Trade in or private sell when getting new truck

[roadrunner]

I wish this was true. It’s not. Most dealers operate in the red on auction cars. By the time you pay fees, transport, recon, etc and outbid everyone else, all profit is gone.

Think about it this way…. If there are 100 guys logged into an auction, pretty standard post Covid, and you are the highest bid, that means 99 other guys thought you paid too much. You think its car has 15-20k in profit based off your example, that one of those other 99 guys wouldn’t bid it?

If you say so...

 

[Ucsdryder]

If you say so...

I don’t say so. I know so. But keep on preaching what you know nothing about. It’s the rokslide way.

 

[ffblake]

Depends on the deal, as I have done both. Most of the time I sell outright though.

 

[DuckDawg22]

It's all a leverage game. The carmax/carvana approach works if you're looking at a vehicle they've had on the lot for a while. if you order a vehicle over a bs option (cough cough* tan interior for my wife *cough) then your leverage is gone. They'll lowball your trade and take the chance that the wife has already been held hostage for two hours and won't want to leave the dealership to go play the dog and pony show somewhere else just to come back and do it all over again over 2k.

This was 2023, I still can't believe we were 55k OTD on a Highlander XLE. I don't think I'll buy another car new, but if I do I won't be taking my wife. She doesn't have the walkaway gene

 

[spk74]

I like to give the dealership an opportunity to give me a solid offer. But the last car I tried to sell privately (FBM) ended up going to a dealership that targets low-credit-score customers (I guess that dealer can afford to pay more for used vehicles).

 

[DuckDawg22]

If you say so...

Used cars are another way to get people onto the lot, into the financing office, and maybe into one of your store cars. If nothing else, maybe you get a service customer out of them. Certainly not getting rich given recon costs.

 

[DuckDawg22]

If you're a podcast guy, go listen to the old "Car Dealership Guy" shows from when he first started out. Gave a ton of good insight into the used vehicle market and how dealers look at that, I think my trade experience would have gone differently had I listened prior to my transaction in January 2023. Nowadays the show is just a sales pitch for AI and industry tech but the old shows were good and shed a lot of light on behind the scenes realities

 

[Godzilla123]

My idea of convenience is spending as little time as possible in a car dealership. I try to have my old vehicle sold or, at least, a deposit in hand before I set foot in a dealership.