Advice Needed with regards Trading

ve

At the moment I have a 2000 Ford Focus Ghia 1.6ltr 95k miles and a 2002 Ford Focus 1.4ltr LX 73K miles. Both cars are running fine. The 2000 car could do with a service but both run very well. Both cars have 2010 NTC's (May & Jan respectively) and the tax is not due on both cars until 2010 (Jan & March respectively).

Right now I have the option of keeping one car, or else trading them both in to get something newer. I have a thing for Ford cars and particularly the Focus, even thought I quite like early - mid 2000s Mondeos. If I was to move away from a Ford, the Mazda6 would also interest me.

I would hope to get something from 2004 onwards with no more than a 1.8ltr engine and not ridiculous miles. Do you think in the current climate it would be possible to straight trade in those two cars for something along those lines?

bazz26

Given that garages are full with second hand cars on their forecourts I'd doubt very much that they would take 2 cars as trade-in against one unless you were buying something unsellable from them. Some garages are even offering "buy one car get one free" so this gives you an idea of the desperation out there.

I would try and sell at least one of those cars privately, personally I think the Focus hatchback will sell alot quicker than the saloon despite it being a more basic model. The MkI Focus saloon was no looker and not as popular as the hatchback.

PauloMN

Good advice. Keep the older one as it's pretty worthless anyway (especially as a trade-in) and sell the newer one privately. Then go in as a cash buyer for the newer car.

ve

Thanks for the replies. Just to throw some more info in to the mix...

Both cars are Saloons and I definately do not have any cash to back a trade in or other purchasing approach. I think private sales are probably my only option and then head to the showroom with cash. Anyone care to throw a ballpark value on the two cars? At the moment the only way I can get my hands on something newer is to sell both cars and use the money to buy as I cannot back that sum with any more cash.

If I keep 2000 model and sell the 2002, the cash I raise surely won't let me buy anything better than a similar car. I am a little worried because I have these two cars and I can only afford to have one car. I think if keep the old car and sell the new I will effectively be throwing myself off the car ladder.

PauloMN

Ah, I misunderstood the original post, my mistake. I thought you were intending on throwing a few quid in with the trade-in(s).

The saloons are not nearly as popular as the hatch, and the 1.6 will be even less so. It's nearing the magic 100k mark also and will be effectively worthless on a trade-in, I would guess not much at all on a private sale, maybe €1000 to €1500 depending on condition. The '02 will obviously be worth a bit more, maybe €2500 to €3500.

The plate year really doesn't mean that much to me, I'd personally prefer the extra power and spec in the '00 so I'd sell the '02 if I had to keep one of them. Alternatively sell the two of them and try to make as close to €5k on them, but I'd expect you'd need to add a bit of cash to get an '04+ Mondeo in good shape with lower miles.

ve

The Market value on Carzone, CBG, etc is a good bit higher for both cars and the value of Mondeos seems to be lower than the Focus. Having said that I thought them values to be fairly high myself. Are cars on Carzone moving relatively close to their asking price?. Its been a few years since I've been looking. If not then where are people buying cars for such low prices. I know there plenty of opportunities to haggle with cash buyers but a 50% reduction is a bit optimistic.