Buying a used vehicle and with trade in question

A used vehicle in the price range of your trade in is going to go straight to auction. They'll look up what comps are going for then make an offer based on that. Blue book doesn't really mean much.


Before you decide to sell yourself make sure you take into account the sales tax savings of trading in

Markup on a used vehicle is all dependent upon how bad the previous owner got screwed on a trade in. You could see a markup range of anywhere from $1k to $6k on a used vehicle. Usually it does not get to around the $1k range until it has sat on the lot for 90-120+ days when they are looking to dump it.
Edit: You will never know the markup amount unless you have someone on the inside at the dealership. You have to negotiate it yourself, as opposed to knowing the invoice price on new vehicles.

Come up with the following before you go in:

1) Amount you want to pay for the "new" truck
2) Amount you want for your trade in
3) Treat both as separate negotations
4) Do not visibly fall in love with "new" truck
5) Be willing to walk away

Obviously you have your range of 27-29k, but that's a big range. Book it out on KBB and Nada but keep both of those numbers in your pocket until negotiating later, if those numbers help your case. Make sure you are armed with information on the vehicle before you go in. Also, your range of 6.5-9k on the trade is also big. See #2 above.

They are a business and have to make money, but if you go in without information on that specific truck and your trade in then they will make $7k off you when you could've easily done $4k-5k better than that.

Tia...feel free to post on here the information on the deal and I will help you.

When I bought a car recently, the offers I was getting on a trade maxed out at $4k for a 2007 Camry. They told me it would be going to auction and they couldn't go any higher (multiple dealers said this). At that price, it was giving me about a $350 tax savings if I traded.

I sold the car in 2 days for $7600 cash with maybe an hour of time dedicated to the endeavor. Listed on Craigslist and Autotrader. I'm pretty sure I could have gotten $8k out of it, but I was ready to get it done. If you just like wasting money, more power to you. If the dealer offers what you think is a reasonable price for the trade, go for it. My experience tells me they won't come close, and the tax benefit will not be enough to cover the difference.

Agree that, for certain vehicles, a private sale will net far more than a trade and tax benefit. Just sold an 11 year old Volvo for twice the offered trade in value. Especially on older cars, you will make more money in a private sale.