Estimating the Value of your Trade In
Trade In or Sell It Yourself?
Preparing Your Vehicle for Sale
Private Party Pre-Sale Tuneup Checklist

Estimating the Value of the Car you will Sell or Trade In

Your vehicle's value is based on two things:

• its mileage, condition, and options (air conditioning, cruise control, etc.) give it a certain value to the person who will eventually purchase it
• whether you sell directly to a person or to a third party (dealership) who will resell it for profit.

If you trade the vehicle, the dealership will offer a price that allows them to recondition the vehicle and sell it for a profit. If you sell the vehicle to a private party you will likely get a higher value, but not as high as the dealer's retail price because you will not be offering a warranty or other dealership services.

You can find an estimate of the vehicle's trade-in and private party values at sites like Edmunds and Kelly Blue Book. It's a good idea to record both the trade-in value (for use in negotiations) and the private party value (if you are considering selling the vehicle yourself). Another good way to estimate the trade-in value of your vehicle is to get bids from used-vehicle dealers. Pick a used car dealer that sells new cars of the same make. Make it clear to the dealer that you are not trading the vehicle at this time, but want a price to purchase it outright.

No matter how you decide to sell your vehicle, be sure to clean it thoroughly inside and out, including the trunk and engine compartments, and wax it. A clean, shiny vehicle will almost always sell better than a dirty one.

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Trade-in or sell it yourself?

You usually get more money by selling your car to a private party rather than trading it in. Before you put an ad in the local paper, find the value of your car by looking online. Remember that the wholesale price is what you can expect to get for the car as a trade-in; the private party price is the average price sellers like you can expect to get when selling directly to an individual buyer, and the retail price is what a dealer might get for the car after fixing it up and offering a warranty.

You can also use the website's AutoFinder search capability to find similar cars, look in the classified ads, or walk through a dealer's used car lot. Setting your price 5-10% below similar listings will help sell your vehicle quickly and minimize out of pocket expenses such as advertising.

One disadvantage of selling your car to a private party is that you could be held legally liable if something goes wrong with the car, especially if you didn't disclose something about the car during the sale. If you sell to a dealer, you absolve yourself of liability.

Many people like the convenience of driving their old car to the lot, getting an appraisal, and signing off on it. This minimizes the fuss and bother, but at the cost of several hundred dollars. If you are buying a car from the dealer, it can be a same-day transaction. The most a dealer will offer is the wholesale price of the car.

In some states, sales or excise tax is computed on the difference between the price of the new car and the value of the trade-in. Consider this aspect if you live in one of these states and the sales tax is high.

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Preparing Your Vehicle for Trade-In or Sale

• Clean the car inside and out.
• Remove window and bumper stickers
• Wash it, wax it, and vacuum the upholstery and floors
• Clean out the glove box, trunk and seat pockets
• Degrease the engine and remove excess fluids and dirt -- perhaps even investigate the cost of steam cleaning the engine and battery terminals

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Private Party Pre-Sale Tune-Up Checklist

If you trade-in the car to a dealer, they will do an exhaustive inspection and tuneup. Don't spend money on a tuneup -- you won't get a better trade-in price.

• Replace spark plugs
• Inspect the rotor
• Inspect the distributor cap
• Check the timing
• Inspect the spark plug wires
• Check the idle speed
• Check the compression
• Check the battery and charging voltage
• Inspect and clean the battery posts and cable connections
• Inspect/replace the air filter
• Replace the fuel filter
• Replace the PCV valve
• Change oil and filter
• Check all fluid levels and add if necessary
• Inspect belts and hoses
• Check safety items (lights, wipers, tires, horn, etc.)
• Check operation of accessories
• Tighten anything that rattles

If you don't want to fix something, at least get an estimate of what it will cost to fix. That way, if the buyer considers it an issue, you can deduct the cost of repair from the sales price. It is best to forego making major repairs -- these will almost always cost more than the increased price you'll get for the car. Don't try to hide things like a flood or salvage title, odometer fraud, or major accident damage, etc. Honesty is the best policy.

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