a clean 06 Grand Cherokee Hemi? I'm paying off the loan today so I can get the title.

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