[Brett]

When I ordered my C7 they made an offer on the car I plan on trading in, and the offer was $5000 below the Black Book trade in value. In other words they low balled me. I can't say I was surprised as that's been my experience with almost any trade in I've done. It's different this time though because now I have a lot of time to think about it and consider selling it myself for more money but with all the hassle that goes along with that.

If you are going to or did sell a vehicle, did you trade it in (even if you were low balled) or sell yourself?

 

[rdslon01]

When my wife was waiting on her car to be built and delivered, we decided to offer her old car for sale. It sold easily for way more than the dealer's low ball offer.

 

[regguy1]

2 years ago (non C7 related) dealer offered $8500.00 for this Honda Civic, see video:

Listed it on eBay classifieds, sold the next day for $13,000.00

 

[Flea_Bite]

I suggest you try CarMax. I recently sold my 2006 Subaru STI and CarMax gave me $4000 more than what local Subaru dealer offered me. It was still a little under blue book trade in value but it was close enough that I went ahead and made the deal instead of trying to go the private party sale route.

I think it depends on the vehicle that you are selling as well. I have heard of people being low balled at a CarMax so it is definitely not a guarantee they will give you a good offer.

 

[glen e]

I trade in a lot, I do not want to sell my cars, don't want to have people over to my house or screw with tire kickers or bad credit types. . I have done carmax and trades to the dealer. We are all at different stages of our lives, I don't need to watch every penny and max out my trade. The dealers I deal with with always give me decent money for my trade and want them, as my trades are meticulous.

 

[Brett]

I trade in a lot, I do not want to sell my cars, don't want to have people over to my house or screw with tire kickers or bad credit types. . I have done carmax and trades to the dealer. We are all at different stages of our lives, I don't need to watch every penny and max out my trade. The dealers I deal with with always give me decent money for my trade and want them, as my trades are meticulous.

I'm of the same mind you are. The thought of all the phone calls and strangers coming to the house is not my idea of a good time. But selling it for a lot less than it's worth isn't a good time either. CarMax is a good suggestion. I'm going to try that.

 

[digitalstingray]

Traded my 97 C5 in on the C7 in March. I was shocked with the offer...it was way more than expected ($15k+), and above the 'internet' prices. Of course, it was pampered and had all the right mods adding up to about $10k....Headers, coilovers, new leather interior, Corsa exhaust, upsized aftermarket concave wheels, C6 Z06 big brakes, tune, etc. I haven't looked back at all!

 

[C7HEAVN]

Just keep in mind the tax factor. I was in the same boat last week when ordering my stingray. I decided to trade my 06 C6 in instead for a little less than what i could have gotten private. I got $24k for it but because I'm using it towards my down payment it comes off the top THEN tax is charged. So i saved about $1800 in taxes, bringing my trade in up to almost $26k... I prob could have gotten another $1k in private sale, but not worth the hassle.

 

[white knuckles]

I had a good dealer to work with, direct interface with the GM. He received my '98 C5 when I shipped it from CA last fall, detailed and serviced it before I arrived to my new location. When he got his 2nd allocation for a '14 C7 (granted it was June), he also accepted my GM supplier discount. His best trade-in offer value on my C5 was only $11,500, but when I said no thanks he countered with a "name your selling price, put on my lot, pay my salesman $500 commission" offer. It sold in 3 weeks at my price. My C7 arrived 3 weeks later. Miss my C5 for sentimental reasons, but love the C7 as a much more refined replacement!

 

[rdslon01]

You gotta love general managers like that!

 

[NightRaceRick]

My C6 is currently for sale while I wait on my C7. I didn't want to deal with the headache of selling it, so I let a friend that "flips" cars as a hobby sell mine for a $500 fee. He handled the listing, fields emails, texts, etc. and the car is garaged at his house. So far we had a guy that came to see it, said he wanted it, and then didn't show back with the $. A guy that said he was 99.9% sure he wanted it and didn't call back, and my favorite, a guy that gave my buddy a personal check to hold and agreed to meet him with cash for title the next day before texting to say that even though his wife gave him the go ahead, she freaked out when he actually pulled the trigger. I can always fall back on the trade-in offer, so it's worth a shot since I'm not personally dealing with the sale.

 

[Brett]

My C6 is currently for sale while I wait on my C7. I didn't want to deal with the headache of selling it, so I let a friend that "flips" car as a hobby sell mine for a $500 fee. He handled the listing, fields emails, texts, etc. and the car is garaged at his house. So far we had a guy that came to see it, said he wanted it, and then didn't show back with the $. A guy that said he was 99.9% sure he wanted it and didn't call back, and my favorite, a guy that gave my buddy a personal check to hold and agreed to meet him with cash for title the next day before texting to say that even though his wife gave him the go ahead, she freaked out when he actually pulled the trigger. I can always fall back on the trade-in offer, so it's worth a shot since I'm not personally dealing with the sale.

Thanks for sharing your experience. It's exactly those types of situations that I'm afraid of getting into. Trade in or CarMax is looking better and better.

 

[mjw930]

It all depends on the vehicle. If it's a late model I usually trade. I usually get within a couple thousand of what I would net on my own and it's not worth the hassle. If it's unique or specialty then I sell it myself. Each car and each deal is unique.

 

[LT1xL82]

True, many states essentially subsidize dealers with sales tax only applied to the net (new car minus trade-in car value). The details vary from state to state. Careful, more than one state will not honor the lower net trade-in tax computation for an out of state dealer. Also true, the logistics of trading in can be convenient versus selling on your own. One area to seriously be on your toes...dealers often are expert negotiators/hagglers that can out smart, out talk many a lay person. One tactic they excel at is mixing the purchase price and trade in price into one huge jumble of confusion. I start out with "nope, no trade-in) and nail down a cash price for the new car. THEN I will discuss the possibility of a trade-in. Separating the two makes for a much more informed decision. Ditto for financing and especially leasing! Establish the purchase price and the talk trade-in and financing each as separate issues. They ARE ! I'd estimate that about half of my new car purchases where trade-in and half outright buys with me selling the old car privately. For my entire career I was a sales representative in high tech to large electronic manufacturers. Even still, I find the private sale of consumer items (eg. cars) a royal pain in the arse. If a trade-in with a dealer is close to reasonable...take it! Life is too short to deal with the bottom feeders that will surface when you place an ad for a used car.

 

[TBVETTE]

I have sold every car I had in the last 10 years privately based on CarMax offers. There is no tax advantage here as sales tax is capped at $300. Just sell it a little above Fair/Good wholesale KBB and it will sell fast, CarMax has always offered me fair/Good wholesale KBB. I add $1500- $2000 and easily sell it myself usually to the first looker. The problem is people want too much for their cars. Sell it at a price YOU would buy it for and buyers will be there and you will still be well above what a dealer will offer ACV. Works well in low or no sales tax states,

Also helps a LOT if you have the title and some extended warranty left

 

[ryjackdad]

Sold my C6 on Craigslist in less than a week. Got 4K more than the dealer offered on trade in. Met the buyer at a public place. No BS. Just be smart and careful.

 

[NightRaceRick]

Sold my C6 on Craigslist in less than a week. Got 4K more than the dealer offered on trade in. Met the buyer at a public place. No BS. Just be smart and careful.

Same here.....almost Took my buddy (experienced Craigslister) about 3 1/2 weeks to sell mine. A lot of tire kickers, wishful thinkers, and bull---- artists, but sold it today for about $3K over dealer trade-in. In WV, you pay tax on the new car price minus trade in price, so now I will be paying tax on the full amount of the C7. After additional taxes and giving my buddy an appreciation gift, I'm still about $1,500 to the good.

 

[Tom99]

I was offered $7,000 for my 30,000 mile, 2004 Corvette coupe as a trade in. I sold it myself in 22 hours of listing it, for $22,000.

 

[mjw930]

I was offered $7,000 for my 30,000 mile, 2004 Corvette coupe as a trade in. I sold it myself in 22 hours of listing it, for $22,000.

Good for you. I sold a 2003 Boxster S in 1 day for $23000 after Porsche dealer offered $13500 on trade. Once you get into something older than 5 years dealers simply don't want them. 99.99% of the time you are better off selling it yourself.

 

[sammysam5000]

without question, go to Carmax and at least see what they will give you for it. You don't have to sell it to them and you will have a week to find someone who might pay more for it before the carmax offer expires. I sold my infiniti G35 to Carmax. It was the most painless experience I've ever had selling or trading in a car. I'm sure I could have gotten another $500 or maybe even $1000 for my car selling it independently. But my time and the lack of hassell made it easy to reconcile in my mind. The total time I spent at Carmax was less than 30 minutes and I walked out with a check.