Trading in vs. selling your car

man smiling, woman holding key to new car

Pretty much every car owner has had to or will have to upgrade their vehicle at one point or another. Generally, there are two methods by which people rid themselves of their old vehicle when they get a new whip: trading it in or just selling it. There are advantages to both, so let’s look into those a bit more.

Benefits of trading in your car 

For starters, a trade-in is usually just simpler. You can trade in your current car to a dealer when you get a new car and the dealership just takes it off your hands. The trade-in value is subtracted from the cost of the new car. For example, if you are buying a $9,000 2011 Camry and you are trading in your old Taurus, the trade-in value on the Taurus might be around $1,500. If that’s the case, the Camry’s price would basically just drop to $7,500. Trading in really only works if you plan on getting a new car, of course. One con of trade-ins is that the value is usually far lower than what it could be on an open market. And that takes us to selling your car.

Benefits of selling your car 

If you don’t have a problem dealing with the paperwork yourself, you might be able to get a few thousand bucks for that same Ford Taurus. A car’s trade-in value is almost always lower than what you could actually sell it for. This, of course, is dependent on the market and the prospective buyers. Most people who sell their car outright either have another vehicle they use or just don’t have a need for the one they’re selling. This option requires considerably more effort, but it can result in a lot more money.

man smiling in driver's seat
salesman and male customer looking at camera, customer sitting in car
Categories: Pre-Owned Inventory

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