Used Cars: trade in question, payment money, bad idea

Question
Robert,
Thank you for your time.  My husband has a nice motorcycle that he owes $5600.00 on.  He wants to get out of it and get a truck.  Do car dealers accept motorcycles as trade ins and if they do how do trade ins work?  I always felt that I was taken when I traded in something.  Thank you.
Tanya

Answer
I doubt MOST dealerships accept motorcycles.. I've heard of some that do everything from cars to boats as trade ins, but their desperation should be a hint.  Almost always trading in a vehicle is a bad idea, you get much less for it than selling it outright.  If the bike is worth close to what he owes he should just sell it, pay it off, and then buy the truck.  Even if its worth a lot less I would avoid trading it in, start making bigger payments, and sell it ASAP such that he can start using the payment money to pay off the truck.  Any dealer willing to deal with boats and motorcycles is probably one you wouldn't want to buy from either... if he needs help pricing the bike "kbb.com" and "nada.com" have motorcycle value estimates... good luck and I hope this helps...