Not an expert, but I have a brother who was in new car sales for a few years.

His best advice was to never bring a trade-in to a dealer. Dealers will always pay you way, way less for a trade-in than you could get from a private party on the resale market. And by a lot. Dealers are also very skilled with playing with the trade-in numbers to give you the appearance of a "great price" for the new car. But, in the end, the dealer still makes a killing off you.

Sell your used cars yourself. In this market, it is easy. More $ in the bank for you.

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What advice do you have?

Ram 2500 Rebel for the wife, 1500 for the son.

Or the Jailbreak for the wife and the Skat pack for the son if you prefer cars.

Sell your car on craigslist for cash.

sell the cars yourself, fb marketplace gets the most looks - always meet the person in a public place, bank, etc... test drives with funds in hand.

Buy a Pilot and a CRV or a Highlander and a Rav4. Not an Explorer and an Escape.

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My Blog - http://leegoocrap.blogspot.com

As said, keep the trade-in conversation and transaction separate from the purchase stuff.

On the purchase, the fact that you're buying 2 new cars at once could should be used in your favor. Salesman isn't doing twice as much work etc., so should be able to give you some kind of deal/benefits for that.

Also, good that you're sending kid off w/a newer car. Most folks do the hand-me-down to the kid. So the kid winds up with a car that's most at risk of breaking down; for a car that's likely to have the most frequent roadtrips use. We had our son take the "newest" car w/him to college because it had the least risk of a breakdown, and the most advanced safety stuff.

You can use KBB or Edmunds to get an idea of what they might give you for the trade, but I've always been offered even less, e.g. the tires aren't brand new, the brakes aren't new, it has some scratches, etc. If you then compare prices people are asking on craigslist or autotrader, you may find that you can easily create a win/win for somebody by selling it at a price higher than what the dealer would give but still lower than market asking prices, creating a quick an easy sale for you. This is what I always do - full disclosure on any issues I'm aware of, yet I almost always sell to the first person and within a few days of listing. Verified cashier's check (or cash if <$3000).

That said, I wouldn't put a kid in a brand new car. New is for something your going to keep for 10+ years. The kids just need any piece of junk that will get them from A to B, an 11 year old car should still be worth fixing. I like the 1st plan better...give the kid the old car and buy new for the wife. And shouldn't need much car heading off for college...I took the bus to college, lived on campus, and bought a racing bike to get around or else bummed rides....didn't really need a car and parking would have been a significant expense, plus a lot of student cars seemed to get stolen. Of course this was the 80's in downtown Milwaukee so your mileage may vary.

bring you own twix bar

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

If you want to trade in - be sure to negotiate the cost of the new car before you introduce the possibility of the trade in. If shopping for a new car - always go shopping as a lease. test drive and get the numbers for the monthly lease and then residual value at the end of a normal 3 year 36 month lease. you can use that final number to help you compare how much money you are losing on any given manufacturer. Once you have test driven and worked that deal, walk away to consider the deal and which car you actually liked the best If you show-up the next day or so, they'll think you are hooked. But, then change your request from a lease to a straight purchase - what is the cost of the car. Don't care what the monthly payment is - what is the cost of the car. Once you get the cost of the car to your liking - then share that the person that you thought would buy your used car just backed out - do you know what my car would be worth as a trade-in? Sometime about know - the salesperson and/or manager will figure out what you're doing. You'll tend to now get the straight answers and numbers for you to make a deal - or not. Also - know the finance deals that are available by visiting the manufacturer web page. There are some rather decent deals that are starting to come back. But, most of those are still rather short lending periods.

One more small part of the trade-in is the value reduces the cost of your new vehicle. there is a slight tax implication based on your sales tax for your area. it's not a large amount, but also an amount to know and use in your calculations to trade or sell out right.

pre-pandemic an 11-year-old car was going straight to auction - it was worth the same no matter where you were making your deal. Now? a Dealer may entertain keeping that car - especially if it's the same make as the dealer. I also think you may have missed the peak of the value of used cars. I've been noticing those costs are coming down quickly over the past couple of weeks.

I believe the dealer will need to place the trade-in on one of the deals. Pretty sure that is how their accounting system works. So, one deal will be with the trade, the other will be without.

Go today - tomorrow. always at the end of the month. If the dealer needs to meet some quota numbers, you may have the chance of a better deal. great deals are never really on the table at the beginning of the month. They may not be needed at the end, but it's your best chance. if really needed, they'll find a way to get you better pricing - dealer and or manufacturer rates can sometimes be on the table for the sales manager.

I didn't say I was buying an Explorer or Escape. Just used Ford as an example.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

We are also looking at this as his vehicle for the next X number of years. Gets him through college/grad school and a start to his life. Kind of a "Congrats on getting into your #1 school and the only state school you applied to thus saving mom and dad $30,000 per year." :-)

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Wow this story sounds familiar. Kid in med school needs a car in April for clinical rotation. Plan was give her my car, buy new car or something for self. Wife's lease was coming due. Looked at it I could sell my car to an online place (easy) and buy out my lease. Buy myself a bolt cheap and lease a new vehicle.

Well ordered lease car in Sept.. still not here. Bought out lease in Oct. Sold my car in Jan when I found a bolt on lot (ordered one in Oct still not here, friend ordered one in June still not here) Hopefully lease car Blazer, shows up before kid takes Equinox to school.

In the end bought end of lease 2020 equinox 15k miles for $21k, Sold 2019 cruise 30K miles $16.5k (online pricing dropped $3k Sept to Jan) to driveway. Bought Bolt in Jan for $18.5k after Fed rebate.

So if the Blazer shows up in time, all will have worked out well, and I will have saved, about 6 months of lease payments.

For you good luck finding 2 cars you want on the dealer lot. Get in early and order it and hope it gets here by the time you need it.

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

Running a bit counter to what others have said, I have sold a car to a dealer and bought a car they had on offer (slight used).

I went in there saying here is where I want to land of net out of pocket (purchase less trade after sales tax considerations) and I did not care where they allocated the value between the two transactions as long as we landed at that number. They did their back room machinations and told me they wanted to keep the car I was buying at the advertised cost and increased the cost of the trade-in to the high end of market to compensate for that choice. Worked out just fine.

I would suggest you do a 1 and 1 and tell them if they do right by you, you intend to buy another car in the next 60 days, dangling the carrot if you will. More likely that try and ring fence the full portfolio at that time and you get to extract a small pound of flesh.

Yes, we bought our kids new, or gave them a year or 2 old car we had, when they were in college 3rd year of college, so they had a reliable car, and then they could start post college life with transportation they knew the history of and didn't need to try and buy something right away or deal with a mechanic for a few years.

As far as trade in.. Going to CarGurus, Carvana, Driveway and there is at least 1 more that is slipping my mind. Is very easy and you get 4 or 5 qoutes to start. Dealership was above Carvana but Driveway was the best price beat dealership by $3k to start, they came up $1k but said if there offering you that take it. No clue what trying to sell local would be like, but I don't want to deal with "those" people for possibly a couple thousand dollars.

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

All of the above is awesome.

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I saw this on a white board in a window box at my daughters middle school...
List of what life owes you:
1. __________
2. __________
3. __________

You are welcome

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My Blog - http://leegoocrap.blogspot.com

We were going to do this in fall 2019. Trade in one car in good shape but used (worth about $25k as a trade in) and buy two slightly used cars. No discount was offered by the dealer even when pressed. We ended up buying one car from them and not trading in anything.

Not replying any post specifically but to the thread in general...

I am in somewhat similar situation, and here is what I plan to do:

I am trying to consolidate two cars into one. I have decided the car I wanted, and I will pay MSRP (there isn't much to negotiate for this car), and put the deposit down. The car will be showing up anytime now.

I really really hate selling cars on FB marketplace or craigslist, Based on my previous experience, CarMax pays decent money for used cars, so that's my current plan and I already have their quotes in hand. The dealer I am buying the new car from said they will match CarMax's offers, so if that's the case, I am going to trade one car in for the new car (to get some tax benefit), and sell the other outright to the same dealer.

Is there any reason I shouldn't be doing that, or is there a better way?

FWIW, the two cars I am getting rid of are a 2018 Honda Clarity and a 2021 Volvo XC90. The new car I am getting is the 2023 Lexus RX350h.

This.

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

My wife has a deposit down for one. She’s second guessing this through since she doesn’t want to pay $60K for a car.

It’s a nice vehicle though.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

I will let you know if I get it before yours show up. It's supposed to be any day now (in transport from Japan).

BTW, there is no aftermarket hitch yet for this car since it's so new. So if you are going to get a hitch for a bike rack, you would have to get it from the dealer and it costs quite a bit. I am sure the aftermarket will show up in a few months, but since we are driving to some races in early March in Florida, I had no choice. Even that, the OEM hitch won't be available for another week or so.

Depends on your State

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

I would look at other online used car buyers (carmax / carvana / driveway / cargurus etc.. ) I did over the span of 3 or 4 months, and it was not consistant as to who paid the best. So when your ready hit them all up and go with the one that pays the most. My dealer said if what I was saying about what driveway offered was right, take it cause it was way better than what they could do.

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.