Factors Affecting Used Car Value

Used car values differ considerably depending on your location, the cars condition, and whether you plan to sell the car privately or trade it in. Regardless of the cars condition, trade-in values are always significantly lower than what you will get if you sell your car privately (that is because the dealer has to recondition the car for resale and wants to pull in a tidy profit). If you have the time and wherewithal to sell your car yourself, you're better off doing that than trading it in. However, trading your car in does have its advantages. Chief among them is that you can handle all your car deal transactions in one fell swoop and be done with it. *With today's busy lifestyles, the inherent loss in value with trade-ins may actually prove a valuable trade-off!