Car buying tips from dealer ?

savingprivate

When you have an old car and wanted to trade in with a dealer ( used or new )

1) Do you tell the sales rep Upfront that you have an old car and you wanted to trade-in ?

2) Does it make any difference if you tell upfront or at the end ?

3) If you are planing to trade-in a car with a dealer, does it make sense to spend that extra
$300 - $400 to fix the car and then trade in ? or just trade-in without fixing the issue ?

stever

I tell 'em up front. You can look up your car's value or ask over in the Real World Trade-in Values discussion. Once you know that you can get an idea of whether the dealer is giving you a fair shake on your trade.

It doesn't pay to put any money into the car you are trading. You can vacuum it out and wash it. The dealer can fix any mechanical issues cheaper than you can.

If it's an old car with problems a dealer may give you a token amount of money for it just to entice you to buy their car on the lot. Chances are they'll just take your old car to auction and dump it.