Negotiate your trade-in value separately, against real offers
We negotiate your trade-in value as its own transaction, separate from the price of the new car. We check it against outside offers and make sure the dealer does not hand the money back to itself in fees, add-ons, or a softer discount.
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New, CPO, and lease, nationwide
Why the trade-in has to be negotiated separately
Folding the trade into the deal is the oldest way to make a good price look like a great one.
Work out your total, trade-in included, in the out-the-door price checker.
A dealer can give you $2,000 more for your trade and take $2,000 less off the new car, and the deal feels better while costing exactly the same. Or the trade number looks fair, and the difference quietly reappears as a higher money factor on a lease.
So the order matters. The new car price is agreed on first, in writing. Only then does the trade come up, as a separate sale, with outside offers from other buyers on the table. If the dealer will not match them, you sell the car elsewhere.
What gets compared
Your trade, three ways
Illustrative
In many states the trade value also reduces the sales tax on the new car, which is worth counting when you compare offers.
How to negotiate trade-in value: questions buyers ask
When should the trade-in come up?
After the price of the new car is agreed on. Once it is, the trade is a separate conversation.
Do you negotiate the trade-in before or after the price?
After. Price first, in writing, then the trade, then financing.
How do I negotiate my trade-in value?
Get two or three outside offers first, from other dealers and from instant-offer buyers. Know your payoff if there is a loan. Then ask the dealer to match the best one. That is exactly the process we run for you, with more buyers competing.
Should I sell to an instant-offer buyer or trade in?
Whichever pays more after tax. A trade-in can reduce sales tax in many states, so a slightly lower trade offer can still come out ahead. Compare the two out-the-door totals on the dealer's worksheet; the out-the-door price checker adds them up for you.
What if I owe more than the car is worth?
Negative equity gets rolled into the new loan unless you pay it off. We will show you exactly what that costs before you decide, and whether waiting makes more sense.
Tell us the car.
We will take it from there.
If a dealer has already put a number in front of you, Send the Car Link or the quote, and you will hear what is real about it. Nothing picked out yet? We will find it.