Remove upgrades before visiting dealer?

[Jerzey111]

I'm thinking about trading in. I have a lot of upgrades. 2014 with you connect 3.0 upgraded to 8.4 with auto air. Laramie door panels, leather steering wheel etc.

Should i remove them before going in for a trade-in appraisal? Or they just look at general condition and Vin equipment?

My ideal situation would be to remove all once the deal is done but I'm not sure if that will work.

 

[dhay13]

Can't help you with that but way back my buddy had a 1979 Bronco with tires, wheels, and a few other upgrades. He went to trade it and dealer told him none of that stuff mattered so he went home and took it all off then came back and they complained that they couldn't give him as much on trade now...lol

Another story...I used to build engines and I had a 1979 GMC Sierra 1500 with a 350. I had rebuilt it with some mild upgrades. Real small cam, aluminum intake, Edelbrock carb, headers. Engine was spotless and only had about 3000 miles on it since it was done. I had about $2500 in the engine. Had all the receipts and dealer said it didn't matter and they would value my trade as if it had an old normal engine. I almost went home and yanked it to throw an older engine back in but didn't. In that truck I could swap engines in a couple of hours.

 

[Brandon-w]

Accessories and stuff do and don't affect trade wheel tires that stuff they look at av and stuff like that they usually pay no attention to. You'd make more money taking it out and selling it than trading it with everything.
I had a truck when I was going through lifted phase. 12 inch lift 37 inch tires 4:56 gears and the interior decked out. I got $3000 over trade in for it.

Now if I ever trade in I go straight to the manager as he will usually give the best deal. And if he's got attitude I buy elsewhere as that is how you'll be treated if you buy a vehicle from there.

Sent from my SM-G981W using Tapatalk

 

[NJMOPAR]

Trade value is based on factory trim level, your upgrades add zip, whether performance or appearance.
Mileage and condition are the only two determining factors, period.

 

[caulk04]

Major parts like wheels/tires they'll notice and might screw with you. The 'little' stuff like you mention they won't see or care about. Leave your stuff on there until you make the deal, no sense spending time on it if you aren't certain you're selling.

 

[retired]

probably totally depends on the dealership and area you live in. I would tell the dealer I want it valued with upgrades and if put back to stock. Then you can decide what works best.

 

[Wes Veness]

Oh, trust me. They see those upgrades on any vehicle. they will tell you it doesn't make a difference until they sell it.

 

[chris1126]

probably totally depends on the dealership and area you live in. I would tell the dealer I want it valued with upgrades and if put back to stock. Then you can decide what works best.

this right here is what i would do and have done. lay it out there to them, they are gonna try and run the nuts to you either way. do your research. how much you have in upgrades, what a fair market value is on your truck stock, and anything else you can come up with.

 

[misfit77]

I once traded in a jeep grand cherokee. I had a few upgrades including wrangler wheels and tires and a lift.

They quoted a crappy low price so I told the sales man that i was going to remove all the stuff.

They gave me till next day to bring it in. It looked silly with a lift and stock tires, but they took it.

 

[huntergreen]

I once traded in a jeep grand cherokee. I had a few upgrades including wrangler wheels and tires and a lift.

They quoted a crappy low price so I told the sales man that i was going to remove all the stuff.

They gave me till next day to bring it in. It looked silly with a lift and stock tires, but they took it.

They gave you a time limit ? I would have been done right there.

 

[Dr. Righteous]

I'm thinking about trading in. I have a lot of upgrades. 2014 with you connect 3.0 upgraded to 8.4 with auto air. Laramie door panels, leather steering wheel etc. Should i remove them before going in for a trade-in appraisal? Or they just look at general condition and Vin equipment? My ideal situation would be to remove all once the deal is done but I'm not sure if that will work.

I'm sure this won't be news to anyone but the old saying holds true. NEVER trade a vehicle in; you will always get screwed. This goes especially for modded vehicles. If the truck is nice; sell it outright. Nice trucks are always in high demand. Ask a reasonable price. Nobody wants to pay retail.

I've hunted for a descent RAM pickup for several years but refused to pay a high dealer markup. But most of the individuals sales I looked into they were asking dealer prices. I would tell them " You are asking a dealers retail for this truck". The responses would always be "well, that is what them bring......"

Once I ran across a 2010 RAM with a pretty reasonable price so we drove out to the sellers house. The pix on CL were not that sharp and in person the truck look pretty beat. I opened the driver door and the interior smelled like a dog had puppies in the front see and then they all died.
I was thinking "WTH; I drove all this way I might as well test drive it. " I got in and started it; drove it down the street a little way; it sounded like the front end didn't have a bearing or bushing one in it. The truck was obviously a junker someone cobbled together.
I turned around drove it back. I jumped out and tossed the keys to the seller and said
"Good luck selling that POS". I motioned to my wife -Lets GO-. We got back in the car and she let me have it. This was the 3rd or 4th time we drive out to some place to look at a truck and I end up mad because I didn't like it. I told her I was done looking. Just no descent used trucks out there.

A few months later I ran across the the 2014 RAM I have now. The price was reasonable and it turned out to be 100% Legit. I surprised her with on that one.

 

[62Blazer]

You need to realistically decide how much you could re-sell those upgrades on the used market, and how much your time is worth on removing those and putting it back to stock (of course assuming you have all of the original parts). Keep in mind that if you bought those upgrade parts new the value on the used market is likely only a fraction of what you originally paid.

Keep in mind that if they offer you a trade-in value as the truck sits now, and then you go home and swap all of that stuff out, don't be surprised if you come back and they don't honor that original trade-in value. Quite frankly if I was that dealer I would be extremely upset if somebody tried to pull that off......and won't even get into the possible legality as it's basically false advertisement or the old "bait and switch" scheme.

 

[huntergreen]

You need to realistically decide how much you could re-sell those upgrades on the used market, and how much your time is worth on removing those and putting it back to stock (of course assuming you have all of the original parts). Keep in mind that if you bought those upgrade parts new the value on the used market is likely only a fraction of what you originally paid.

Keep in mind that if they offer you a trade-in value as the truck sits now, and then you go home and swap all of that stuff out, don't be surprised if you come back and they don't honor that original trade-in value. Quite frankly if I was that dealer I would be extremely upset if somebody tried to pull that off......and won't even get into the possible legality as it's basically false advertisement or the old "bait and switch" scheme.

Bull dinky, first words out of dealers mouth, hard to sell a modded vehicle, does nt increase value, then they try and sell at increased price because of all the nice mods.

 

[Pull Ya]

If you trade it-take the mods off and sell them as "parts"-----if you sell it to a private party it might be worth more depending on what the buyer is looking for and how well the work was done and the overall condition of your truck.
Jay