advice re: buying & selling/trading in cars

Most times you are better off selling Private. Dealers are in the business of making money and need to offer enough to sell for a margin. You will need to do the numbers between Dealer and Private.
If you are trying to save money by second-hand.
It is worth considering a Dealer if they have a car at a the right price. There’s no harm in trying to negotiate. If you need help take someone who is good at negotiationing. Have a budget, know what your car and the Dealer’s car is worth. Know the Dealer will offer less than Private. There’s plenty of Commodores around, so walk away if the deal is not right.

Just putting this out there from experience. It may or may not relate to your situation.

- When you consider trading in a car to a dealership, the dealer, or the dealers wholesaler is effectively buying the car from you the same way you are buying the car from them. The "trade in" price is in no way a discount off the car you intend to buy. They are 2 separate transactions on the dealers side, but some dealers like to play the game of the "Change over figure" or the "Geezus, look how much we gave you for your car, we can't discount our car even more" etc.

- If you have the time and can be home enough to sell privately, this is always the best way to do things finically, not always the best thing to do if you are time poor or just CBF'd with the crap we sales consultants put up with every day. (We get paid good money for a reason)

- When trading in a modded up car or even something unique like yours i.e. Extremely low km, great condition for its age etc, a wholesaler or yard see this as a negative as it narrows the audience they can advertise and sell to. We love plain jane factory cars that scream reliability. Cars that are 10 years old on paper don't appeal to the masses, even if they have low km.

- I'll be crucified for suggesting this, but to test the dealer you are dealing with on their trade in offer and if its legit, or their car is just over priced, ask if you decide not to buy a new car, will they still want to buy your car for the same price. A honest good quality dealer will, the rat bags won't as they can't commit to their offer as often its been false "puff" with extra profit they have in the car they are selling. (Common trade tactic)

- Don't always rely on RedBook or Carsales for accurate trade in pricing. They don't buy and sell cars, they advertise and suggest. There are only 2 people who can put a price on your car. 1. You. 2. The person willing to buy it. The rest is just hearsay as it is very difficult to know exactly what cars are selling for at any one time through out the year. What they are advertised for is not a guide to what they sell for.

My personal opinion. If I was wanting to upgrade my own car. I would sell mine first for as much as I can get for it, then start looking for the right car for me. The only draw back is finding a way to get to work and get around while looking for your new car.

If you want some tips on how to get the most for your car, PM me and ill share some tips. i can't go giving away all my secrets on how to sell a car in here ;)

Cheers, Mick

Last 2 cars I offloaded I put them on eBay. I got more than trade value and less than private sale. I was pretty happy as both were pretty hassle free sales. One was a dirty old 304 VT and the other was a 6-speed VY SS.

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Originally Posted by Wonky

$5k rebate? :confused:

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I meant $45,500 after the 3k rebate.

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Originally Posted by redvxr8clubby

$7500 is a very good trade in for a VT II SS, unless the SSV is overpriced, I would say that's about as good as it's going to get.

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Yip thats a pretty good trade in, I just got offered 6500 for my VY SS on a brand new car :doh:

well I've decided to trade it in, and have put down a deposit on a silver SSV 2006 with very low (only 32,000!!!) k's. Didnt make it back up to $7500 but got $6500 so not too bad. got an enquiry on gumtree today too (the first legit one, after two scam attempts)! typical!. Oh well. New car is immaculate apart from some wear on the drivers seat bolster, which most of them seem to have, hopefully can be fixed with some leather stuff. From the original sticker price of 29,990 I paid 26 even all up. So pretty happy.