Truck Trade-in Tips?
 

We bought a 2008 Toyota Tundra with about 40k miles on it in April. The payment puts us a little bit tighter on cash than we'd like, so we're thinking about trading it in on something a little more economical. We've driven it about 5 thousand miles.

Anyone have tips for how not to get raked over the coals? I know new cars lose value like crazy...

Is it best to take it back to the Toyota dealer we got it from?

Yes, we're young and stupid. I'll point it out to save you all the typing :)

You're young and ... oh, just read that last sentence. ;)

Jim ... paging Jim...

a little jammed up just now. will be back later

A lot of variables go into a trade value. Yes, the truck should be worth more to a Toyota dealer, but that has nothing to do with how much they will actually give you. Do your homework. look it up on the value sites like NADA or KBB, and get an idea. These numbers will be higher than what you actually get, but you'll be in the ball park. If you want to PM me as much detail as you can about it, including miles, VIN, your location, options and honest condition, I can ask my guy to run it through his auction software to see what trucks like it are actually pulling.

you want to negotiate your new car and your trade separately. don't tell them you're trading until you've gotten a price....not a payment, a PRICE for the new car. THEN, tell them you're trading, and work that number.

What's your payoff? If you owe a lot more than the value, you might be wasting your time trying to reduce that payment.

Thanks, Jim. I'm out of town for the next two days. I'll send you a PM when I get back with details.

We owe about $17k. It was $26k to start and they valued the trade-in at $7400.

We made the mistake at that point of being up front that we were trading at the same time we were negotiating the truck.

I think this time around, we'll figure out what we want and I'll go in solo to make the deal. It's too hard to coordinate two loud-mouth, bad negotiators.

yeah. let me know what you're buying and I'll get you the straight dope on that too.