if you're trading it in, the appraiser will use it to his advantage in negotiating the value of the car. A 6 year old car is an in-betweener as to whether or not it ends up on his used car lot or gets wholesaled. The nicer the car (aka low mileage, clean car, no mechanical issues or history of issues) the more likely he will want to sell it himself and therefore the more likely you could get more money as a trade as wholesale cars need to be moved fast and priced right to the wholesaler or auction.

so get an estimate and determine from there

TenuredVulture wrote:Probably going to be trading in our 6 year old 90k mile Mazda mini van in the next few months. Does it make any sense to fix the dent in the front fender?

Also, is it better to buy a car now or wait until say December? It seems those end of year deals really aren't that great.

The deals should get better in Aug-Sep.

You probably know that you pay a huge price for the conveience of trading in a car. It's a license to steal for the dealership. Still, time is money and selling a car privately is a PITA. But if a thousand bucks mattters to you, don't trade in.

In general, I'd fix that dent if selling privately and hoping to get $7k or more for a car. If trading in, let the dealer worry about the dent.

Maybe this is obvious, but the two grand the dealer offers you as a trade in value is the same 2 grand you could negotiate off the price without a trade it. So essentially you are donating the car to the dealer.

but you can get it in addition to the price. And you should get more than $2 grand for that. My POS 2000 Saturn was traded in for $1500

The Dude wrote:but you can get it in addition to the price. And you should get more than $2 grand for that. My POS 2000 Saturn was traded in for $1500

My tactic would be to tell the dealer "not trading in" and them hammer out a deal. Tell him you just gotta get the wife to approve, she is out of town on camping trip no phone blah blah. Come back 24 hours later "wife says OK but wants to trade in the Mazda POS Soccer Mom Transport" so how much will you give me on it? And if you can get 85% of the private party value, great.

How about if you pay cash for a car? I am assuming that if I walk into a dealer with $14,000 cash, then I can get a more expensive car than if I was financing $14,000.

Phred wrote:How about if you pay cash for a car? I am assuming that if I walk into a dealer with $14,000 cash, then I can get a more expensive car than if I was financing $14,000.

nope, in fact they make money if you finance

Even at 0% APR? I thought the end game was to move the car off the lot.

Phred wrote:How about if you pay cash for a car? I am assuming that if I walk into a dealer with $14,000 cash, then I can get a more expensive car than if I was financing $14,000.

Maybe. If the dealer can qualify you for financing, then the cash is not that much of an advantage.

I just bought a new Q5 for cash. Got a pretty good price, but only because I have played this game before.

Phred wrote:Even at 0% APR? I thought the end game was to move the car off the lot.

even at 0% they get a kick back from the manufacturer (dealers complained loudly when they first started to offer discounted rates to sell cars that the manufacturers had to start throwning money back as a result)


and yes of course they want the car off the lot but all cash doesn't do anything for them to discount the price further. Unless perhaps you're talking about a shady used car lot that might do something illegal since you pay cash.

so which one of you is coming with me next time i go car shopping?

btw if you pay over 10K in cash they do have to report it as per law

JUburton wrote:so which one of you is coming with me next time i go car shopping?

how much $$ for my assistance?

0%

0.15 * (Edmunds TMV - Purchase Price)

JUburton wrote:0.15 * (Edmunds TMV - Purchase Price)

but I save you from the F&I manager- that's where most people get ripped

I don't even know what that is!

Financing stuff, I assume. I probably won't get a car for a few years. Only 5 payments left

The guy who has you sign the paperwork

At this point most people are relieved because they finished with the price of the car, but this guy comes along and hits you up on extended warranties, anti theft, service contracts and much more. They often have some of that stuff built into your payment already so it seems free when it's not

The Crimson Cyclone wrote:The guy who has you sign the paperwork

At this point most people are relieved because they finished with the price of the car, but this guy comes along and hits you up on extended warranties, anti theft, service contracts and much more. They often have some of that stuff built into your payment already so it seems free when it's not

I assume none of that stuff is ever worth the money.

just get the rust-proofing and finder's fee