Thinking if Trade-in is worth it.

If I trade in my car at the dealership, would they subtract the value of my trade in from the car?

If I Trade in
$26537 - TSX Invoice Price with Navi
-$12475 - My Car's KBB Trade-in Price
-----------
$14062 - Total after deduction
x1.0825 - CA TAX
+ 300 - Docs
---------
$15522 - Total for my car


If I go sell my car in personal ads
$26537 - TSX Invoice Price with Navi
x1.0825 - CA TAX
+ 300 - Docs
---------
$29026 - Total after buying TSX
-$13515 - My Car's KBB Private Party Price
---------
$15511 - Total for my car

If they are the same, I'd rather go trade-in. Also... what's the likeliness that the dealer will pay me how much KBB quoted me or a private party paying me what KBB quoted?

 

In my past experience, you'll get more value from your car in selling it to a private party. Even though the potential blue book is "x" for your car, the dealership will probably not give you the full value of what it is worth. What are you currently driving today?

 

2002 Civic EX Sedan - Auto

 

They offered me about $600 below the KBB value on my car: A 98 Honda Civic

 

private party is better even though you have to wait.

but if you own the civic outright then its your call but if you still owe on it then you should sell it private party

 

sell private uless tax adventages.....

 

One thing to think about also...when trading in a car, you only pay tax on the difference. So if you bought a 30K car outright, you pay tax on it. However, if you trade in a 15K car and buy the 30K car, you only pay taxes on 15K. Makes sense?!
If you sold your car outright, you have to pay full tax on your new vehicle. So if it's a difference of 500 to 1K, it might be better to just trade it in.

 

In California, and many other states, you pay tax on the full sales price of the car, not the difference between the new car price and trade in value.

Private party vs. dealer trade will not affect the sales tax you pay in California, which I assume the original poster is in based on his/her example.

 

They offered me $3K below KBB on my Jetta, and $7K below KBB on the Audi A6. I negotiated to $8K on the Jetta (~$2K off). The car was in meticulous shape, but VW's simply don't hold value.

Consider yourself very lucky to get KBB.

 

Which increases the price of the example with trade-in by $1000 or so, and that's if they give ken KBB value.

 

Yet another reason I love living in Texas!

That sucks it doesn't work out that way in CA. I thought it would be the same across all states. Learn something new everyday!

 

yea right, vw holds there value. no cars hold there value when trading in.

 

YUP.

I found out the hard way. I traded in my old car for a new one. Got $12500 on a trade in, thought I would pay tax ONLY on the difference but NOPE. If you live in CA, you pay taxes on the full retail value of the car regardless of wheter or not you have a trade in......

 

how about NY, anyone know s ?

 

New York is like most other states. The trade-in is considered part of the payment, not a discount off the sales price.

The "total sales amount" is the price you negotiate with the dealer, plus any extras. That's what you'll pay tax on in New York and most other states.

Incidentally, rebates are also considered part of the payment, not a discount off the sales price. If you buy a car with a rebate, you'll pay tax on the amount prior to rebate in most states.