Recently I wrote an article with tips for selling your car but there are times when it makes sense not to sell your car but rather to trade it in, presuming you actually need another vehicle. As it happens I encountered just such a situation last week. Although automotive transactions are not the purpose of this blog, I feel this issue makes sense to address because of it’s tendency to coincide with moving and I wanted to share my experience.
I have sold several cars in the past as a private seller and they have all been successful with the vehicle selling within two weeks at the most and fetching a reasonable value. But a few weeks ago I had an episode with my vehicle that caused me to trade it in. Of course I didn’t get quite the money for it that I could have gotten had I sold it myself but I had good reason to not to try.
In my case the number one reason for attempting to sell it myself was that I felt I could no longer trust the vehicle. The same part in the vehicle failed twice within one week and left me stranded and I was somewhat afraid that it or another part would fail soon. Even though prior to that it had been a great vehicle I now wanted to get rid of it fast. Mostly, the vehicle was reaching a point in its life where many parts were reaching the end of their life. And if I wanted to sell it I would have had to disclose to the buyer what work was needed and it would have reduced the price of the vehicle equally.
Almost just as big a factor is time. Between kids and work, the extra time required to sell it myself was not worth the possibility for a little extra money. With a trade-in you can easily get it done in few hours rather than a few days or weeks.
Finally, trade-ins typically make negotiating the price on a new car easier. Often the dealer will work with you a little more on a discount because they know they can also make a little on the sale of your traded in vehicle. And lower financing rates can be available when you put more down on the purchase of the vehicle.
So we traded it in and got almost exactly what we expected based on trade-in blue book value. It was slightly less than what I would have wanted but the trade-offs were well worth it. Most importantly, the transaction was actually relatively quick and painless and the stress of the old vehicle was behind us.
Joshua Zerkel, Certified Professional Organizer ® is a guest blogger for One Simple Move and the founder of Custom Living Solutions, an organizing and productivity consulting firm specializing in helping clients maximize their creativity and productivity in their offices and homes. He is the 2009-2010 Chapter President of the National Association of Professional Organizers, San Francisco Bay Area chapter, and speaks nationally and locally on organizing and productivity topics. For more information and FREE organizing ideas, visit 