There's good news and bad news about trade-ins
There are several sources anyone can use to try to estimate what a trade might be worth, such as:
NADA
Kelly Blue Book
Edmunds
It is also possible to check out various websites to find the advertised price range for similar cars, such as:
AutoTrader
Cars.com
The bad news......
The most important thing to understand is that any trade-in is worth only what someone will pay for it. It doesn't matter what any book says about the value of a trade. The people who publish the books or present the information on the internet have never bought a trade for the value they have it listed at. In fact, they don't buy trades at all.
It also doesn't matter what the advertised price is for similar cars. Dealers mark up used cars by thousands of dollars. Whatever price is listed in an ad, the dealer probably paid $4,000 to $7,000 less for the car. However, you can certainly try to sell your car yourself for a price in that same range.
Nobody is going to give you significantly more than your trade is worth. The typical dealer trick on used cars is to tell you that you are getting a high value for your trade to make you happy, but you are actually paying way too much for the car you are buying. Think of it this way: Any dealer will give you $5,000 for any trade, or for a toy car, or even for a dandelion flower, as long as you agree to pay $5,000 too much for the car they are selling you.
If you go to a dealership to buy a car, typically one of the used car managers appraises your car. They then play the dealer game of offering you less than the car is worth to see if you'll take it. Eventually, you settle on what you are willing to accept for your trade, but unless you have negotiated the price for the new car and the price for the trade separately, you generally will not know what value the dealership really put on your trade. Whatever the actual number is (called "actual cash value"), that number is the value that one used car manager put on your trade, and you're stuck with that number at that dealership.
If you work with us, we will do everything we can to get you the highest possible value for your trade. What do we do differently? We have the opportunity to call several potential buyers to get bids for your car. We are not stuck with a number from one used car manager.
We also have the opportunity to check auction values for your car to see what the value should be. If dozens, or even hundreds, of cars like yours have run through the auctions in the past few weeks, the market value for your car is pretty well established. When we solicit bids for your car, we will know what the price range ought to be. The worst case scenario? If nobody will pay what your car is worth, we can take it to the auction on your behalf to get the highest possible value.
