When you decide to make a vehicular upgrade, there are two ways to choose from to get rid of your existing car (aside from setting it on fire and roasting marshmallows over the flames). You can either sell it privately or trade it in, whereby the sale price goes towards the purchase price of your new car.
Selling privately can be, well, an interesting experience - to say the least. Chances are it’s going to take quite some time to sell it, and you’ll need to organise and write the advertisements for it across whichever platforms you want to display it on. And then there are the tyre kickers and low-ballers that do nothing but waste your time.
Choosing to trade in your car is usually much less stressful and saves you a bunch of time and effort. But without knowing a few things beforehand you might end up feeling like you’ve been bent over a barrel. Here are a few pointers to help you get the most bang for your buck when it comes time to trade-in.
Regular maintenance
This tip is really suited for everyone out there who owns a vehicle whether it’s brand new or has a few hundred thousand clicks on the odo. There is really nothing more important than staying on top of the scheduled maintenance and servicing of your car.
Being able to provide a full service history is in and of itself a huge selling point, sure. But also, if you don’t have it checked regularly by a professional (and trustworthy) mechanic, there’s a chance an issue that would have been picked up and fixed early on can lead to snowballed problems down the road (pardon the pun) because the issue was never addressed.
Store it out of the elements
Cosmetics are another pretty big advantage when you decide to trade your car in. If you want to keep the paint and interior looking in the best nick possible, keep it parked undercover and away from rain, hail, searing sun, strong winds and dust. The less exposure your car has to the elements, the better it’ll look for longer.
Tip: Washing your car regularly inside and out is another great way to maintain the longevity of both the paint and interior, so show your car some love every now and then!
Research for a practical price
You might have seen the ad of the guy selling his beloved car, in which he explains it’s his wife who actually wants it gone and as such has listed it for about a hundred grand or so more than it’s worth because he doesn’t want anyone to buy it.
This point is similar; don’t price yourself out of the market and expect to get a crazy price nobody is going to pay, refusing what may well be reasonable offers in the meantime. Jump onto carsales and take a look at how much the same make/model/year/k’s is going for and price yours accordingly.
Stay vigilant with dealership ‘deals’
If you’re heading to a dealership in person and thinking about trading in through them, it’s vital you know how the numbers can be mixed around to make things appear a “great deal”; it might look like you’re getting an amazing price for your existing car, but when all is said and done and the paperwork has been signed you might find yourself wondering what the hell went wrong.
When negotiating with dealers, the bottom line is this: have everything put down in black and white. Get them to write their trade-in offer down, no frills. Have them write the drive-away purchase price of the new car down. Nothing else...if you do want finance, chat with the legends at Stratton Finance today to get an understanding of your options.
Let carconnect take care of everything
At carconnect, our number one goal is to make the entire car buying experience as easy and stress-free as possible. We’ve redefined the way Aussies buy cars, and will help you find your perfect car at the perfect price.
And because trading in existing vehicles often plays a big part of the process, we can help with that too. It’s as simple as selecting the make and model of your current car and letting us know some of your info. Once you’ve done that, we’ll get an inspection arranged (working around your schedule of course) to ensure you get the highest sale price. Then, we’ll present you with several valuations for you to choose between and that’s it - sold! We’ll even sort out for it to be picked up.
Get a top trade-in price and amazing purchase price on your new car
When you’re ready to take the next step towards buying a brand new car at the lowest price around Australia, you can search for your ideal vehicle - whatever it might be - and we’ll take care of things from there.
If you’re after a bit more information about what we do, feel free to call us on 1300 880 008 or head to our contact page to send us a message which we’ll respond to ASAP.
