Is it Better to Trade in an Old Car, or Donate it to Charity

For some people donating a car to a charitable foundation for a tax right off is just not worth the trouble, if this sounds like your situation, you might want to consider using it as a partial down payment instead. This makes a great deal of sense when you figure your charitable donation is only tax deductible up to $500 and the trade in value is $2,000.The only ones who benefit in this scenario are you and the dealership, but if you have an extra $1500 to play with you could give the charity the five hundred dollars and still come out ahead on your car purchase.Seven Tips for Trade Ins1. A clean car sells much better, double check that yours is in spotless condition. This step is so important that you might want to hire the cleaning done!2. Car Value- Before you ever step on the lot you should do your homework. Check both the N. A. D. A. and the blue book value. Then move to local classifieds and see how similar vehicles are being priced. Take the time to print out any information you find about pricing and go to the dealership armed. Print newspaper ads, online quotes and anything else pertaining to vehicles like yours. If you are interested in top-notch research, you can call some of the ads yourself and see what their cars have sold for.3. Compare- Do not sticks with just one dealership when it comes to offers on your trade in. Dealerships will vary on what they offer you for your car. The only problem you may have is if only one dealership is holding a new car you want. Even in this situation, you want to check with other dealerships to find out what they would offer you for your old clunker. You are setting up your negotiation tactics by the above acts and these are powerful tools to use on the salesman you are dealing with. Hey, if you are not giving the thing to charity you should at least get every penny that is coming to you.4. Be smart- It could help you remain objective during the sale pitch to have a street savvy friend with you. They can keep you focused and prevent you from falling for classic sales techniques like a salesman who tells you the car of your dreams is already sold or offering to throw in free undercoating. You should never fall for these techniques.5. Estimated Repairs- One way a dealership will whittle away at your trade in is through estimated repairs. Take your car to a trusted mechanic and get an estimate on any needed vehicle repairs before you go to the dealership. This will give you leverage when you are negotiating a fair price for the trade in. You could even make a few minor improvements to the car; however go with the most visible additions since they will add the most value.6. Secret Code- Do your homework and learn the code that car dealerships do not want you to know. This makes it possible for them to show you information while still easily seeing their profits in a glance. Among the long line of numbers, you may see the letters ACV; this denotes the actual cash value of your car. You can now compare that number to the offer on the table.Here's how to crack the code. Numbers are replaced with the first ten letters of the alphabet. A=1, B=2, C=3, D=4... all the way up to J=0. So if you see 'BJJJ' written on the appraisal sheet, you're getting a $2,000 actual cash value for your car.Dealers do not hide this shorthand, in fact, they usually keep it in plain sight and once you know how to read it, you have the upper hand.7.Odometer Reading- If you are thinking about trading your car you should do it before the odometer rolls over the next 10,000 mile increment. For example, 139,000 is better mileage than 140,000.