Since their goal is to sell your trade-in quickly and for maximized profits, their offer might depend greatly on whether the make, model, and year of your vehicle is popular with used car buyers, or whether the dealership already has quite a few of the same vehicle on the lot.įor these reasons, if you’re planning to trade-in your vehicle at a dealership it doesn’t hurt to shop around and get quotes from several places, including online retailers. As such, dealerships will often offer a figure very close to wholesale value, or the low end of any estimated trade-in values you see online-then list the vehicle for sale at a higher price. In doing so, they want to maximize their profit margin. When dealerships accept a car as a trade-in it’s because they want to turn it around and sell it to someone else. The reason? The trade-in values you see through online valuation sites might differ from what dealerships are actually willing to offer you-and it pays to be prepared. How do dealerships determine trade-in value?īefore we explore the different ways you can find the trade-in value of your vehicle, it’s important to understand how dealerships value trade-ins. They each offer something slightly different so keep reading to learn more about each tool. Three of the most well-known are Canadian Black Book, Canadian Red Book, and Kelley Blue Book. So, how do you find your car’s trade-in value? In Canada, there are several online valuation tools anyone can use to find out in a matter of minutes.
It can help narrow down the price points you should be looking at and ensure you’re not wasting your time looking at the wrong vehicles.Įven if you’re not actively shopping for another vehicle, regularly checking the trade-in value of your current car or truck is a wise habit to get into-especially if you want to optimize the value of the vehicle before it depreciates too much. Having that trade-in value in mind while you shop around will help you assess what you can afford.