QuestionHi Douglas,
I have a question and I thought you would be the right expert to help me. My wife has a 1999 Ford Escort SE with 23,000 miles, new brakes and roters, and the car has never been in an accident. The car is in very good condition. The problem is that there is always something going wrong with it. There is nothing wrong with it right now but its very frustrating to have an unreliable car. So we would either like to trade it in for a more reliable car or sell it to a used car lot and use the money as a down payment on a reliable car.
The problem is that so far the 3 used car lots and the 2 dealers that offered us "trade in's" are only offering us between $2,000-$2,500. Both Kellys Blue Book and Edmunds web sites think we should get over $3,000 on a trade in and over $4,000 selling it privately.
Are we doing something wrong or should we try to sell the car on ebay or through the local newspaper?
Thanks in advance!
Chris
AnswerHello Chris,
The dealers are always trying to make a quick buck. Even if you bought a brand new car from that very dealership for a trade-in, they would still offer a very low return. I was surprised to see that you couldn't get more than 3 K on your car, especially a 99 Ford. Your best option is as follows:
I'm assuming that most of your repairs have been recorded on carfax, and the Ford Escorts are known to have less than spectacular reliability. So, I would bring the car to the mechanic and have it go through a thorough tune-up. With documentation that everything was brought up to par, you can barter with your price a little bit more. I would sell the car at $4,500, and bargain down to 4 K from there.
After you sell you car (in the paper...Ebay's best for classic or sports cars), buy a Toyota.
Take care,
Doug
