I posted this over in the Arkansas Mini Owners Klub subforum, but thought I might post it here as well for better exposure and maybe more answers.

I was told by my Mini salesman that to get a good idea of what my trade in will be worth, I could check with a company that sells Kias and ask them about the True Cash Value (TCV). He said that the TCV would likely be very close to the value the delearship will offer. Having read a few of the posts about Mini dealers offering relatively low trade-in values and having my salesman honestly warn me in advance that I might not get what I'm expecting to get, I can say that if they offer the TCV, I won't be dismayed at all (maybe it's a good thing I tend to be a pessimist about these things...so I'm pleasantly surprised rather than bitterly disappointed).

I do wonder though, for those of you who've bought your vehicle in this area, particularly at our friendly local place in Memphis, did you go through the process of ascertaining the TCV of your old vehicle first? If so, did the trade-in value the delearship offered you compare to the TCV? Higher or lower?

As you've probably guessed, I'm hoping for no big surprises Saturday. Thanks for any input.

 

I'm no salesman, but in my experience, the best way to judge the trade-in value of your vehicle is to figure out what the going rate is for your make/model at car auctions nationwide. Mannheim (sp?), due mostly to the sheer volume of inventory they move, seems to provide the "gold standard" in terms of setting price targets.

If your local dealer, be it MINI or otherwise, can acquire a car that's similar to yours via auction, they really have no reason to buy yours (or at least to give you much more money than they'd pay at auction, incl. transportation and prep fees).

Keep in my, too, that your trade-in should (in most states?) save you some tax on the new car that you're buying. In WA, for example, this amounts to about 9% of the total transaction, which ends up being a couple of grand. This incentive, along with the ease of the transaction itself, should be weighed in your decision to sell your car yourself vs. taking less money on it as a trade-in.

Just some thoughts to consider... good luck.

 

Try looking it up on edmunds. They give you what they call True Market Value, which from my experience is close to what you should expect.

 

Go look on ebay and look at the completed transactions section -the auctions that actually sold are in green. Then compare that against all the websites like kbb, edmunds and nada. I don't imagine that Kias hold their value well at all so don't be too surprised. In fact, I can't recall ever meeting anyone looking for a used Kia.

 

www.galves.com is what many dealers use to find the value for a trade in.