At Huffines Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram (CJDR) Lewisville, Texas, most customers prefer trading in their old car as part of a new car deal. Trading in your car provides a convenient alternative to the lengthy process of searching for a buyer and executing a sales agreement. In addition, most people don’t want the hassle of a private sale.
In addition, you may not receive significantly more money selling your vehicle on your own than you think. Today’s market has dealerships searching for used inventory to keep up with the high demand. As a result, trade-in offers have risen to all-time highs.
Huffines CJDR Lewisville pays top dollar for your vehicle, so customers come to us from around the Dallas-Fort Worth area to make a deal. Our website offers many tools to help you complete a sale. However, we recommend you take care of a few things before you start. So, we asked our trade-in specialists to create the following checklist to prepare you properly.
Find Out What Your Car Is Worth
We always recommend you research the value of your current car before arriving at our dealership. Several websites provide this service for free, where you provide basic information regarding the year, make, model, mileage, and vehicle condition to receive an estimate of your car’s value. In most cases, you’ll receive the value of your vehicle for trade, private sale, and auction price.
Huffines CJDR Lewisville has an online trade valuation tool to make it more convenient. Powered by Kelley Blue Book, our tool produces the most accurate offer in the industry. Once you receive your offer, bring your vehicle to our dealership, and one of our car appraisal specialists will confirm your car’s metrics are as listed. Then, they’ll certify the offer, and you can complete a deal. We’re confident you’ll love our offer for your vehicle, even if you don’t buy another car from us.
Make Necessary Repairs on Your Trade-In
Most industry experts agree that taking a little time and money to fix up your car before trading it in improves its value. But, of course, you don’t want to invest a significant amount of money in major repairs. Instead, focus on the minor issues likely to affect buyers’ perceptions of your vehicle.
For example, a broken door handle, a malfunctioning window switch, or a radio without a knob tells a potential buyer you haven’t taken proper care of your vehicle. Worse, these issues lead people to believe you may have ignored more critical maintenance.
Other repairs you should fix first include squealing brakes or a loose belt. Issues such as these indicate there may be more problems to fix. Of course, dealerships can and will fix these problems after making a deal. However, they will subtract the repair costs from your car’s value.
Clean Your Vehicle
You want to present your car in its best possible light. A wash, wax, and detail inside and out will give dealers the impression of a well-kept vehicle. Try and bring your car in the same condition as the one you expect to buy.
Organize Your Paperwork
Gather the necessary paperwork to complete a deal. If you own your car, you need your title on hand to trade it in. If you have an existing car loan, bring in the relevant information and ask your lender for a payoff amount. We recommend you ask for the payoff figure for 10 and 20 days out to account for dealer processing times.
Be aware that when you owe money on your car, it affects the transaction. For example, if you owe more to the lender than the vehicle’s value, the lender must be paid the difference to complete the transaction. Conversely, if you owe less than the car’s value, we’ll cut you a check for the difference when we process the deal.
Don’t worry if you don’t have the money to pay your lender if you owe more than the car’s value. Our finance department can work out a deal that pays your lender without any out-of-pocket expense. We’ll handle all the paperwork and get you into your dream car without issues.
Negotiate a Fair Price
Hopefully, you did the research and accurately described your vehicle. As a result, your trade-in offer should be fair. However, that doesn’t preclude you from negotiating. For example, you might have a desirable car that fetches more on the resale market. Our finance department managers will listen to any reasonable offer.
And even though most dealerships follow the same appraisal process, this doesn’t always result in the same offer. So don’t be afraid to ask for offers from competing dealerships. If a dealership has several cars that are the same as yours, they will be less likely to offer you top dollar than another dealer with none.
Find a Reputable Dealer
We always recommend you find a dealer with a solid reputation in the community but also one that sells many used cars. As a regional sales leader, Huffines CJDR Lewisville, Texas, has a robust new and used car business, and we want your trade-in. Smaller dealerships may not want or need your car and, as a result, will pay you less for it.
Make Decisions Promptly
We don’t recommend rushing the process. However, the auto industry is continually changing. We see car prices fluctuate, and interest rates adjust almost daily. You don’t want a market shift to impact your ability to close a good deal. Of course, take time to consider your trade-in offer. Most reputable dealers will guarantee trade values and sale prices for at least a few days and sometimes weeks. After all, you opted for a trade-in over a private sale to save time. So, take advantage of the convenience.
Trade In Your Vehicle in Lewisville, Texas, Today
If you’re ready to make a deal and trade in your old car for a new one, we want you to consider Huffines CJDR Lewisville, Texas. We have an expansive inventory of new vehicles that we invite you to shop online. And we pay top dollar for your trade.