Car Trade-In

[mwmcginn]

Just wanted to say how amazed I was this weekend when we went looking for a used Toyota Sienna. It was incredible what I learned. I have never bought a used car at a dealership, so maybe in was my lack of experience.

At the first dealership, I looked at a Sienna that was advertised in the paper as the "special" it was special alright, it had scratches everywhere, the window switch had been glued back in place after the retaining tabs had broken, and the carperts were soooooo dirty, but you could tell that they had tried.

The second dealership didnt have the van they said they would after I got there, so he took me up to the trade in lot and there was a dark blue 05 there. I said that I was pretty interested, so we looked at it pre detailing. It was a mess. I mean a total mess. There was crap like McDonalds wrappers, food, dirt and whatever, everywhere in this van. I couldnt beleive how bad it was. So it got me thinking, after looking at these two.

Do people clean their car before trading in, and if not, is that why trade in values are generally soooooo low? I cleaned my Chrysler up, waxed it, detailed the engine, before I even went to the dealership, just in case we did talk trade in.

[flippco]

When I traded my Jeep in, I spent about an hour cleaning it up (wash and vacuum). I wasn't expecting much for it so I didn't give it a full detail.

In college and high school I worked at several dealerships and when they took in trades I cleaned the cars up before putting them in the lot. The only exception would be if the dealership was going to wholesale (auction) the vehicle. Then it would be a quick vacuum job and clean out the garbage if any.

I don't believe that trade in values are low because of dirty cars, I think dealers want to take as much profit as possible.

[anysia]

i have always cleaned mine inside and out, though i have to say when my interior is "dirty" by my standards, everyone who sees it still thinks it is extremely clean..... i try to keep any crapola out of my car. i did end up with dirty exteriors on 2 out of 3 trades (one was due to snow that fell the morning i went to the dealership and the other was thanks to rain that started on my way to the dealership....) i also detailed stevel's 04 coupe before he traded it in on the tl. they could've stuck that right out on the lot in the condition it was in when he handed over the keys! ;)

the condition of many vehicles do amaze me though. i end up doing alot of this :scratch: while trying to figure out how in the heck someone can let their car get to that point much less take it in to be traded in in that condition! :screwy: maybe they felt the van needed cleaned, so they might as well trade it in rather than exert the effort to clean it??? :lmao:

[Greg S]

I've always cleaned and detailed any of my cars before selling them in. I don't bother trading them in as I won't take what a dealer would offer for my cars, but that's a different matter:yes:. I think most people just don't care that much about their cars and don't realize how much of a difference cleaning it up will make in how it looks.

[mwmcginn]

I brought the Accord in, just to see what the trade in value looked like. They asked me what model it was, I told them I didn't know how to tell. They thought it was an LX (Non Honda Dealer) and told me it would be around 13k or maybe 14k for a trade in. So I didn't feel too insulted as that was more than the private party value of my car.

[MotorCity Honda]

Some do, some don't....

I have been brought vehicles to detail that were getting sold privately and also vehicles that were getting traded... Although, the ratio is skewed as I do get more vehicles come my way that are going to be privately sold.... don't know if there's a correlation there or just coincidence

[RTexasF]

The guy that showed you the filthy van is just plain stupid. You never show a customer a car in that condition. If the interior looks bad the entire maintenance of the car is in question to a prospective buyer. Dumb move.

I've only traded one car in in my life and it was one model year old so I only removed the smoke odor from the interior, no wash.

[Davisio]

Keep in mind too.... those could have be repo's. That would be consistent with the stuff you found.

[flippco]

Keep in mind too.... those could have be repo's. That would be consistent with the stuff you found.

Or they could have been fresh trades...except for the one that was advertised.

[mwmcginn]

Keep in mind too.... those could have be repo's. That would be consistent with the stuff you found.

Yeah, I didn't think about that. I guess that is why I asked about it, really caught me off guard to see how bad they were. I bought a repo house 2 years ago, and they can sure be messed up/filthy.

Even if I wasnt trading in, I dont think I could have lived with a van like that.

[anysia]

The guy that showed you the filthy van is just plain stupid. You never show a customer a car in that condition. If the interior looks bad the entire maintenance of the car is in question to a prospective buyer. Dumb move.

I've only traded one car in in my life and it was one model year old so I only removed the smoke odor from the interior, no wash.

uh oh, that's quite an assumption.... i've known a few people whos cars have looked "trashed" inside but they were anal about getting the maintenance done on schedule.

though i have to admit, much like heavily modded cars would get an instant thumbs down from me (or one with missing emblems ;) ), so would a car with an interior full of trash and dirt.

you have to rule out potential car purchases somehow! :yes: so anything that makes you wonder what the car may have been through would stop me in my tracks.

[stevencrosbie]

I washed, waxed, and cleaned the interior of the TL....and got a great trade in on it.

Little do they know of the 3 rattles, rear tires that are balding on the insides, and list of other things that it needs to have done.

Good luck w/ the Van search!

[flippco]

Little do they know of the 3 rattles, rear tires that are balding on the insides, and list of other things that it needs to have done.

I know how you feel, I had a bunch of scheduled maintenance coming up on the Jeep (differential, transfer case, transmission and coolant) plus it liked to "mark" its territory. So the wife and I decided to go with something that got better gas mileage and more comfortable. The only down side is now we have a car payment.

[stevencrosbie]

Oh I know how you feel....

I'm in car payment land too..... :(

[flippco]

The payments aren't too bad, well maybe they are considering we had nothing before this, oh well. :dunno:

[namegoeshere]

Another possibility for why the car was in the condition it was in is that the person who traded the car in did not intend to trade the car in that day. Maybe s/he was just looking around, didn't intend to buy that day, but then the dealer made him/her an offer s/he couldn't refuse. Thus, the person had no time to wash/detail the car before trading it in.

Next thing you know, s/he's driving home in a brand new car. I'm sure it happens quite a bit for people who don't do their homework first.

[alpha]

I've always cleaned up the car. It helps that I try and keep it clean though. So most of the time, it would just need a quick wash.