Why you should not trade your car in.

The origin of car "trade-in" concept dates back to a time when selling your car was daunting to say the least. There were no "classifieds" as there are today. Paperwork was often nearly impossible to figure out and the DMV offices were not accessible. These days AAA offices are a great way to process paperwork.

In todays world however it is very simple to go about selling your car on the open market. The premium you get by doing it yourself is well worth your time. You will generally get 20-25% more for your car by submitting a free ad on Craigslist or your local newspaper. Just putting it on the street with a few well positioned for sale signs will get you amazing results.

In spite of this, dealerships will attempt to get your car on trade by making you believe they are doing you a favor, when in reality they are the ones gaining and you lose, big time. They are banking that if you are sucker enough to let them "help" you, that you won't even know the true value of your own car. The truth is that they normally give you less than wholesale price. You really get nothing in return except the convenience of them taking it off your hands. The dealer profits handsomely from you.

If you truly want to get top dollar for your car here are a couple of tips:

• Get it detailed. Yes, spend the $150-$200 bucks on a quality detail. The result is that you will get top dollar for your car and even better, the very first person will buy it from you. There is nothing more frustrating than having to show your car to countless people over and over again. Keep the process short and sweet. Simply put, people get turned off by a dirty car. A dirty car is worth a lot less than a clean one.
• Have all the service records handy. If your car was serviced at the dealer get the records from them. Put 'em in a nice binder and have it ready for the buyer.
• Take a few high quality pictures of your car and submit them with the ad. Photo's help in grabbing the attention of people. Buying a car is a highly visual process. Without pictures your ad, no matter how nicely it is written, will generate very little traffic.

I can also help you if you need support with that process. I can take high quality photo's and post the ad for you for far less than what the dealer will end up costing you.