How to value a car for trade in?

secondrowgal

Hi all

I have the following which I want to trade in for a new 191 Volvo XC40 D3 automatic FWD Inscription:

Audi A3 2.0L TDi 150 S-line, 2 door hatchback, 72K km. Absolutely immaculate, not a scratch on the body, small scratch on two of the alloys. New front tyres. Full Audi service history.

I looked up all the car selling sites and all I can find is 1.6L TDIs, SE trim. Even looking at these and with my type of mileage, they seem to be selling (mainly dealers) from €21,950 up. S-lines are higher than this.

I managed to get one dealer to give me a preliminary estimation of trade-in value on the phone (he has seen the car briefly and commented that he remembered it as being in very good condition) and he said €18,000.

Now I have no idea if this is even close to fair because I have never had such a new car to trade in before, and I also don't know how much a dealer is expecting to make themselves when they sell. Obviously they have to make a profit. No issue with that. But this valuation just seems very low to me, but I defer to the Boardsie experts! Any comments welcome!

bazz26

I would price how much it would costs to import a similar one from the UK. It should give you an idea of how much a dealer needs to buy it for.

carsfan2

What year is your Audi and did you buy it new from an Irish Audi dealer?
If you are based in Dublin is It D reg?
I think these things bear some relevance when trading in.

secondrowgal

carsfan2 wrote: »

What year is your Audi and did you buy it new from an Irish Audi dealer?
If you are based in Dublin is It D reg?
I think these things bear some relevance when trading in.

Thank you - I didn't realise I didn't say what year :eek:

It's 161, T reg, bought new in Jan 2016 in Ireland from Audi dealer.

secondrowgal

bazz26 wrote: »

I would price how much it would costs to import a similar one from the UK. It should give you an idea of how much a dealer needs to buy it for.

By this I assume you mean use the VRT calculator? I get this:

Open Market Selling Price (OMSP) determined by Revenue
€32474
Monthly Adjustment
+97%
Depreciation Code Allocated by Revenue
C1
Odometer Reading
72000 Kilometres
Date of First Registration
January 2016
Mileage/Kilometre Reduction
€70
Rate of Depreciation for this Vehicle
28%
Current OMSP determined by Revenue
€22609

Is this what you mean? Would the €22609 price be the kind of range that a dealer would be selling at? If so, what would a fair/reasonable value be to me from the dealer?

TheShow

carsfan2 wrote: »

What year is your Audi and did you buy it new from an Irish Audi dealer?
If you are based in Dublin is It D reg?
I think these things bear some relevance when trading in.

how would a D reg bear any relevant to the value of the car?

bazz26

secondrowgal wrote: »

By this I assume you mean use the VRT calculator? I get this:

Open Market Selling Price (OMSP) determined by Revenue
€32474
Monthly Adjustment
+97%
Depreciation Code Allocated by Revenue
C1
Odometer Reading
72000 Kilometres
Date of First Registration
January 2016
Mileage/Kilometre Reduction
€70
Rate of Depreciation for this Vehicle
28%
Current OMSP determined by Revenue
€22609

Is this what you mean? Would the €22609 price be the kind of range that a dealer would be selling at? If so, what would a fair/reasonable value be to me from the dealer?

What I mean is go onto the likes of autotrader.co.uk, find a similar car to yours, convert the asking price to euro, then calculate the VRT on it and add it to the euro purchase price to give you what it costs to import it.

TheShow wrote: »

how would a D reg bear any relevant to the value of the car?

Selling a non D reg car in Dublin can be harder as the locals prefer a D reg car. If it's harder to sell then it will be worth a little less to a Dublin based dealer.

TheShow

bazz26 wrote: »

Selling a non D reg car in Dublin can be harder as the locals prefer a D reg car. If it's harder to sell then it will be worth a little less to a Dublin based dealer.

Car discrimination now is it!!:D thanks for the enlightenment.

R.O.R

Ignore the trade in value, and concentrate on the cost to change.

For a D3 Inscription FWD Auto, with the Luxury Digital Pack, I'd be aiming for a cost to change of €25,000, or as close as possible as you can get to that. Leaves enough in there for the dealer to stay interested, and you are getting a good deal at that price.

I'd settle on €25,500 if the dealer can't be pushed to €25,000 - depends how hungry they are for the order.

carsfan2

If you’ve decided on the Volvo and don’t want the hassle of selling privately then you will have to visit various Volvo dealers and just get best price to change.
Phoning them will not get proper pricing at all as they will need to see your car.
Not to throw a spanner in the works but there is a new Audi Q3 just out that would be an obvious competitor to the Volvo and you might get better deal trading Audi for Audi.

secondrowgal

carsfan2 wrote: »

If you’ve decided on the Volvo and don’t want the hassle of selling privately then you will have to visit various Volvo dealers and just get best price to change.
Phoning them will not get proper pricing at all as they will need to see your car.
Not to throw a spanner in the works but there is a new Audi Q3 just out that would be an obvious competitor to the Volvo and you might get better deal trading Audi for Audi.

Absolutely. I am going to 3 different dealers. It was just that one of them gave me the estimate over the phone as I had already been there before the budget and was calling to arrange my return visit.

Agree too on the Q3. The issue there is that the dealers don’t think it’ll be available until Feb/March. It looks good though, and I’m going to Audi also. Agree that I’d probably get more from Audi if I were to stick with Audi. And I love Audis. Have had them for the last 16 years and can’t fault the A3.

The reason for the change to Volvo is that I want to make the step to hybrid/electric and I reckon Volvo will be ahead of the game here. Hence taking the plunge changing makes now, rather than in a few years time when diesels MAY take a dive anyway. It’s all a calculated risk, could go either way.

hog_farmer

even you get a third less than you originally asked for in a private sale , chances are you will do a lot better than in a trade in , i recently sold a toyota landcruiser commercial for 8 k , toyota dealer offered me 4 k for it .

MojoMaker

secondrowgal wrote: »

Hi all
I looked up all the car selling sites and all I can find is 1.6L TDIs, SE trim. Even looking at these and with my type of mileage, they seem to be selling (mainly dealers) from €21,950 up. S-lines are higher than this.

Careful. You're looking at asking prices remember.

secondrowgal

MojoMaker wrote: »

Careful. You're looking at asking prices remember.

Yes, thanks, appreciate that. Of course I was factoring in that they would have a markup but I suppose my point was that this was the cheapest and the garage were offering me only €18,000. As far as I know, they make about €500/€1000 on a secondhand car or thereabouts. So if they could sell mine for €23/€25k then no way €18k is a fair trade in. That’s my reasoning, but happy to be corrected. Just looking for ideas on what I should be expecting/looking for.

carsfan2

I wouldn't be changing to a Volvo because you think they will be ahead of the game re. electric cars in the future. If anything Audi with the huge engineering budget the VAG group have will outpace a relative minnow like Volvo.

As regards a dealer being happy to make 500/1000 euro on turning your car, I would think not. I would hazard that a large premium dealer would add 4/5k on what they give you for your car when they put it for sale.