this just doesnt make sense to me, so many evo owners trade in their cars to the dealership, you get ripped off so bad when you trade in a car, the dealership goes out and sells the car you traded in for 4k more than what they gave you for it at least, why not just sell the car yourself? I know selling a car is a hassle, but are you seriously willing to cave in and just trade the car in and lose out on some serious dough just because selling the car is a hassle? Plus, when you trade in your car, not only are you d*cking yourself, but youre also d*cking over other guys who are looking to buy an evo, because now they have to buy one from the dealership which will charge them more money, whereas if you bought the car from a private seller, you get the car for less, and the seller gets more because he sold the car rather than trading it in, so no one wins with trade ins other than the dealership. I mean, am i just looking at this all wrong? How many agree with me here? (PS. i dont mean to get anybody here all p*ssed off bc they traded in their car, im just saying why did you do it when at least to me it makes no sense?)

 

you get tax breaks for trading in your car in some states

 

Not alot of people have over 20k to spend on a car.

 

new and improved

 

impulse has a little to do with it. you see a shiny new model and want it right there and then. not a lot of people can wait 2 months to sell their car on autotrader.

 

with so many people on this board alone looking to buy used evos i seriously doubt selling the evo would be that hard, especially since its an enthusiasts car thats low in supply, its not like we're trying to sell civics here, its an evo, there will def be customers

 

ive traded in my last two cars, but when it comes time to get rid of the evo, i figure i might try selling it privately because it would sell itself. but thats not for at least 2 yrs

 

There are a few reasons I traded in my last car.

1. Don't get all that much more selling privately anymore. With the internet and price guides so readily available, buyers know trade-in value and usually don't want to offer you much more than that. For instance, a car sells for 24k on a dealer lot, and they will give you 20k for trade in... you're lucky to get 22k selling it privately.

2. Tax break. Because I traded in 20k toward my 30k EVO purchase, I didn't have to pay CT sales tax on that 20k. That saved me $1200.

3. Hassle/time/risks of selling privately. It can take months to sell privately if you want to get top dollar. Plus eBay costs almost $100 if you sell your car, and Autotrader is $50+. Then you have strangers calling you, coming to your house, meeting your family, etc. Not fun. Or you could have an experience like I did on eBay where the winning bidder flakes out and makes up some lie to not purchase your car.

4. Dealers like trade-ins. If you're good, you can use your trade-in as negotiation to get a lower purchase price on your new car.

Overall, for me it wasn't worth the effort and time anymore to sell privately, especially when I realized in the end it was only saving me $700 or so. That added $11/month to my car payment, I can live with that.

 

Agreed. It's so much harder to sell an expensive used car then like a beater car. For instance, I'm trying to sell my Type S and it's really hard to capture someone's interest, whereas it was so easy for me to sell a B20 Integra. I guess price matters, it's what people can afford, you know?

 

....and wanting to drive your car.

That's the number one reason I use to encourage people to trade with me rather then sell privately if they are unsatisfied with their trade allowance.

It usually works.

 

gotta disagree with you on this one, because you can muscle them into paying at worst 1g less than what the dealer offers, because you know if he doesnt buy from you, he has to spend the extra money at the dealership, and bottomline, every penny counts, so if youre bottom line price is 1g less than what the dealerships tend to give, youll sell it easy no problem while making around 3k more than trading it in



this is a very valid point, i wont argue this point, im not sure if every state offers this though, i doubt new jersey does, and yet i still see alot of people here still trade in



this is not true, i understand the whole i dont want people coming to my house thing, but the evo is a car that will sell itself, again, we're not talking about a civic here, this is a rare enthusiasts car that is high in demand, low in supply, it wont take long at all for you to sell it, and big deal, autotrader is 50 bucks, so what



this is a good point, it will help negotations, but not too too much, i think at most this saves you 2g with the sales tax break, whereas selling the car saves you 3gs minimum, plus lets face it, they wanna sell the car just as bad as you wanna buy it, mitsu is desperate, so if you negotiate good enough this wont be too much of a factor


you made very good points why you would trade in, and i understand where youre coming from, i just disagree thats all

 

here in washington sales tax is 9%, so the tax break is $2000. hard to beat that.

 

It is very hard to sell a high priced used car. Most people looking to buy used cars want them dirt cheap & a lot of people do not have 20k+ to buy a used car lying around. They need to get a loan from a bank who will charge a higher interest rate than the dealer and may not even approve the loan.

So if you want to avoid the hassle & if your car is not very modified, the smart choice is to trade in.

 

Have you ever sold one?


Seriously man, it is a car and that's it. People are going to want to deal and haggle and test drive it just like everything else - it isn't as easy as you make it out to be.

 

I traded in because I searched until I found a dealership that would pay me around what I would expect to receive on the private market. In the end I got 25k and change for my 2004 with 20,000 miles. I think I would have a hard time trying to find a private party to pay much more than that.
Another thing to think about is that the dealership can charge more than private party for the car becasue they can offer an extended warranty on the car.....which some people will spring for to have the protection.
Perhaps I couuld have saved a little more if I went the private party route.....but I believe it would have been very close, and it is much easier at the dealership.