To trade a Vehicle or Not to Trade......Help!

[Beauty]

Okay first let me start out by saying I don't know much about trading vehicles but since my DH is leaving the decision up to me I need help making sense of it.

I have a 2003 Chevrolet Tahoe. It is loaded with Leather, CD Player, On Star, XM Radio.....just about everything. It has around 22,000 miles on it. I HATE IT....LOL! ITS SOOOO BIG it reminds me of a bus!!! BUT its paid for, we owe -0- on it.

I also own a 1997 Ford Explorer, also Leather with a CD Player in good condition with around 88,000 miles on it.

Well I've been researching Kelly Blue Book and trade in values and could trade the two above vehicles in on something a bit smaller and new.

Okay in MY mind (which wanders occasionally thus my post asking for advice!) if I trade both in I will have a new vehicle, no miles, full warrenty. If I sell the Explorer and keep the Tahoe I'm looking at my warrenty running out in a little over a year or whenever it hits 36,000 miles and I'm looking at it loseing value each year. So if I wait until this time next year I'm looking at a vehicle with a value of MAYBE 18,000 dollars and nothing that I want to drive in that price range.

If I DO decide to trade both vehicles I can't get another Tahoe (which I dislike anyway) but very probably could get a smaller SUV, another Explorer (I LOVE my Explorer), a Mercury Mountaineer, a Jeep, 4-Runner or even possibly (and I shudder to think) a MINIVAN (I'm not a Minivan person though).

Okay the problem with the smaller vehicle is that we DO travel two or three times per year. There are 4 of us, my DH, myself, my mother and our 12 year old. We never had THAT much room in the Tahoe after all of our luggage though. I don't know that there would be that much difference in a smaller SUV.

I would love opinions on what you would do!

My mom drives a Volkswagen Bug with full warrenty and DH has a company truck that he drives so this would be my vehicle but also our """Family Trip""" Vehicle.

Thanks for any and all comments.

 

[vettechick99]

do not trade the tahoe!!!!! you will lose a TON of value doing it that way. put an ad in your local auto-trader or try and sell it on ebay. I sold my '99 Tahoe on ebay and got $16K for it, the dealer was going to give me $12K!! i also bought a '99 Accord for $9K and same car at Carmax was going for $12K.

It pays to do it yourself!! it's a little more work to sell privately, but don't lose the "equity" you've already built up. let me know if you need any help going the ebay route.

 

[legs22]

Do not trade. Sell them first then buy your new vehicle. CarMax gave me a lot more money than the dealer offered and I would recommend them. Much easier and hassle free to sell at CarMax than doing it on your own.

 

[bananiem]

My only advice is that in our case we got rid of the smaller SUV because of the lack of storage for travelling. We had to get a dog gate thing so the stuff wouldn't fall on top of the kids when we stopped.

 

[mickeyboat]

Reconsider being a mini van person. I always said I would never drive one, but I love mine! The removable/fold down seats give you so much room, perfect for family vacations. They also drive very nicely and the seats in most of them are very comfortable. Test drive one, you may be surprised.

Good luck with your car shopping.

Denae

 

[Beauty]

I would love more mini-van opinions!!!!

I think I'm just going to go look and see whats out there, drive things and just get a feel for them.

 

[bananiem]

You asked so here it is:

I LOVE MY MINI VAN!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm on my 2nd one.

 

[orvilleair]

Currently have a Trailblazer which is probably comparable to an Explorer and bigger than a Jeep Grand Cherokee. For our family of four, luggage would fit in the back. Should I need more space, I could always rent a luggage carrier to put on top of the car. I've seen SUV's with a flat grate that you put into the trailer hitch too.

I don't think the dealer will give you blue book value, so sell it privately. For tax planning, any thought into donating the Explorer to charity? It would be an itemized deduction on Sch. A, but you would have to get a written appraisal of the SUV before you donate it. Talk to your accountant. The Envoy seems to be highly desirable, and you should get lots of interest if you decide to sell it.

 

[Pin Wizard]

I went from a sports car to a mini-van! I LOVE it!! Wouldn't trade it for anything. I'm definitely getting one the next time around.

 

[vettechick99]

Originally posted by orvilleair
Currently have a Trailblazer which is probably comparable to an Explorer and bigger than a Jeep Grand Cherokee. For our family of four, luggage would fit in the back. Should I need more space, I could always rent a luggage carrier to put on top of the car. I've seen SUV's with a flat grate that you put into the trailer hitch too.

I don't think the dealer will give you blue book value, so sell it privately. For tax planning, any thought into donating the Explorer to charity? It would be an itemized deduction on Sch. A, but you would have to get a written appraisal of the SUV before you donate it. Talk to your accountant. The Envoy seems to be highly desirable, and you should get lots of interest if you decide to sell it.

Great ideas. A few friends of mine have the Trailblazer and GM Envoy and really like them. If you like the Chevy/GM line, you'll find them comparable to the Tahoe without the size.

Have you been to Edmunds yet? I lived on this site before I sold mine. Anyway, thats the link to the rebates page. If you sell your Tahoe privately and want a new car, these rebates are great. I think you can get $5000 of a Trailblazer if you pay cash.

But in general, you'll probably get a better deal if you buy and sell privately (and buy gently used). It may seem like a hassle, but when you save thousands like I did, it just means another trip to WDW that year! Good luck!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I drive a Yukon so I am not much help. It's HUGE but it will pull anything, haul most things.

Seriously I have had them all. We couldn't give our darn 97 Explorer away and had to trade it for a loss. People still fear them. I loved it anyway.

You can sell the Tahoe in your local Auto Trader. You will make more $$$ on a 2003. Put them both in and see what happens.

I also liked my van. But for taking trips it just is not the same as an SUV.

Right now I want the Infinity G35...(one can dream)...I holding out for it.

 

[WhenUwishUponAstar]

Hi, I called my dh and read your post to him, the dh runs a rather large ford dealership and has been in the car business for several years and the following is what he had to say....

The Dh says you can make an extra 1500.00 dollars more per car on avg. if you sell them yourself. He agrees that waiting only loses you money especially with all of the strong incentives out right now. He doesn't think you will be happy with a smaller SUV for traveling but thinks you will be happier with that more than a mini-van. He said in his experience those that buy mini vans thinking it's the "right" thing are back to buy something they " like" within a year. He says in all the years he's been in the car business he's rarely seen someone convert that wasn't a mini van type to begin with and yes there is a "type" lol. He suggest the newer suv's have the fold down 3rd seats and such and perhaps a heavy duty luggage rack container for traveling.

Hope this insider info helps!!

good-luck

 

[scarlett873]

i have no advice about trading/selling...

just wanted to tell you that we have a 2004 chrysler town and country (mini-van) and we love it!! it's very roomy and the seats can be removed easily. i think that the newer models all have those stow and go seats anyway...the ones that fold down into the floorboard. i had a 98 ford windstar for about 5 years and it was alright...but the town and country is awesome! oh...ours is the Touring edition!

 

[FroggyinArk]

we went from huge suv to small, 1990 suburban to 2002 blazer we love the smaller suv, well dw loves the smaller suv. personaslly i did go out and purchase another suburban even though i cant drive it yet we tryed a few mini vans when we were shopping for the replacement for the suburban i was in when it was wrecked, we like the blazer/envoys better. The gm suvs seem to have better handleing and a lil bit more roomn. we do use t he luggage rack on top and have folded the seat out of way if was juist 2 or 3 traveling( split fold rear seat in blazer) i would agree that selling out right would be better than trading, and shop around. when i bought my suburban i have now we shopped for 2 months and found a used one right here at home for half the going rate The used car market in the area just west of you( cross da bridge) was really hot a cpl years ago , suvs never sat around in L.V. we had several sold off the parking lot of the bizz i was working for over thereGood luck

 

[ToyStory Fan]

in most cases it is true that if you sell on your own you can get a more money in your pocket - HOWEVER, no one here has mentioned the tax effect of trading in vs selling. If you sell on your own, when you buy your new car - you will pat tax on the full amount of the car. If you trade in you only pay tax on the difference between the selling price and the trade in value - so if your Tahoe is worth 18k, assuming a 6% sales tax rate you will pay $1000 less tax on the new purchase.

So that means you need to sell the Tahoe privately for at least $1000 more than the dealer will give you or you haven't gained anything. Check the blue book, and check local classified ads as well as dealer lots to determine pricing (remembering to compare apples and apples). This should give you a better idea of what you can realistically get for your car(s) - also consider the rising fuel prices and any local market saturation of large SUV inventories - I'm betting it is a tough sell right now in some places.

That's my .02 on it, but don't always assume that you are getting hosed on the trade-in (most of the time you are, but not always)

Oh yeah also be sure that if you get a higher than expected price for your trade that they don't nail you for it on the "front-end" of the deal, by not discounting your new purchase as much, or whacking you on a bunch of aftersale stuff.

 

[Az Pirates]

Originally posted by orvilleair
I don't think the dealer will give you blue book value, so sell it privately. For tax planning, any thought into donating the Explorer to charity? It would be an itemized deduction on Sch. A, but you would have to get a written appraisal of the SUV before you donate it. Talk to your accountant.

Hmmm

Didn't know about the written appraisal part. We have donated several vehicles in the past and just made a call yesterday about donating our van. Guess I need to call and chat with our accountant. Good thing we have not been audited on any of the returns where we took a small write-off for our vehicle donation.

Don't know if it's really true or not - but DH feels he can negotiate a better price if he does not have a trade-in and neither of us want to deal with fielding calls to sell a vehicle privately, so we just donate ours and take the write-off. I'm sure that's not the best deal though.

Thanks for the heads up on the appraisal.

 

[ScarlettO]

Originally posted by ToyStory Fan
in most cases it is true that if you sell on your own you can get a more money in your pocket - HOWEVER, no one here has mentioned the tax effect of trading in vs selling. If you sell on your own, when you buy your new car - you will pat tax on the full amount of the car. If you trade in you only pay tax on the difference between the selling price and the trade in value - so if your Tahoe is worth 18k, assuming a 6% sales tax rate you will pay $1000 less tax on the new purchase.

So that means you need to sell the Tahoe privately for at least $1000 more than the dealer will give you or you haven't gained anything.

Figure the TAXES....sometimes it's just not worth the bother of selling yourself

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Originally posted by ToyStory Fan
no one here has mentioned the tax effect of trading in vs selling. If you sell on your own, when you buy your new car - you will pat tax on the full amount of the car.

Here in MO we get to "take off taxes" $$$ off of something. DH does it so I am not sure if we get to take if of the sales tax or something else.

 

[ZachnElli]

My dh has been in the car business for 13 years and he always tells friends and family to sell it themselves. He recently told a friend that, he didn't believe, but put a add in the paper anyway and he sold it for $2000 more than the dealership offered him!

And last year, I got rid of my small suv (Lexus, even) and got a 2004 Toyota mini-van (dh tried to talk me out of this many times!) and WE (dh too!) LOVE our mini-van! LOL!

 

[believe]

DH thought he would hate a mini-van....until he found the Montana. He really likes the mini-van, I haven't heard a single complaint.