Finding the Value of a Used Car
Finding the value of a used car is not a guessing game and it will take some work. There are many ways to determine an approximate value of a used car. No one will ever be able to give you an exact value for your car. This is why it is important to get a quote on its value from several different places. Once you have a few figures, you can use them to determine what you should pay for a used car, or what price to put on your car when selling it. Don't over- or under-estimate the value of the car. Either way you will lose money.
Publications such as Kelley Blue Book and NADA Used Car Guide are specifically written, printed, and updated regularly to help you determine the value of a used car. There are also many online services that allow you to fill out a simple form with some information about the used car and get approximate value back. These sites are a quick way to get several quotes on the car's estimated value.
Once you have gotten several quotes on the car's estimated value, you can make an educated decision on how much you can expect to pay for the car, or price the car you're selling. The best way to do this is to add up all of your quotes and divide the total by the number of quotes you received. This will give you a median number to work with. Use this figure as a guide. Most of these quotes are given without specifics so account for those in your asking price. If you know there is something on the car that needs to be fixed, deduct that estimated amount from the asking price.
Trading In a Used Car
Most often you can get more money for a used car by selling it yourself but if you want to trade it in, here are some helpful tips.
Know what your car is approximately worth before you go into the dealership. Dealerships very rarely give a used car a trade-in value close to what its worth, so use the information above on finding the value of a car to determine approximately what it's worth so you can negotiate. Remember going into the dealership that on 90% of the trade-ins they get, they will only offer about half of what the value is. It is very difficult to get them to offer anymore than that and if they do, they will try to charge it back to you somewhere in the contract for your new car.
Make sure you know what you want from your trade-in before you begin negotiations. Once you have settled on a trade-in price, make sure that trade-in price isn't charged back to you somewhere in the contract.
