The first
and most important thing you must always remember when it comes to trading your
car is to ALWAYS keep the car trade out of the
negotiating process until AFTER you have negotiated a
firm selling price on the car you're buying! Get the selling price in writing
and make sure it's signed by the manager!
One of
the first things the salesperson is going to ask you is "Are you trading
your car?" Now, I don't want
you to lie, so find some way around that question, because the answer you give
will either cost you MONEY or make you MONEY! You
could simply tell the salesperson that all you're interested in is negotiating a
fair price on the vehicle you want to purchase, and that's what you want to
focus on. Keep the Car Trade Out of the Negotiation
Process!
Let the
salesperson and the Sales Manager wonder! It will keep them off balance! This
is a Good thing!
Secondly,
never negotiate a car deal based on "Price Difference," meaning
that you agree to buy their vehicle for so much money difference plus your car
trade. If you do, you will
end up spending Thousands too much!
Third,
never negotiate a car deal based on payment amount! In other
words, they might ask you how much you can afford a month, and then say to you,
"Will you buy this vehicle today if we can get it for you for $350 a
month?" If you negotiate in
this manner you will spend thousands of dollars too much!
Now understand this,
no dealership is going to give you more than WHOLESALE VALUE for your
trade. Wholesale is the "MAX" they're going to give
you! We must remember, a
car dealer is in business for one reason, and one reason only. Just like any
other business person! To Make a Profit! We can't fault them for
that!
All the dealers know
that when you bring your car in to trade it that you are expecting an
unrealistic amount for it. And if you don't get it, then you feel like the
dealer is "ripping" you off! Knowing this,
the dealers have devised various ways to trick you into believing that
you're getting more for your car trade than they're really giving
you! If you allow the
salesperson to subtract your trade-in allowance from of the sticker price on the
vehicle you're buying, or off the retail if your buying used, he can inflate the
trade value on paper by adding some of the mark-up from the vehicle you're
buying to the trade allowance. This is money the
dealership was prepared to give up anyway, had you come in without a trade and
negotiated them down on price!
Another
trick they use is adding the rebate, if any, to the trade allowance. Watch them
on this. Now, are you
starting to see why it's so important to negotiate the price of the vehicle
you're buying first? Then subtract the rebate from that, then talk trade? If
you do it the dealer's way you'll never have any clue as to how much you're
really getting for your trade, and you won't know how much you're really paying,
because all the numbers will be inflated!
Another thing you
must keep in mind is the fact that if you owe money on your car trade, the loan
must be paid off out of the trade-in allowance you agree to. In other words, if
you owe $10,000 on your trade, and the dealer is willing to give you $11,000 the
actual amount you get to subtract from the selling price is only
$1,000! If you owe more on
your vehicle than you can get on trade, then you must add the difference left
over to the new or used vehicle you're purchasing!
No Title - No
Deal!
One last
point to remember is that before you take your car trade into a dealership;
invest in a professional detail job. It will be money well spent.
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