How to Boost Your Car’s Trade-In Value

First, and well before you actually take your vehicle to the dealership, you’ll want to do the proper research on it. At the forefront of this step is simply finding the true market value of your vehicle.

Fortunately, there are plenty of online resources, such as our Value Your Trade tool, which can help you do this quickly and conveniently. This not only helps you determine what your car’s trade-in value might be, but it also lets you establish a number you’d like to see in the offer.

With that number in mind, you’ll be able to assess the dealership’s offer a bit better. So, if they come at you with a number you feel is too low, you can try to work with them to get a bit closer to the one you had established.

Next, you’ll want to start getting your vehicle ready for its trade-in. In order to get the upmost value back on your vehicle, you’ll want to make sure it’s a car that a dealership will see as worth trading for. This means you’ll need to have your car looking its best and operating at peak performance.

To start, you should take your vehicle in for a simple inspection to see if it requires any additional maintenance or repairs. Some things a dealership will look at during the trade-in process—which you should try to have repaired or replaced beforehand—include:

• Mechanical operations (engine, brake, & transmission performance)
• Exterior damage (dents, dings, scratches, and more)
• Interior damage (upholstery issues, stains, tears, and more)
• Glass condition
• Tire condition
• Lighting & other electrical components

If your vehicle has any significant damage in any of these areas, or simply anything that needs to be repaired or replaced, you should take care of it before visiting the dealership with your trade-in.

However, another thing you should keep in mind here is how much you’re spending on repairs. While you want to make sure that your car is “showroom ready,” you don’t want to go overboard with repairs. Otherwise, you’re going to negate your car’s trade-in value with the money you spent on repairs.

Lastly, you’ll want to make sure that you’re looking around at different dealerships when you’re trading in your car. This’ll ultimately help you get the best trade-in value in return for your ride.

If you’re only working with one dealer, you may be missing out on a higher offer from someone else. When you gauge the trade-in value of your car with multiple dealerships, you’re much more likely to get an offer that matches its true market value.