Who would not like to exchange their old car for a new one right now? Surely there are many who want to, and to implement such an event today is possible in three different ways – to sell an old car on the bulletin board, pass it for recycling or exchange it for a new one on the program trade-in.
Advantages of the trade-in system
Motorists are the last to think about this innovation, which is notorious for its myths, gossip and horror stories, and was introduced a little over ten years ago. The frightening factor here is the scary stories of car owners who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars of profit when exchanging their old car for a new one in this way.
But despite the existing risks, the trade-in program has been and remains an extremely convenient, and sometimes very profitable offer for the vast majority of drivers.
For example, it is very advantageous to sell an old car in trade-in, if an expensive, prestigious car brand is bought instead, the discount on which covers the lost profit in the sale several times.
There are other advantages:
- By surrendering your car in trade-in you save a considerable part of your personal time which you could spend on your family or work.
- Participation in the program allows you to stay on the wheels without a big break, which is usually formed when selling an old car on your own, which is very inconvenient.
Many dealers provide the most favorable terms on a car loan exclusively to program participants.
4 Sometimes in addition to a substantial discount from the importer for surrendering an old car in trade-in, the car dealership itself assigns a discount of 50 to 500 thousand rubles, depending on the class of new car.
- Absolute purity of transaction and in most cases absence of fraud makes trade-in more attractive compared to independent car sale.
- There is no need to do pre-sale preparation, spending a large sum of money on it – the dealer will do it for you.
- It is always possible to negotiate an increase in the value of the old car and get a nice gift on the new one.
Indeed, one hour of work by a big businessman can cost much more than the amount of money he could have saved by selling the old car himself. And to be bothered with presale fuss, which price tag can literally go off the scale in modern car-care centers, hardly any of the drivers will be to their liking. But what about the disadvantages?
What are the disadvantages of trade-in?
And the program trade-in has in fact enough of them, and though some of them may refer only to some dishonest dealer centers, you should always be careful when selling your car this way.
Consider the main disadvantages of the program:
- The most important disadvantage is the undervaluation of your old car. The dealer vitally needs to make money on its sale, so the master appraiser will do everything to further lower the price bar.
- It is not always possible to buy the car that you would like, and if there is one at the dealer, it is likely to be filled with all sorts of options, increasing the cost, which will overlap all the possible promotions and discounts.
- Thirdly, an outright cheating of car service is possible, when the driver will be left in fools, and the car center will make a full profit on it.
- During the inspection of your car appraiser will nag at the small details, which the normal buyer would not pay attention to. And if under normal circumstances such defects can be eliminated for one price, the underpricing at the dealer for the same defects will be charged at a different price.
There have been cases where the driver’s old car was not removed from the registration until it was sold, and the new buyer had time to pick up fines before the car was registered. In addition, all this time in the name of the former owner will be accrued transport tax, which is not so critical, but not very pleasant.
Pitfalls of trade-in, and how to avoid them
Pitfalls and trade-in system are almost synonyms in the realities of modern car deals. Unfortunately, not all dealers work cleanly, due to which the attractive-looking vehicle exchange program is still unable to gain the trust of car owners.
For example, after the inspection, appraiser’s report and the sale of the old car can dramatically change the conditions for buying a new car.
As unfortunate as it may sound, but it happens quite often and more often than not has the legitimacy of the transaction. The driver has to buy a car on unfavorable conditions because of signing a preliminary contract, where the conditions of purchase of a new car were not spelled out.
So, you can raise the interest rate on the car loan, shove a bunch of unnecessary options in the car being sold, and sometimes even remove from the list of available cars the one you originally counted on. To avoid such a situation happening to you, it is recommended to sign any papers in the presence of or after detailed consultation with a competent auto lawyer.
As for the serious underestimation of the value of the old car, you can fight this phenomenon in several ways:
The first of them is to apply to several dealer centers, to be evaluated by each of them, to compare the conditions and choose the most suitable for you.
The second way is to have the car diagnosed and evaluated by an independent expert in order to know the technical condition of your car thoroughly.
There were real cases, when after an attempt to cheat the client, who had a pre-made conclusion of an independent appraiser, the management of automobile salon apologized and made generous gifts in a form of discounts and additional accessories for a new car.