To those who traded, was your trade value good?

Just curious for those who traded another Ram in for a 2019 Ram if you received a good trade in offer. I’m sure you did your homework, was their offer in line with what KBB or other car valuation sites list?

I’m not pulling the trigger yet but it’s always good to have knowledge.

The place I bought it from yes - however I think they over-valued my trade to reduce my tax expense in order to get the price down to where I wanted it.

I have never traded in a vehicle with my dealer. From my POV, it is two separate transactions and I like to keep it simple for them. At the same time, I have no patience for selling private party. We have used CarMax 4 times. When we replaced our 07 Ram Mega Cab they came in $2500 over "average trade in" and just under "average PP" Like you, I use KBB and other sources to understand what my vehicle is worth in my area.

Fitz87gn said:

I have never traded in a vehicle with my dealer. From my POV, it is two separate transactions and I like to keep it simple for them. At the same time, I have no patience for selling private party. We have used CarMax 4 times. When we replaced our 07 Ram Mega Cab they came in $2500 over "average trade in" and just under "average PP" Like you, I use KBB and other sources to understand what my vehicle is worth in my area.

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I have used CarMax as a baseline... but the tax savings often offsets selling it out right. CarMax in my experience offers trade in value, but I have been offered over before, either way the tax benefit / convenience always outweighs selling it to someone else in my experiences. Of course this depends on your local sales tax, and is stronger in high tax states and weaker in low.

Initially on the low end of the KBB valuation but they came up to about the middle.

It was closer to the cash buyout price initially using the KBB car buying service. Considering what I could buy a 3 year newer truck for I thought the price was fair. Plus in AZ the trade in price offsets the total tax you pay on the new vehicle price. So it was like getting another 2000 on top of the trade. They’ll try and work the numbers on paper so it looks like they are giving you that money but I was like, “Come on man”. That’s not them being generous, that just the way it works. Not that way in every state though as I understand.

adrianp89 said:

I have used CarMax as a baseline... but the tax savings often offsets selling it out right. CarMax in my experience offers trade in value, but I have been offered over before, either way the tax benefit / convenience always outweighs selling it to someone else in my experiences. Of course this depends on your local sales tax, and is stronger in high tax states and weaker in low.

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It looks like where Fitz is (California) there is no tax benefit to trading in along with Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Montana and Virginia.


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Yep. No such thing as tax savings in Socialist Ca. But I can see how that effects trade in decisions in other states.

Good points about tax. I am in Pa and that tax would be a savings.

troutspinner said:

Good points about tax. I am in Pa and that tax would be a savings.

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Yep, I didn’t let them account for that on my OTD price during negotiations (because it would be the same no matter where I bought) but I knew as well as they did that I would need to sell my car for 2k more than what they were offering to cover the difference it if I didn’t trade it in.


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dmalonecentral said:

Yep, I didn’t let them account for that on my OTD price during negotiations (because it would be the same no matter where I bought) but I knew as well as they did that I would need to sell my car for 2k more than what they were offering to cover the difference it if I didn’t trade it in.


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They bring it up every single time lol

Great question. After being with the same dealer for a long time, this is what I came away with. I realized that it's usually the used car manager that determines the value of your trade. While KBB and Carmax are great barometers, that guy is going to use Galves, a publication available to dealers. THAT'S the number you want to work with.

Damn having to worry about the sales tax must really suck. In my state (S.C.) it’s 5% Of the vehicles price after trade-in and capped at a maximum of $500 and hell they just went to the $500 number year before last before that it was $300 and of course we all raised hell when they did that. I could not imagine having to pay thousands of dollars in sales tax. Talk about tyranny!

Each county is different in Ca. On average 8% of the "sale price"

As adrianp89 stated I think they play with the number to get you where you want to be. I’ve traded in each time, some times I was surprised as how much they’d give me. Last time the salesman asks ‘how much do you want for your trade?’ I answered ‘$75000’ he says it isn’t worth that much, you didn’t ask me how much it was worth... I’ve bought four vehicles from the same guy, you’d think he know he would get a wise ass comment

They definitely play with the numbers. Anyone who got an exceptional deal on their trade probably left more on the table for the car. Anyone who didn’t get what they were hoping for the trade probably squeezed the dealer for all they could and they didn’t have any room to work.

Even if you pay below invoice (not MSRP), there is holdback and on top of that there could be factory to dealer incentives. Also typically the dealers start paying interest to the company’s that provide their floor plan after 90 days which gives them more incentive to move inventory and then there is the end of month trying to hit the numbers if volume is low.

On top of that there is the dealer add ons and spiffs they will try to sell you, doc fees, glass etching, alarms, etc...

Then of course there is the back end on the financing for going through the dealer as opposed to bringing your own financing which is essentially a cash deal to the dealer.

So yeah, they have places to move money. [emoji3]


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dmalonecentral said:

They definitely play with the numbers. Anyone who got an exceptional deal on their trade probably left more on the table for the car. Anyone who didn’t get what they were hoping for the trade probably squeezed the dealer for all they could and they didn’t have any room to work.

Even if you pay below invoice (not MSRP), there is holdback and on top of that there could be factory to dealer incentives. Also typically the dealers start paying interest to the company’s that provide their floor plan after 90 days which gives them more incentive to move inventory and then there is the end of month trying to hit the numbers if volume is low.

On top of that there is the dealer add ons and spiffs they will try to sell you, doc fees, glass etching, alarms, etc...

Then of course there is the back end on the financing for going through the dealer as opposed to bringing your own financing which is essentially a cash deal to the dealer.

So yeah, they have places to move money. [emoji3]


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Keep the transactions separate and find a dealer that wants to sell trucks. Deals can happen.

I ordered my Laramie for invoice - holdback. I ordered in late April with an early June delivery. I didn't waste my time going to CarMax - I've always been able to have the dealer beat their written offer and I get the sales tax savings on the deal. Back in January I had my truck appraised at CarMax. In May I was able to get Ford to beat CarMax by a grand on an ordered F150 (keep in mind I drive 30,000 miles a year - so the mileage was quite a bit more).

Ram beat CarMax's January offer by $3,000. I was very pleased. FWIW - they priced my trade on there lot at $3,500 more than they gave me for it (it needed to get the windshield replaced - but flawless aside from that). It's been on their lot for 6 weeks now and is priced $1,500 above what they gave me for it.

tidefan1967 said:

Damn having to worry about the sales tax must really suck. In my state (S.C.) it’s 5% Of the vehicles price after trade-in and capped at a maximum of $500 and hell they just went to the $500 number year before last before that it was $300 and of course we all raised hell when they did that. I could not imagine having to pay thousands of dollars in sales tax. Talk about tyranny!

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Do you have "Personal Property Tax" in S.C.?

TruckNut said:

Do you have "Personal Property Tax" in S.C.?

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Yes we do but that’s not the same thing as sales tax.

adrianp89 said:

I have used CarMax as a baseline... but the tax savings often offsets selling it out right. CarMax in my experience offers trade in value, but I have been offered over before, either way the tax benefit / convenience always outweighs selling it to someone else in my experiences. Of course this depends on your local sales tax, and is stronger in high tax states and weaker in low.

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I agree. Three times, CarMax has come $2-$3K less than what I was offered at dealerships. I use Carmax as just a "I know a dealer will not be less than this" ruler. I have told all of my local friends not to sell to CarMax and just use it as a gauge and all of them have reported getting more at the dealership. And my dealers didn't "play" with the numbers to trick me or shuffle numbers around ............I got the exact price of my new 19 for example and then we discussed trade in. And as you said ...........the tax benefits are better when trading......you only pay the difference....in NC, that is.

dmalonecentral said:

They definitely play with the numbers. Anyone who got an exceptional deal on their trade probably left more on the table for the car. Anyone who didn’t get what they were hoping for the trade probably squeezed the dealer for all they could and they didn’t have any room to work.

Even if you pay below invoice (not MSRP), there is holdback and on top of that there could be factory to dealer incentives. Also typically the dealers start paying interest to the company’s that provide their floor plan after 90 days which gives them more incentive to move inventory and then there is the end of month trying to hit the numbers if volume is low.

On top of that there is the dealer add ons and spiffs they will try to sell you, doc fees, glass etching, alarms, etc...

Then of course there is the back end on the financing for going through the dealer as opposed to bringing your own financing which is essentially a cash deal to the dealer.

So yeah, they have places to move money. [emoji3]


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I got $37,500 for my GMC and they have it for sale right now on their lot for $39,900. That trade in was fair and I didn't expect to get "retail" price versus trade in. Now, if I were buying that used GMC..........I would negotiate down into the $38K range. I know you say they always play with the numbers, but they didn't with me. I got exactly what I was expecting for my trade and I got my 19 ram between Employee pricing and Friends and Family pricing before any discounts. We didn't even discuss my trade until we finished discussing my Ram....and they didn't play that game where they ask what you owe on the trade in before valuing. Then I added another 1500 miles on that GMC while waiting on my truck to get built and they didn't re-evaluate. You are 1000% correct.....they got their dealer holdback along with doc fees. I didn't have any dealer add ons....I ordered it, it came, they washed it, handed it to me......no alarms, glass etching, etc.


I went pre-approved through my local credit union I've been with for 26 years. The day I picked up my special ordered Ram....I signed the purchase order and left with my key. The dealer sent it to my bank, bank sent them a check and all is well.

I'm no wall street journal guy (lol) ........but I negotiate million dollar contracts every day.......I expect the dealer to make some money and I expect to be treated fairly. So they can have their dealer holdback, those doc and admin fees and whatever they make on my GMC ..........I got a special ordered truck below invoice BEFORE any applicable discounts.........and no negative equity applied from my trade. Negotiation is supposed to be win/win.