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One of the most important pieces of information to have on hand when purchasing a vehicle -- especially a used one -- is its actual value when conducting both a private sale and a dealer-authorised sale. Knowing a car's value ahead of time allows buyers to get a great and fair deal on a car, while sellers can use a vehicle's value to price the sale fairly and attract the largest number of potential buyers.
Obtaining the value of a used automobile online before heading to a dealer lot is the best way to ensure that a fair deal is achieved during the buying process. Dealers, especially those who sell used cars, are known for significantly marking up the motors on their lot and they often add hundreds or even thousands to a used vehicle's actual value when selling it to typical buyers. This is typically done only to boost their own profit and the financial viability of the dealership, and it's not necessarily a statement of the car's actual value or worth.
Keeping in mind the actual value of a car when shopping at a used vehicle dealer is the best way to make a strong purchase and hold the dealer accountable for their markup. In many cases, this is the key to negotiating a lower price that is much closer to the actual value of the car. It's important to remember that most car valuations are produced in both dealer-priced versions and values that reflected the car's price in a private sale. In most cases, the value produced for a dealer sale already includes a healthy markup over the vehicle's real price. Anything above and beyond this should be considered sheer profit, bad pricing, and an attempt to rip buyers off as they find their next vehicle.
Establishing a car's value is most often associated with actually buying a vehicle, but that's actually not the only place where valuation tools come in quite handy. Indeed, the tools provided here on What's My Car Worth? are actually incredibly useful for private vehicle sellers and those who are trading in their car at a nearby dealer lot.
All too often, private used car sellers assume that they know the price of their vehicle in the current market. That assumption is a dangerous thing to make, as it often leads to an undervalued vehicle that will get the seller less money than they actually deserve, given the condition and year of their used car. In other cases, assuming the value of a vehicle without first checking its value online can mean offering a car at an overpriced level. That certainly won't attract any buyers to the classified ad, and a high price can make it much harder to close any sale. At the very least, sellers will be faced with tough questions and negotiation from their prospective buyers.
On dealer lots, it's important to know the value of a vehicle when "selling" it to the dealer in exchange for a new car. Remember that the trade-in value of a vehicle is often lowballed by dealers in order to make the largest amount of money on a new car sale, and they'll give a very low estimate so that buyers have to finance more of their new vehicle's cost. That's not a fair business practise, and it can be avoided by having an idea of a vehicle's going rate in the marketplace before even mentioning the word "partex" to a dealer.
Our writers include appropriate news on topics including used automobile market costs, automobile recalls, site news and updates, opinion pieces about the used automobile business, and other pertinent automotive information.
You bet! It's updated every few weeks. Just send me an email and I'll send you the current version. If you're interested in getting an email when it's published, I can do that for you. We all wish there was a handy guide to buying used cars that had answers to this sort of question, bu...
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