@EddieJennings said in Buying a New Car:
@bnrstnr said in Buying a New Car:
Definitely don't trade it in. You'll get ripped off. You're almost always better off selling it privately (here in MI, anyway). Unless, of course, your car is worth less than like $2000 and the dealer is offering $2000 guaranteed... I doubt that's the case though.
For me, there was a repair that needed to be done to my 2005 camry that would've either just frightened buyers away, or would make the car worth about $1500. I ended up trading it to my dealer rather than CarMax. Doing the math, doing so cost me $9 over the next 5 years. So for $9, it was worth the convenience of leaving my old car at the dealer and driving new car home.
Otherwise, I would've definitely looked at doing a private sale for mine.
A few years ago a dealer offered me $2000 for my 2005 Saab 9-3, I ended up selling it to a desperate family member for $2500, I could have sold it privately for about $4000. It's a pain in the ass to sell, and you have to deal with a lot of window shoppers, but if it doesn't cost you anything to sit on it for a few months, you can come out a couple thousand dollars ahead.