Hi everyone,

How much of a knock in trade-in value (ballpark) should I expect at the dealer if I trade in my car that is in need of four new tires? I know, depending on the wear, tires can tell a story of the vehicle’s past and current mechanical condition but putting that aside I wanted to get an idea of what I'm up against.

Thanks!!!

BTW... Plan on placing my order for a DS/B mid to late next month!

Moderator: I apologize if I possibly placed this post in the wrong forum. I figured the people who most recently dealt with trading in their previous vehicle are 2ng gen-ers.

 

frmo what i hear trading in a car at mini is a pretty lousy deal. and i dont think they care if the tires are bald. i think more important to them is if they can sell the car at profit. alot of the tradeins are sold to overseas buyers or sold at auction anyhow. check out edmunds.com they will give you a breakdown of what to expect from trading it in and selling it privately. i think it gives a real world estimate as opposed to kbb.com my last car i sold privately and kbb was saying 20K and edmunds was saying 18K. i ended up selling at 18.5

 

They certainly won't give the extra value you would have paid for the new tires, in other words you won't recover what you pay for the tires.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by manish

frmo what i hear trading in a car at mini is a pretty lousy deal. and i dont think they care if the tires are bald. i think more important to them is if they can sell the car at profit. alot of the tradeins are sold to overseas buyers or sold at auction anyhow. check out edmunds.com they will give you a breakdown of what to expect from trading it in and selling it privately. i think it gives a real world estimate as opposed to kbb.com my last car i sold privately and kbb was saying 20K and edmunds was saying 18K. i ended up selling at 18.5

From what I've read, I was expecting Mini not to offer me close to what it's worth. I'm planning on going to Carmax if I decide not sell it privately.

Thanks for the recommendation of Edmunds, I'll take a look at them tonight. I've looked over KBB and NADA for my trade-in #'s.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by #20Works4me

They certainly won't give the extra value you would have paid for the new tires, in other words you won't recover what you pay for the tires.

That's what I was thinking. I was thinking about going the used tire route and possibly spend about $250. Do you think the difference between pretty much bald (yes, it was fun ) tires and four newer tires with 70%+ tread could appreciate my trade-in by $400?

 

No.
My dealer told me they'd put new run flat tires on ours if we traded it. It had brand new tires but not run flats, on an 06S without a spare.

 

Absolutely do not put new tires on the car if you are going to trade it. The dealer can and will do it and it won't cost them nearly what it will cost you.

I wouldn't even put them on if I was selling it myself to a private party.

Either way, it's highly unlikely that you will get your money back.

 

+1 for no new tires.

 

I would expect the dealer will use the bald tires as an excuse to reduce the trade-in but that doesn't mean you necessarily end up with a much lower price.

Once when I tried trading in a car the dealer told me he had to reduce the trade-in by $1,500 because of a weak A/C. The car was still on an extended warranty so I said I would get it fixed. The reply: "OK, I can increase the offer by $1,000". Bottom line: the reasons dealers give for lowering trade-in don't always justify the change in price.

 

If you're selling the car privately (which'll get you a lot more money for it), it's definitely worth throwing on an inexpensive set of tires. It's not that it'll increase the value of your car a lot as much as it'll make it easier to sell; no-one wants to buy a car that needs repairs right away & you'll just get lowballed. Same goes for brakes that're nearly done & oil changes.

 

Agree with n1tro. No one will want to buy a new car and turn around to put new tires and anything else into it. Selling it to a dealer may be a different story. You could always call and ask "anonymously" how much tires affect trade-in. Or ask another dealer.

 

Dont buy tires!!! Mine were bald and the dealer did not notice. Even got more money for the car than any dealership. Let them find it. If they do, negotiate.

 

just say no to the tires. You wont get your money back at all in a trade. Not sure how Carmax looks at it myself but it would be worth asking.

 

new tires won't increase the value of your car but worn out ones will decrease the value of it.