What Is The Trade-In Value Of My Car?

Q:   What Is The Trade-In Value of My Car?

First, here's what it's not. It's not the number you'll get on a used car valuation site. While they can give you a ballpark idea of prices in your region, those sites don't write checks.

The first step is to find out the true value of your car, not what people are asking for them online, but what someone is willing to write a check for. There are a lot of places that will give you an online offer, like on my website where you can get an actual bid.  Take a couple of pictures with your cell phone, and enter information at the top of CarPro.com, under SELL A CAR. This is an affiliate called ThisCar, and they have bought a ton of vehicles from my listeners. This will give you a good baseline expectation of what you expect for a trade-in value at one of my Certified Car Pro Dealers Just be sure you are completely honest about any needed cosmetic or mechanical repairs.

Also keep in mind that trade in value is about more than just your car's make, model and milage as well as its overall condition and repair history.  Dealers also calculate other factors into calculating trade-in value - timing being a big one. Trade-in allowances often get more flexible as they approach sales deadlines. The season of the year matters, too. I talk more about those factor in my advice article about Evaluating Your Trade-In Options.

Remember, too, that once you get the trade-in value number, it's important to know how much you owe on the vehicle, if anything. So before you head to a dealership contact your lender to find the payoff amount. Hopefully you won't owe more than it's worth, and you can use the money towards the purchase of your new vehicle.