What Factors Influence Your Trade-In Price?

When it’s time to trade in a vehicle at a dealership have you ever felt blindsided by their offer? Unfortunately, this is becoming more common because there are tons of factors that influence your trade-in price.

At Jay Wolfe Toyota we want to help you get the best possible value (with no surprises), so we cover some of the common factors that influence trade-in place in this article.

The Age of Your Trade-In

There are some exceptions to this rule, but as a car gets older its trade-in value tends to decrease. In fact, many vehicles lose 20-30 percent of their value in just the first year.

After five years, expect a car to be worth only half of what it was worth, but after that, it doesn’t depreciate as much each year.

Condition

Of course, the condition of your vehicle plays a role in how much you can get for it. If your vehicle has dents, damage to the seats, or missing parts, expect the value to drop.

Mechanical problems that you’ve neglected over the years can also come back to bite you, so keep this in mind as well. While you may be comfortable with your wipers or air filters, the dealer might have to replace them before selling them to a new buyer.

Equipment and Accessories

Equipment and accessories also play a role in the value of a vehicle. For example, manual transmissions might not be worth as much as automatics because not as many people can drive them.

Having the premium model of a vehicle can also increase its value, while a base model may drop its value. As time goes on this becomes less of a factor, but it’s worth considering the trim level at trade-in.

Mileage

Mileage goes hand-in-hand with age, in most cases, but this isn’t true for every vehicle. For example, if you have an old Toyota Supra with less than 20,000 miles, that car will be worth a lot more than a Toyota Supra with more than 100,000 miles.

Service History

This might sound like overkill, but it’s a good idea to keep a record of your vehicle’s service history. At trade-in, the dealer will want to see your vehicle’s service record to ensure that it has had timely oil changes and other routine maintenance. If you don’t have these records, it can slightly decrease the value of your trade-in.

Bring it to Jay Wolfe Toyota

We want to help you get the best possible offer for your trade-in at Jay Wolfe Toyota.

Take all of the factors we covered into consideration and do your best to have your service history ready in case you need it. Visit us to have the value of your vehicle assessed, and get the best price for your car today. Or, get an Instant Cash Offer for your vehicle online!