I'm looking to trade in my 04 745. Will I get better price on craigslist or trade in at Lexus dealer?

 

IMO selling it on craigslist. It may take sometime for it to sell based on the condition of the car and price. But more than likely you will get more money through craigslist rather than the dealer.

 

Depends...if you are in the market for a brand new Lexus, the dealership might just play hardball with the value of the trade-in in order to get your new vehicle business. But overall, I would say a private sale would net you the most $$$. Perhaps a trip and an hour of your time at the local CarMax can show you what price dealerships might be willing to offer you out of the gate.

 

Craigslist is always the most profitable, but I have seen dealerships work okay prices when trading towards another model.

 

You should also factor in the tax savings involved. Normally you only pay tax on the price difference between a trade-in value and the new car price. If your trade-in is worth $10,000 and your tax rate is 10% you would have to get at least $1000 more from Craigslist vs Trade-in to break even.

 

im not sure they have the tax thingie in ca...

Selling privately is always going to get you more money. depends on what kinda time you have to sell it. quick sell go to dealership and accept it get your new car and enjoy it and dont look back. Got a few weeks? try a private sell. then if that fails back to plan A and trade it in! enjoy your new car.

 

I just sold my Acura back to the Acura dealership and Carmax quoted me almost $1k less than Acura...so Carmax might be on the low end of the trade in value...

I agree with the first part though, I've always gotten good trade ins at the dealership you are going to buy your car from... otherwise private sell if you have the time...

 

For those stating they got a decent price from trading at a dealership, you may be fooled. Anytime a dealer claims to be giving you a higher price, they are taking it out of the new car you are buying. The money savings has to come from somewhere- either the car you are trading in or the one you are buying. It's very easy for a dealer to hide the numbers with the new car.

To the OP, you are almost always better off selling privately. Try Autotrader, as they have a very large database.

 

Selling it privately will net you the most $$$ or profit. But then again, this will usually take a lot of time and effort on your part. If you have the patience.

What Fizzboy suggested is a very good idea, you should advertise in your local autotrader and local newspapers etc. to reach a broader demographics than just craigslist. The only knock I have on craigslist is the amount of spam you receive after posting an item for sale. They need to clean it up a bit. Good luck on the sale.

 

You will always get a better price selling it private sale, unless you are bad at negotiating, let the buyer walk all over you and don't know the value of your car. Research the value of your car online (www.kbb.com) then perhaps you may want to take it to Carmax, if there's one around you, to assess the value of your car. It's free and quick. The Carmax price should be the least you trade your car in for. You can go to a Lexus dealer for a trade in value assessment too so you can see the difference between carmax and the Lexus dealer, just remember you can negotiate with the dealer on the trade-in too. Once you know all this, you can price your car for sale based on the KBB value, and youi'll know what the dealers are offering you so you can determine how low you'll let a private seller go.

 

I doubt many are making a profit when selling their car, but yes, private party sales maximize your resale value. I've had good luck with Craigslist in the past.

 

Just Traded in my 06' IS350 with 87K hard *** beat the f up miles on it & i got the dealer to give me 17,500 for it,
They were gonna give me 14,500 for it i told him nope I can sell it for 18,500 which they are going for. Really after how i beat my car up I was happy to walk away with that. They also took it with the intake on it, Wheels & ebach drop springs, few other mods. Wasn't planning on buying a new car that day but, With the wife having an IS250 & me 350 & having a Family soon, I traded in the IS350 for an 2012 Highlander. Only a few little differences in features but other than that, the wife really likes it, She got out of her horrible lease & we got a 2012 Camery for my commute. I will be getting another IS or something later on down the road but for right now gotta think practical..
I added all the other BS cuz I am sure others would like to know the WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHY's....

 

I'm surprised the dealer agreed to increase their trade in cost by that much. Good luck with the incoming family members