Your Trade-in

The trade-in

Find your trade-in value

A common dealer tactic is to give you a token discount on a new car, and then make up for it by giving you less for your trade-in. You can avoid this by knowing the value of your current car before you go shopping. This depends on its age, mileage, condition, trim level, options, and your area.

To get an idea of your car’s worth, check its “book value” in printed pricing guides or at used-car-pricing websites, such as Kelley Blue Book and the National Automobile Dealers Association. Focus on the wholesale or trade-in value; the retail value is what you would pay for the car at a dealership.

To help, Consumer Reports offers Used Car Price Reports for $12, which give you the initial value of a model and walk you through the process of adjusting the value according to options, mileage, and condition.

To get a better fix on your car’s worth, check car-buying websites and local classified and dealer ads for models similar to yours. But keep in mind these are asking prices, not what people are paying.

Get an appraisal. If you want a rock-solid figure to use for comparison in your negotiations, take your car to the used-car department of several dealers or used-car lots and ask what they would give you  in a straight-up sale.

Of course, you can always sell the car yourself; you’ll usually get more money than by trading-in, but probably less than the highest asking prices you found. But if you need the money for a down payment, you’ll have to sell your old car before buying a new one. Trading in can also lower the sales tax you’ll pay on the new car.