[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by kaisen

Remember, if you sell your car to a private party then buy another car, you'll be paying 7% sales tax on the full purchase price.

If you trade it in (even if an in/out on paper) you'll only pay on the difference.

Since your car is worth ~$21K+, that's a $1500 impact.

If he can legitimately sell it for $30k vs $21k trade-in, I doubt the $1500 is of concern. Dealerships love to use the tax benefit as a selling point, but I'm yet to see the tax savings even equal the bath you take on value when you trade in. I've had that approach tried on me multiple times, the math never adds up. You trade for convenience, not because it makes good financial sense.