To trade-in or not to trade-in?

[RAMHON]

I own a 2016 Laramie (Hemi, Air Suspension, crew cab, paid off ) with 65K miles. Generally love the truck but have had lots of little things go wrong (sunroof leak, driver window clips fail, tailgate fall open recalls etc.) and all have thankfully been covered under regular warranty. I have the Mopar Vehicle Protection plan to 85K miles or 12/21 (refunded if not used). Some recent concerns (suspected bad wheel bearings/road noise, ticking engine noise at start up (goes away when warm) and lack of a telescoping steering wheel really bothers my back being 6'4" with very long legs.

Trying to decide if now would be a good time to trade in and avoid bigger problems in long term.

Wants
Telescoping steering wheel (is this now standard in 2019?)
32 Gallon tank

Do not want
Sunroof (limits headroom)
Black exterior paint

What other build items/options are definite must haves (ie. trans, engine etc.). Can I get a 2019 in my desired configuration in the first place? Almost impossible to figure out options/packages on Ramtruck site.

Appreciate info/suggestions

 

[Marksr20]

How much are they offering for your truck as a trade in?


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[RAMHON]

Have not been to dealer yet. First want to make sure the options I want exist.

 

[Marksr20]

Have not been to dealer yet. First want to make sure the options I want exist.

I’ve been in a new Laramie black edition that had the steering wheel. Also the sunroof scenario has changed. I didn’t go with a sunroof in my 14 sport crew cab because of headroom. The 19 with the panoramic sunroof doesn’t intrude on the headroom as much as our body style did.

I believe your options that you want are available. I’m curious on what they will give you as a trade in. I would buy at the last week of December as they are trying to move cars/trucks off the lots. Aka best deal for you


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[avantiguy]

Check what they are selling for on Craigslist, Ebay and dealers lots as well as getting the trade value from KBB. That will give you the range of values. I traded mine in, 14 Sport, when I bought my 19 Laramie in August.

Most dealers offered me the lower end of trade in but the dealer I eventually bought from offered me nearer the top and were also the best price. They put it on their lot for about $1200 more than they gave me for it and it took over a month to get it sold.

I'm glad I traded it in as I would have probably had it for longer than the dealer and gotten less. Michigan also let's you recover the sales tax charged on the trade in but they are specific to trade in not private sale if I read the law correctly. That's about $1400 right there.

 

[RAMHON]

Do you find the telescoping wheel to be helpful? I've never been able to find a comfortable driving position in my 16 because my seat is all the way back and find I'm reaching forward to hold the wheel. Did not bother me at first but now find on long trips it does.

 

[Marksr20]

Check what they are selling for on Craigslist, Ebay and dealers lots as well as getting the trade value from KBB. That will give you the range of values. I traded mine in, 14 Sport, when I bought my 19 Laramie in August.

Most dealers offered me the lower end of trade in but the dealer I eventually bought from offered me nearer the top and were also the best price. They put it on their lot for about $1200 more than they gave me for it and it took over a month to get it sold.

I'm glad I traded it in as I would have probably had it for longer than the dealer and gotten less. Michigan also let's you recover the sales tax charged on the trade in but they are specific to trade in not private sale if I read the law correctly. That's about $1400 right there.

If you don’t mind me asking what we’re the specs of your 14? And how many miles? What did you get for it? And what did you pay for your 19 and which model specs does it have?

I’m in the same boat as you just not sure if I want to pull the trigger.. sorry not trying to thread jack just think I’m asking almost the same questions as the op


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[Marksr20]

Do you find the telescoping wheel to be helpful? I've never been able to find a comfortable driving position in my 16 because my seat is all the way back and find I'm reaching forward to hold the wheel. Did not bother me at first but now find on long trips it does.

The wheel never bothered me also I’m 6’3” 200lbs. So we are kinda close on the height issues in our trucks. I did notice positioning the wheel where I saw the gauge cluster perfectly helped a lot. Also lowering the seat and going back as far as I can did help a bit. In the 19 my friend owns he is the same height as me but about 250lbs and he has zero issues with fitting in it comfortably.


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[JoeCo]

Wants
Telescoping steering wheel (is this now standard in 2019?)
32 Gallon tank

Just to answer the telescoping steering wheel question as I didn't see it specifically answered. No it isn't standard, but is available as an option (not sure if on all models or just upper trim levels?). So something you will want to be looking at specifically at whatever truck you are looking at, same with the larger gas tank. If you are looking online, I'd recommend having the build sheet website pulled up as well and see exactly what the truck is equipped with.

Also agree with avantiguy regarding how to value your truck, always helps to see what the actual market is for them rather than solely going to a kbb type site. For anyone that is interested, I traded my 2013 regular cab sport 4x4 with 53k on it and got $22k for it. Kbb was giving me a max trade in value of somewhere between $19-20k at the highest, so I most certainly took the 22 for it. This was in April of this year outside of Lake George NY, although I did trade for a slightly used 4th gen so there may be some variable there vs buying new.

 

[troutspinner]

If you’re just bored and want a new vehicle, I’d say go with it if it’s in your financial ability. This is pretty much the exact scenario that made me make the jump a year and a half ago.

Fast forward to today, it’s still a Ram, it still has quirks from the prior generation like the vents, hemi tick, electronics inconsistently goofing here and there and some new quirks have been added as well.

Is it improved over the 4th gen., absolutely but don’t expect a new Ram to be perfect. They just aren’t and from what I’ve seen from other gen. Rams, those quirks will remain throughout the life cycle of the gen.

 

[RAMHON]

troutspinner - good insight and helpful.

 

[JD Martin]

Yes, you can get a telescoping wheel. I have one and it does help find a good spot. Yes, you can get a bigger gas tank. I do not have the 33 gallon tank, I have the 26 gallon and it hasn't been a range issue at all for me.

 

[runamuck]

my personal rule over the years has been to start thinking about trading when I get to the 60-65,000 mile mark because that is about when vehicles start to nickle and dime you and so your cost of ownership starts to go up and it is often cheaper to to get new.

 

[tron67j]

I have found when buying my trucks, on my fourth ram since they did the updates back in 1994, that I can get a tradesman and pretty much add anything that I want to it. If you read through other threads in this forum you will see people doing all kinds of modifications to their vehicles. I thought about the telescoping steering wheel, but have seen the parts online and I think it can be added separately through the aftermarket. So far the additions I've made, or have the parts to do so have save me an awful lot of money over what I would have paid to get them at the dealer. For example, the steering wheel audio control buttons are only available on a package but I have them for about $50. And on when to buy I think it is really dependent upon what you're looking for. I bought a 2018 leftover in October and have seen the identical truck online at CarMax or other used car sites for more than I paid for it. but you have to shop around, because certain dealers will gather up all the leftover inventory. The place I bought mine still had leftover 18s the last time I looked. And I saw one of the trucks that I had originally looked at at another dealer now on the dealer's website that I bought from. Good luck

 

[jack67]

You ALWAYS lose money with trade in's, many times a LOT.
Dealers are sneaky, the shift the paperwork around and try to make it look like your getting a good deal... your not.
I haven't traded a vehicle in for over 25 years now and no plans to do so in the future.
Another tip, pay off your cars... there is where you really save the $$$ that you pay for interest.
All four of mine are paid off.

 

[avantiguy]

You ALWAYS lose money with trade in's, many times a LOT.
Dealers are sneaky, the shift the paperwork around and try to make it look like your getting a good deal... your not.
I haven't traded a vehicle in for over 25 years now and no plans to do so in the future.
Another tip, pay off your cars... there is where you really save the $$$ that you pay for interest.
All four of mine are paid off.

I don't care how much the dealer shifts the paperwork around, the deal will amount to the price of the new truck out the door. It's not difficult to find the value of the trade-in in KBB and what the truck will bringin the market with criagslist and sites like cargurus.

With sites like this forum and others there is plenty of info on the discounts and rebates in the buyers area. Do a little homework and you should have a good idea of what you should pay out the door.

In a neutral world I wouldn't care if they gave me $1 or $50000 for my trade as long as the out the door price met my criteria but in Michigan they refund the sales tax charged on the trade-in and that 6% so an offer of $4000 more for your trade is $240.

I traded in my 14 Sport on a 19 Laramie Sport a couple months back. The dealer gave me the high end of the KBB which resulted in a tax savings of over $1400 and he sold the truck a month later for a listed price of $1200 over what he gave me. He also discounted the heck out of the truck so the bottom line was in the range I expected to pay. I didn't need to worry about anything about a private sale particularly taking less and having the truck sitting for a few months/weeks to sell.

You are on point about not paying interest if one can swing it and your caution about the trade-in value is worth while but there is no one-size-fits-all in the trade-in business.

It's bottom line out the door that's important.

 

[RAMHON]

In my case I got 0% financing and now own truck outright. Generally agree financing or leasing a vehicle is throwing money away. However, Ram offered 0% financing and that was hard to pass up.

So, I took truck in today for diagnosis. As suspected, ticking issues confirmed with broken manifold studs and road humming noise is wheel bearings are shot. Luckily my dealer and I have developed a great relationship over the years and they found a loaner for me as my truck was deemed not drivable. Again, I love the design of this truck but the build standards and reliability is less than desired. Fortunately, I have the Mopar vehicle protection plan to 2021/85K miles - very glad I got it...

1) Leaky sunroof (took very long to diagnose and fix)
2) Driver window fell down (defective clips)
3) Tailgate opened randomly (recall)
4) Manifold studs
5) Wheel bearings
6) What's next......?

For now not going to trade in - assuming latest is not a bigger problem gonna keep it and drive it at least to 85K and look into extending warranty past 85K.

 

[mikeru]

In a neutral world I wouldn't care if they gave me $1 or $50000 for my trade as long as the out the door price met my criteria but in Michigan they refund the sales tax charged on the trade-in and that 6% so an offer of $4000 more for your trade is $240.

I traded in my 14 Sport on a 19 Laramie Sport a couple months back. The dealer gave me the high end of the KBB which resulted in a tax savings of over $1400 and he sold the truck a month later for a listed price of $1200 over what he gave me. He also discounted the heck out of the truck so the bottom line was in the range I expected to pay. I didn't need to worry about anything about a private sale particularly taking less and having the truck sitting for a few months/weeks to sell.

You are on point about not paying interest if one can swing it and your caution about the trade-in value is worth while but there is no one-size-fits-all in the trade-in business.

It's bottom line out the door that's important.

The way sales tax is charged can make a big difference on whether to trade in or sell yourself. My local sales tax is 8%. But I only have to pay that on the difference between my trade-in and the vehicle I am buying. My 2020 Laramie ended up costing right at $50k. Dealer gave me $33.5k for my 2017 Rebel. Instead of paying $4000 in sales tax, I only paid tax on the difference, which was $1329. I live in a rural area, which makes it a much bigger challenge to sell a vehicle at a price which makes it worth doing, so I'm not sure I could have sold my Rebel for nearly $2800 more than what I got for trade. But even if I could have, I didn't have to deal with the hassle of selling it on my own. I've been there and done that too many times.

 

[JD Martin]

The way sales tax is charged can make a big difference on whether to trade in or sell yourself. My local sales tax is 8%. But I only have to pay that on the difference between my trade-in and the vehicle I am buying. My 2020 Laramie ended up costing right at $50k. Dealer gave me $33.5k for my 2017 Rebel. Instead of paying $4000 in sales tax, I only paid tax on the difference, which was $1329. I live in a rural area, which makes it a much bigger challenge to sell a vehicle at a price which makes it worth doing, so I'm not sure I could have sold my Rebel for nearly $2800 more than what I got for trade. But even if I could have, I didn't have to deal with the hassle of selling it on my own. I've been there and done that too many times.

That's me as well. When I negotiate the price of a new vehicle, I only want to know 2 numbers: the amount I am getting for my trade, and the amount I am paying the dealer for the truck outside of government numbers (tax, title, registration). I know the tax rate and I know how much it costs to pay for my title and register the vehicle, so I can figure out the rest. If you concentrate on those two numbers only it's hard to be bamboozled. Alternatively, you can calculate the minimum you would be willing to take on your trade, the maximum you would be willing to pay, add in tax, title and registration on that, subtract your trade from that number, and now you have your maximum "out the door" price.

*Usually I sell my own vehicle*. But when I bought the Ram it made sense to trade. Including the sales tax savings I got $5k for my trade. KBB on my trade was 5.1k excellent, in the 4s in good which is where mine would have fell. I think I could have got another $500 or so if I sold it on my own. It was worth it to me to trade for the $500 savings and not have to be bothered with private sale. The dealership listed my truck for $9k and my sales guy told me they took a hair over $8k for it. So they made a couple grand - good for them. I got a great price on my Ram ($36,750 plus tax/title/reg) and a fair price for my trade.

 

[JoeCo]

That's me as well. When I negotiate the price of a new vehicle, I only want to know 2 numbers: the amount I am getting for my trade, and the amount I am paying the dealer for the truck outside of government numbers (tax, title, registration). I know the tax rate and I know how much it costs to pay for my title and register the vehicle, so I can figure out the rest. If you concentrate on those two numbers only it's hard to be bamboozled. Alternatively, you can calculate the minimum you would be willing to take on your trade, the maximum you would be willing to pay, add in tax, title and registration on that, subtract your trade from that number, and now you have your maximum "out the door" price.

*Usually I sell my own vehicle*. But when I bought the Ram it made sense to trade. Including the sales tax savings I got $5k for my trade. KBB on my trade was 5.1k excellent, in the 4s in good which is where mine would have fell. I think I could have got another $500 or so if I sold it on my own. It was worth it to me to trade for the $500 savings and not have to be bothered with private sale. The dealership listed my truck for $9k and my sales guy told me they took a hair over $8k for it. So they made a couple grand - good for them. I got a great price on my Ram ($36,750 plus tax/title/reg) and a fair price for my trade.

My last trade in didn't seem to go all that well for the dealer. They gave me 22k for my 2013 sport, and then listed it for just a little above that:


And then it got all the way down to this price before it got taken off their website about 6 months later (excuse the dual screen screenshot):



Of course, this would happen to be probably the best dealer I had bought a truck from experience wise. However, still a car dealer so I'm not losing sleep over it.