[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Norm K

Except that if you sell the car yourself, versus taking the lower trade offer, you'll receive no tax offset whatsoever on the car you're buying. Depending on the price of the car you choose, the "$2K in value" you gained by selling privately can quickly be offset by the sales tax on your new vehicle. Around here, depending on your specific municipality, the tax burden on a vehicle price of just under $27K will eat up all of the aforementioned $2K "gain". But then again, you'd miss out on the joy of dealing with strokers, deadbeats, scammers, et al.

_

Fair enough, but do the math. Very rarely does it actually pencil out, typically you are still better off selling the car yourself. This is coming from someone who used to own a small specialty dealership. Trading in is very convenient but is rarely the best financial decision.