Fair Trade Value?

[noupf]

My personal story.

I owned a 2013 Ram Laramie 4x4 Crew Cab loaded with 28k miles. Wanted to trade it to get the positive equity out of it.

Highest a dealer would pay on trade was $34,500. Turned around and sold it private part for $37,500.

In my experience you will always get more selling it on your own.. it just won't be instant. By the way that whole I lost on taxes thing doesn't work. I made an extra $3000. I promise you I didn't pay 3k more in taxes. Something all the dealers tried to hit me on for selling it out right.

unless your state is different, you did in fact pay almost $3000 more in taxes. I'll use my state as an example.

In NY when you trade in a vehicle, you save the sales tax on the trade in value towards the new vehicle.

For you, with a trade in value of $34,500 x 8% ( in NY ). Tax saving = $2760 in sales tax savings. So you did come out slightly ahead. If your sales tax rate is lower, than you did even better. For me, I'd have just went with the trade in and saved the aggravation.

When I deliberated whether or not to try and sell my Silverado privately or on a trade, I decided to try on Craigslist for a few weeks just to see if I got any bites. I priced my truck about $2500 over top blue book trade value. I got nothing, a few low ballets and that was it. My truck had low miles, fully loaded and was mint. Thankfully i didn't get screwed at dealership and made out well with my sticker discount and trade in value.

 

[TruckNut]

I have found that I can get "Excellent trade in" or better on all my cars because I maintain them and keep them mint. I tend to turn every couple of years and the dealers I trade in to sell them off their lot w/o going to auction (the BlackBook lowball price). Usually in a couple weeks. And here in Tennessee we get the tax savings as well.

I'll sell privately if the car is $15K or less since those go fast. Tougher sale on expensive used cars because people can't get loans very easily.

 

[Pull Ya]

I think it depends on the dealer, what kind of volume they sell, what time of the month it is, what kind of "deals" they have for their sales staff, how popular the vehicle your looking at is and what kind of stock they have. I still believe that the less you pay, the less their profit is. If they sell a **** load of vehicles maybe they can take less profit per vehicle and make up for it in volume. No matter what they give you on your trade and no matter what amount of discount they say they give you, the real figure we're all concerned with is what is the DIFFERENCE. If you have a beautiful trade your in love with they will inflate the value of your trade and give you less discount off the sticker price. If you don't care that much about your trade they will give you book value only(or less) and give you a greater discount off the sticker. In either case the bottom line is going to be the same. This has just been my experience in buying cars for over 50 years. Just remember, while your driving away thinking, boy I sure stuck it to them, they are sitting in their office laughing saying the same thing about you!!!!
Jay

 

[Arth]

Obviously my claim will vary by state then.

My state tax is only 3% so again for my story I did well.

unless your state is different, you did in fact pay almost $3000 more in taxes. I'll use my state as an example.

In NY when you trade in a vehicle, you save the sales tax on the trade in value towards the new vehicle.

For you, with a trade in value of $34,500 x 8% ( in NY ). Tax saving = $2760 in sales tax savings. So you did come out slightly ahead. If your sales tax rate is lower, than you did even better. For me, I'd have just went with the trade in and saved the aggravation.

When I deliberated whether or not to try and sell my Silverado privately or on a trade, I decided to try on Craigslist for a few weeks just to see if I got any bites. I priced my truck about $2500 over top blue book trade value. I got nothing, a few low ballets and that was it. My truck had low miles, fully loaded and was mint. Thankfully i didn't get screwed at dealership and made out well with my sticker discount and trade in value.

 

[Greeco]

I have found that I can get "Excellent trade in" or better on all my cars because I maintain them and keep them mint. I tend to turn every couple of years and the dealers I trade in to sell them off their lot w/o going to auction (the BlackBook lowball price). Usually in a couple weeks. And here in Tennessee we get the tax savings as well.

I'll sell privately if the car is $15K or less since those go fast. Tougher sale on expensive used cars because people can't get loans very easily.

Good post and I agree. There are many variables when it comes to a trade. Just today I found the exact same Tahoe advertised online (2013, LTZ, fully loaded, 5k more miles than mine) and I called to find out the price......it sold in one day for $43,500. I guess that answers the question of whether or not someone will pay 43k for a Chevy....LOL.

At this point there are not any 2015 RAM's with the options I am looking for in my area. I will most likely have to wait until the 2016's start being delivered to make a deal. I could order one but it would complicate the trade in even more.

 

[arod412]

With trade ins just remember it's not what you want to sell it for, it's what the dealer will sell it for. So if you think that the truck is worth $35k the dealer wants to make as much money from it as possible, better make sure that the kbb, cars.com or whatever website you use, it has to be listed over $40k...I'm just guessing a number, but they need to make money too.

Also the area is a huge factor on demand as well as be open minded that no car traded in, that you will expect it to be listed as an "excellent shape "...just go by the "good condition" and work from there. Dealers always try to low ball you, so always expect the worse and hope for the best in trade ins.


Truck name: Rampage
2012 Dodge ram 1500 Quad Cab Big Horn
*Bilstein 2.8" front, Bilstein shocks on rear with 1" spacer, Pioneer AVH 4300DVD head unit, Polk Audio Dxi350 dash speakers, Kicker 40CSS654 6 1/2" door speakers (x4),fox box 2-12" speakers holder for rear seats, 2-12" aline subs (swe -1243), 500 watt alpine mono sub, LED 3rd tail light smoked, Spyder LED smokes tail lights

 

[SlowRoller]

I own a small used lot, Dealers DO want your trade for the most part..

I don't frequent used car lots. I buy only from high-volume ~new~ car dealers in Houston with each one's new vehicle inventory at/exceeding 1000 units. They have a completely different business model than a 'small used lot'.

New car dealers around here only ~want~ your trade in if they know they can spin it fast for good $$$. If not, there's literally nowhere for these high volume dealers to stack/sit on all the trade ins, so '60 days or auction' is quite realistic.

Most end up here: https://www.adesa.com/houston

Yes, it's all a numbers game, but getting full 'market value' from a trade-in and as well as a piece of the dealers hold back on a new one isn't a realistic expectation. That's a near 100% sideways cash flow, and somebody still has to pay the bills,,,

 

[RamRebel]

Good post and I agree. There are many variables when it comes to a trade. Just today I found the exact same Tahoe advertised online (2013, LTZ, fully loaded, 5k more miles than mine) and I called to find out the price......it sold in one day for $43,500. I guess that answers the question of whether or not someone will pay 43k for a Chevy....LOL.

At this point there are not any 2015 RAM's with the options I am looking for in my area. I will most likely have to wait until the 2016's start being delivered to make a deal. I could order one but it would complicate the trade in even more.

I sent you a PM. You can't really go off of what ones are listed for, because anyone can ask for ANY amount. What are they actually selling for. Eventhough they told you $43,500, that is ONE case. Best way to see what similar rigs are selling for is to go to ebay and look up SOLD listings of your vehicle. Another issue is that the average days on the lot for 2013 Tahoes is 128 days. That is telling me that they are not an easy seller. However, you need to argue that the dealer can take it to auction if they do not want to retail it, and get the numbers I provided you in the PM.

 

[baum]

i have to agree with what some of the posters said above. i have done this twice in the last month. first i traded my '13 ram (v6 outdoorsman) for a '15 laramie. at the time nada was about 27-28k for my '13 i received 26.5k (which paid off the note but not much extra). however i still also received a 49.9k new truck for 35.5k.

second i just traded in a basic '13 camaro fully owned and i actually received nada trade in on it. trade in was only 16.5k. (not too bad considering i purchased it for about 20k new in '13) for a new chrysler 200s which i also received 8.5k off of sticker on.

when there was no note on it i received more for the trade. they did try to low-ball me on the camaro with a 14.2 offer at first and i laughed. when i pulled a couple grand and the title out of my pocket they knew i was there to play.

keep in mind that dealers also make money not just on hold back, but there is also incentives from the manufacturers if they sell x amount of this car in a month you get a bonus (usually makes up for the loss they may take on a car). for me i had inside knowledge of this and my dealer was 1 away so thats how i got them to move so much on the new car. they wanted to sell me older stock, but i wouldnt let them. i took a car that just came in, in the last week.

 

[Greeco]

I did a search on Cars.com for 2013 Tahoe LTZ's with all of the same options and relative mileage. Within a 500 mile radius of my zip code I found 5. The average "asking" price was $44,400. There are a TON of them out there with anywhere from 60-90k miles but mine has less than 30k. I would think the low mileage and condition of the truck would make it a desirable trade. Not to mention the low inventory in this area. Plus, it's black, which I know is a popular color for this model.

It doesn't matter at this point because I have not been able to find a 2015 RAM with everything that I want. Unfortunately, I will have to wait until the 2016's start hitting the lots. It's too hard to deal on my trade when ordering a truck. Dealers can't commit to giving me a price on my trade since I'd have to wait 2 months for the truck to be delivered (which I completely understand......a lot can happen to the truck in that time).


Thanks for all of the responses, guys! A lot of good input and advice here and I appreciate it. This forum is great and much better than some of the others out there.

 

[mh3c]

I went to KBB online, found my '08 Laramie QC 4x4 was worth $20k. When I went to trade it in on my 15 CC Laramie, I told them I wanted $21k, just to give me wiggle room. We settled on $19.5.

 

[Kid's HEMI! !!]

A friend of mine traded his loaded 14 sport with almost 60k miles I think he said they gave him 30k on a 15 limited . He gets about 30k for every truck he trades gets a new one every year or before truck hits 60k miles . He told me the biggest thing is trade it before warranty is up you will get more . If he had gone over 60k he would have lost 8k on trade

 

[Hootbro]

A friend of mine traded his loaded 14 sport with almost 60k miles I think he said they gave him 30k on a 15 limited . He gets about 30k for every truck he trades gets a new one every year or before truck hits 60k miles . He told me the biggest thing is trade it before warranty is up you will get more . If he had gone over 60k he would have lost 8k on trade

Sounds like your friend has a well paying job to allow trade in every year and not because he works some magical math voodoo at trade in time.

I would also speculate given the high mileage he seems to incur in a year, he uses his truck as a business expense and takes a healthy tax deduction every year on his federal taxes.

 

[Kid's HEMI! !!]

Sounds like your friend has a well paying job to allow trade in every year and not because he works some magical math voodoo at trade in time.

I would also speculate given the high mileage he seems to incur in a year, he uses his truck as a business expense and takes a healthy tax deduction every year on his federal taxes.

Yeah he's doing good for himself