I'm about to buy a new car. I have a crappy '90 Ford Laser which is in, to put it mildly, less than good condition.

It still goes, but is having some mild transmission problems. I'm far from a mechanic, but the mechanic I go to wasn't able to tell me how much it would be to fix it, implying he'd need to pull the transmission out to give it a close look.

My question is - when trading in a car (having never done it before), what am I obliged to tell them about the car, if anything ? Do they take it for a test drive? How closely do they evaluate it before letting me know what they consider the trade-in value?

Presumably they'd have it checked out pretty closely otherwise they will either be buying a s*** car or will just sell it to any sucker who will then go crash and die in what he thought was a good car :p
Eitherway, I don't think they can afford to not check out what condition it is in. If you want to trade it in they might subtract the cost of taking it out to have a look from the price they are giving you? We need a resident dodgy used car saleman.

I'd say you would only have to tell them whatever they want to ask you about. HOw much you bulls*** is up to your conscience I guess.

Being a caryard/dealer I'd imagine they will have someone capable of checking the vehicle out satisfactorily themselves.

I believe it would still be buyer beware in their case, the only thing they could come back at you for would be basic safety certificate requirements (assuming your vehicle is registered) that had been passed that shouldn't have.

Don't take my word for this though I am far from an expert. Others may be able to enlighted you more.

I'm pretty sure some places give you a minimum of X amount of money regardless of condition, I can't think of any of these places off the top of my head though

u will find places like holden and suck offer usually a minimum 3 grand trade in on several occasions throughout the year.

Yonks back my dad traded-in a car with a completely shot gearbox (the thing made a knocking sound in reverse or something), anyway he reversed it into the car park at the place, they took it out for a test drive, and parked it straight in. Never touching reverse gear.

the places which give u massive trade in's also sell cars that are a couple of years old at their showroom floor price, you don't gain anything. just try to hide the cars defects as well as possible because they will do the same thing to you when they sell you a car, its all 1 big unethical game and you won't get brownie points for telling the truth...

yeh when i bought a new car i told em this care owes me $3400 and i will buy
a nw car off you today if you give me that much for a trade in. He said "that wont be any problem sir" o and it was a s***ty 1983 magna that was truely wort nothing.

But that was for a brand new car worth 28 grand

I'm far from a mechanic, but the mechanic I go to wasn't able to tell me how much it would be to fix it, implying he'd need to pull the transmission out to give it a close look.

Dont worry trog, that is what they say to alot of women. They make up some bulls*** story, ripped them off and laugh about it. You're not the only one, love.

yeah trade-in value will pretty much be eaten up by new car price.

what are you going to get trog ?

They will only ship the car off to auctions after you trade so it isn't their problem for long.

Don't tell them anything is my moto. Afterall do you think they will tell you everything?

Also be prepared to get basically nothing for it.

Our car was pretty much gone to s*** when we went to trade it in.. we didn't tell the guy what condition it was on, just pointed to it and said we wanted $1000... i highly doubt it was worth that even.

All he did was open the door, and pop the hood.. and decided $1k it was (I'm sure if we asked for more he may have given that to us too)

I would hate to think his reaction when he tried to drive the think into the shop :P

But we were honest with him - he didn't ask us if we knew of any defects. :)

Thanks for the feedback.

what are you going to get trog ?

Tossing up between a Honda Jazz (cuz they're cheap), a Civic, or a Corolla at this point. I want something relatively cheap and reliable.

trog... do what i did if you want a corrola...

go to avis and buy one of there year old cars... you get em hella cheap...

i got a 03 corrolla seca 25k on the clock for 16500

new they worth 22000 and second hand they worth 18-19...

my brother bought a new corolla, very nice car, build quality is great

nothing feels cheap inside it (its the bubbley looking hatch)

dunno about the price comparisons, his was about 19k (plus on roads i think)

black :)

If you're buying the car brand new, you'll get a better trade-in deal.

I had a '91 magna in '01 which shortly after (less than 1 month) buying it for $7k it blew a engine and the third party "warranty" that came with the car (QVWN?) did not cover jack s***, and salters didn't want to know about it.

I ended up getting the cheapest second hand engine that i could, went straight to Subaru and bought a standard Forester freshly unwrapped and they were more than happy to trade in the car for what I owed it for even though I'd been told I'd be lucky to get $3-4k trade for it by the mechanic.

trog i'll sell you my 1997 toyota starlet!


oh civics are s***! go a corolla!

i wouldnt tell a dealer anything

its up to them to gauge what your car is worth;

i like the 3 grand minimum trade in deals (if they are still around)

we got 3g for our hoda civic (the n fell off) and it was worth closer to 0 dorrahs (but we could drive it in, so it qualified)

yeh dont tell them anything about the condition of your car, just try to get the most out of it ;) although they might just jack up the price of the new car to compensate for the differences.

but anyway they will most likely screw you down on the price for the new car anyway.

I've traded in two cars, both times they got the mechanic up to take a look at it, but nothing too serious. Then they offer some stupid price like $500, and then the heckling begins! :)

And like Stinky says, new car dealers are much nicer about their trade ins for some reason. Probably the crazy mark up there must be on new cars. When I bought the Zafria, it was almost $42,000 as speced. I got it for $37,500... and I didn't even try that hard.

Nothing beats the failed hydraulics in Trog's boot - I love the cricket-bat solution.

Trog what's your budget ? If you're looking in the range of 3 - 5 grand i strongly recommend you the older Corollas. I own one myself (90 model, AC, Power Steering, 155km, almost new tyres). Reliable, economical, cheap, neat looking, good resale value.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/zeezee/My car and friends/New rolla pics/PICT0052.jpg

last edited by Booyah at 15:46:13 29/Sep/04

i think he said new car! which is like $20k and upwards.

ZUB SUCK

Tossing up between a Honda Jazz (cuz they're cheap), a Civic, or a Corolla at this point. I want something relatively cheap and reliable.

Please proceed to the mirror in the bathroom and redirect what you just said back at yourself.

Zubb Suck.

owned :(

in that case, yes go corolla... or like i said.. buy my starlet! only $7k

I dont like to own my own brother too much. But since you admitted to it i will now convince trog to buy your startlet.

Suhaib is such a ripp off it is soooooo s*** stay away from it.

aha jokes....

Nah it goes hard for a starlet. Drives well, very clean, come for a test drive..... drive away no more to pay....

can't go wrong with a Corolla or a Camry (have owned both).

Honda Jazz's have that cool paddle shift gearing system, plus you might get a runout deal cause I think they're releasing a new model / have just released a new model.

They are slightly on the border of chick cars, but hey, if you're comfortable with your sexuality :D

Nah seriously, while the corolla and jazz are probably similar in build, I like the honda name better :D

You could however consider a Fiesta, they look pretty leet and I think they're around the same price bracket.

I've been looking at new small cars myself. The Jazz is cool, but it doesn't come with a/c standard among other things.

The Barina is pretty cool, if a bit gutless I would imagine. It comes with the most standard I think.

Mazda 2 is good, but expensive.
I haven't checked anything else yet, but the Barina is winning. A metallic black 2 door with alloys will cost about $17k, which is still cheaper than the standard Honda and Mazda.

I did mean a new car!

They are slightly on the border of chick cars, but hey, if you're comfortable with your sexuality :D

Yeh.. fortunately I am, but they must just be a litttttle bit too girly. I need to go have another look.

Corollas are more in the price range I want, but I'm tempted to spend a bit more and get a Civic hatch.