When is best time to trade in/up?

Brian Foster did pass the time by typing:

For trade-in and re-insurance value your better off below 9 years and 90,000 miles. That's about the cap.

It all depends on demand. Personally I drive my vehicles till the body rots off. :)

No doubt, lower milage vehicles bring better trade-in value.

To me the biggest factor is whether I have built up enough equity in my vehicle to make the trade feesible.

i dont think there is _ever_ a good time to trade in. if you walk in the door with a trade-in youve already lost because theyre going to beat you on both ends (trade in allowance and again on the price of the vehicle youre buying). when we were getting our '01 cherokee appriased for trade in on our '04 cummins 4x4 they were talking the $15,000 range.....right up until they found out i would be using a program that allowed me to purchase the truck at green sheet pricing. when they realized they couldnt hide the true allowance into the balloon mark-up of the truck that $15,000 became a little more than $7000 trade in allowance.

sometimes you dont have much choice and ive lost my shirt more than once on a trade. it is for this reason that i will never buy anything less than premium vehicles because its much easier to sell a used premium vehicle than it is a lesser equipped vehicle and when you sell it (instead of trading it) you can walk into the dealership in a much better position than you are if you have to trade.

Nathan:

What is "green sheet" pricing, and how does it relate to "factory invoice price?"

Tom

Brian Foster proclaimed:

You should still have plenty of warranty left if that is worrying you--in the event of failure.

In some areas in some seasons you might pay a bit extra for a used one. If you were to get some sort of rebate on trading for a new one you might make out financially--betting that this year's sales will be worse than next year for the manufacturer.

Trading cars every 50K miles is a horrid investment unless you can write them off on taxes...like fleet owners. Otherwise you take a terrible depreciation hit the instant it leaves the dealer lot and haven't really gotten good value out of it with only 50K.

However, if a new model turns you on, its your money and your choice.

hi tom green sheet is supposedly the price the dealer actually paid for the vehicle.

And how much lower is that price compared to the "dealer invoice" price that you get on kbb.com or edmunds.com?

And...How did you get "green sheet" pricing?

Green sheet is not "what the dealer really paid" it is just an incentive for family members who work for "chrysler" it doesnt even apply to dealership employees

So how does "green sheet pricing" compare to the "factory invoice price" on kbb.com or edmunds.com?

im not real sure. "green sheet" was a term the sales manager used when he called chrysler to verify that the program was in affect, and that my credentials were valid. fwiw i paid $33,280 something for my dodge that stickered for over $44,000.

if you have a relative working for d/c he has an employee number that he can give out 5 times per year to his relatives to purchase new vehicles. as i understand it they also have plans for employees of vendors who supply parts to d/c.

it is just like that but 500 is not the magic number... different models vary in the pricing... the wranglers dont have as much mark up as the gc... the gc could be 1000 cheaper than invoice with the green sheet...

the green sheet has nothing to do with invoice.... it is a discount given to chrysler employees or employee family members ( not dealership employees) it is a discount that varys from each model and is not a set number

as it was explained to me its $500 below what the dealership pays for the vehicle, and that chrysler reimburses the dealership the difference. is this not the case?

Yes you will buy it for less than a dealership employee can

so either way its the cheapest way to buy, right? im getting my '05 rubicon for about what sports sell for using the same discount.