Should I Trade my Car to a Car Dealer or sell it privately When buying another car the same question keeps coming up, what do I do with the one I am currently driving? You could place it in the classifieds or on a used car website or you could trade it in against the next car you would like to buy if buying from a car dealer. So what are the advantages and disadvantages of this. Well if buying a new car, a trade will probably be the best option if you old car is old as there are good incentives in place with the larger dealerships to get these rust buckets of the road and into the crusher where many of them belong. But if your car is only a few years old it may be best to try to sell your car yourself by advertising it on a used car website or in a classified magazine or newspaper.

Why not trade it? Well Car dealers are in business to make money and most will not give the book value on a used car that is up in the years as that eliminates all profit for the car dealer. He will make you an offer that is probably a few thousand euro below the market value of your car because most people think with their heart and not their head and the lure of that shiny new car is almost too much to resist and it saves you the hassle of trying to sell it on. In my experience a Car Dealer will kick the tyres on your car today and tell you its not worth a penny more than 3500 euro and once purchased, will kick the tyres the next day and tell another prospective buyer that he could’nt sell it for a penny less than 6000 euro.

But on older cars most car dealers will not take a trade in if they are not a franchised car dealer or you are not buying a brand new car as scrapage deals do not apply. So if you are if are looking to buy a new car or trade your old car for a newer car DO YOUR HOMEWORK so you don’t end up out of pocket.