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Trading your car in
Getting a superb deal on a car is not much good if you get a poor deal on your part exchange.
I don’t expect you to read through all the guides on this site, but as most of the information you need is covered in my other guides I will try to keep this one brief (for a change)
Be Prepared: You should fully research the market price of your car, Try to be realistic don’t compare your car to the highest priced one you can find, try to see the market Average.
Get your car ready for sale: Don’t turn up to a dealer with a scruffy car, full of debris and detritus. It’s a simple rule, you are buying the dealers car they are buying yours, and let’s be honest if they showed you their car looking tatty you would have no interest.
Get all your paperwork in order: that means your V5 (logbook), mot, and most importantly service history book, and any receipts you have that relate to the car. I have been amazed at how many times over the years people have presented their car to me for appraisal and cannot tell me the amount of owners, or if it has any service history. And then subsequently after trading the car in (for a pretty low price) finding the car has full service book and maybe only 2 owners in total !
The dealer is allowed to offer you a low price for your car this is not a crime, in a free market it is just business. If a garage can make £2000 out of you fair play to them. Your job is to fight your corner for your car and try to squeeze them down to as tight a deal as they can do.
Increasingly more and more part-ex cars are finding their way to a forecourt to be resold. There was a time when trade ins got blown out to the trade because they were not suitable stock. Now many big car groups have feeder garages (which they either own or partner with) that sell their used stock. Only if your car has very high mileage, or is in need of substantial repair to make ready for sale will it end up getting “blown out” to the trade.
Use the car buying websites to give you an underwrite price on your car. If you Google it you will find a lot of companies now offering this service (not just the one that advertises). Many of these companies are trading arms of car supermarkets or main dealer networks. They can sometimes offer a very good price for your car, and if you can sell your car this way it is always much easier to negotiate to buy your next car as a “cash or straight” buyer. Even if you choose not to deal with one of these companies they will give you a very strong indication of what your car is worth and what to be looking for as part exchange value.
Always remember that the price to change is the best deal for you. If your car is worth £3000 ,you could be offered up to £5000 for it to entice you to deal on an expensive new car ,this does not indicate its true value. If you have looked around and are trying to buy a car that is competitively priced in the first place then be realistic on what they will allow as an exchange.
For experienced traders there are many ways to haggle. We know that this is hard to teach but even if you are not comfortable with haggling you should still at least be prepared to question why the price they are allowing you is so low and could they not better it.
Either way shop around. this is easier said when buying new but even when buying used try not to deal at the first place you drop in to and try not to fall in love with the first car you see.
If you can you should read my other selling guides and particularly “clean yourself up” which will show you how to present your car. Here
Okay a quick re-cap on Trading your car in.
Do your homework and know how much your car is worth.
Be prepared clean your car or get it valeted, make sure you have any supporting paperwork that will help sell your car.
Be enthusiastic about your car, you don’t have to turn into super salesman but if you show your car as being a good clean example, a salesperson will be more inclined to view your part-ex as resaleable stock and not a trade car and will price it accordingly.
