Question When trading in a vehicle....

purplemama · Aug 24, 2011

how ,um, honest do you have to be about any issues the vehicle might have? My Trailblazer has a sticking spedometer and I'm afraid that that will knock the value down. I'm willing to admit to the e-brake being gone (cheaper to just take off than fix and we never use it anyway) and the funny squeek-grind it has occasionally (several mechanics couldn't figure it out) but I really would rather not mention the spedometer thing.
Any legal issues to not metioning something? I'd really rather not be dishonest about it, that's not me

. But I need as much as I can get out of this vehicle. And I'm afraid that they won't give us near what we need.

TechnoGranola · Aug 24, 2011

Is this at manufacturer dealership? i.e. Ford, Honda, etc. If so, around here you don't have to tell them anything, they don't even ask. They'll have their techs take a look at the vehicle, they've got the VIN to find out the exact year/model (can't rely on a customer necessarily as they don't always know) and they'll hook it up to the diagnostic computers to see what's wrong. They also look at the condition, then give you a price based on that.

Often they'll come up with some lowball offer just based on the year/model and quick look at it and if you take that, they won't even bother diagnosing it as they've got lots of room to put money into it if you accept the lowball offer.

Brianna · Aug 24, 2011

I wouldn't tell them anything extra- they're trying to scam every penny they can out of you anyways.

I just read through this the other day- a guy went undercover for Edmunds.com and became a car salesman. It may be helpful for you to read through it- it's a bit lengthy but it gave me some good insight. http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/confessions-of-a-car-salesman.html

jnamommy · Aug 24, 2011

If you are selling private party, be as honest as possible.

For a trade-in, I have never even been asked about how the vehicle runs. They have looked at it and given me an offer (generally ridiculously low IMO). I would not volunteer that information.

Is there any way you can sell the vehicle privately? FWIW, I had a dealership offer me $6000 as a trade in for my truck...I laughed and said I was looking to get double that and could do better on my own. The salesman rudely told me that trucks were not selling in this economy and I would not get more than 7k. I sold it private party for $12,400

We did trade in my dh's POS jimmy at a dealer. We took the offer and were excited (POS vehicle, too many broken things to list, salvage title, and it wouldn't start without jumping every time).

shellebelle · Aug 24, 2011

I didn't tell the dealer a thing when I traded my old car in, and it had a lot of problems. If they asked, I would have happily described what was up, but they didn't, so I kept my mouth shut.

Question When trading in a vehicle....

purplemama

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TechnoGranola

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Brianna

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shellebelle

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