Should I repair a car before trading in?

Tij da feen

I have some body work damage done to my 151 Focus, rear wheel arch + back door dented with some heavy scratches. I'm looking at buying a new car in the new year - is it worthwhile to get the car fixed myself or would I just be better off handing to a dealer as trade-in (with obviously taking a hit on the resale value)

bazz26

Dealer will adjust it's trade in value taking into account the cost of repair. However, how much they will knock down the trade-in value versus how much it will actually cost them to repair it is another thing. No doubt they will adjust the trade-in value pessimistically to cover themselves but ultimately it will cost them less than it would cost you to repair it. It might be worth getting an estimate to have it repaired yourself but ultimately you will either be spending the money on repairing it or spending it on the cost to change price of the new car.

bucketybuck

There is an argument to say roll the dice and see what the offered trade in price is.

Remember, in many dealers sales and service are separate departments, the salesman wants to make a sale and many are not particularly interested in what happens the trade in afterwards, the actual repair becomes a service dept problem. I've known dealers that didn't properly link the actual trade in prep costs to the original deal, so the salesmen played on that to make their deal more attractive and get the sale.

Not all dealers are as loose as that, many will properly assess the trade-in and have those costs reflected on the sales deal pre-commission paid. But there are plenty of dealers bad at paperwork as well.

So do you take the guaranteed hit of repairing it now, or take a gamble that the salesman might give a trade in price that goes in your favour?

For myself I would take the chance, because even if he/she does accurately cost the trade-in, at the very least you have saved yourself the hassle of organising the repairs and all the potential trouble that comes with them.

Tij da feen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120018475#Comment_120018475

The organising is the biggest hassle. Anyone local to me has months long waiting lists (to even get a quote) - any further anyway then it becomes annoying to deal with (one car household and it's not the time of year to be on the motorbike).

Thanks to both of you - probably just reaffirming the decision I had in my head to say feck it and try my chances with a dealer

User1998

No point fixing it. They will just take off whatever it would cost you to fix it from the trade in value. They will then either fix it for less than you can or just send the car straight to auction. If its a main dealer then the car will probably be just sent to auction.