How old is the car you will be part-exchanging? I ask because a certain amount of wear and tear will be expected/allowed for. For example; if the car is 5 years old you wouldn’t reasonably expect it to be in showroom condition. On the other hand, if it’s a two year old with high mileage and a few dents and scratches I would imagine you will be knocked down on the price.
Last year I had a 2015 Beetle in showroom condition with about 7500 miles on the clock. VW offered me such an insulting trade in price I told them to get stuffed. They explained they marked it down because one of the annual services wasn’t done at a VW dealership. Carwow offered a lot more but in the end I sold it to family for next to nothing. That way I was helping a family member and preventing VW from mugging me. Win. Win.
Bought new in March 2018. We have done less than 10,000 miles each year. No dents, but a couple of scrapes. Otherwise, the bodywork is in good condition.
It has been serviced by the VW showroom we bought it from on a pre-paid service deal.
I recently did an insurance comparison and one of the companies quoted its current value as £14,500.
Of course, I have no idea how this would relate to a trade in value.
The other thing when discussing a trade-in deal, of course, is what ‘optional extras’ they might offer for nowt!
Best thing to do is look on autotrader for comparable cars private sales if possible as dealer prices will include their mark up, you could check on honest John or Parker’s for valuations, I doubt the dealer will throw anything in for free but there’s no harm in asking, just don’t buy paint protection or gap insurance, indeed anything that a dealer offers in aftermarket items you can get cheaper elsewhere, they make huge profits from those things as well as selling finance, that’s why they don’t like accepting cash anymore…
100% agree. Just do some research in advance and you should get a good idea of what your car is worth. Also, have a look at VW’s used car site to get an idea of what VW are selling similar models to your own for. The more prepared you are the better deal you will get. Carwow will give you quotes for both cash and finance. There’s a lot of psychology in buying cars and doing the deal.
Lots of good advice here. Thank you both.
We don’t want finance, although when we visited the other day, the woman said we could have interest-free finance if we ordered there and then.
We didn’t, of course. We don’t want to buy until early next year. For one thing, the auto-folding wing mirrors are not available now, and who knows what other changes will have been added by then? If they can still offer interest-free finance then we’ll compare that with their cash price.
You could always take the finance and then pay off the outstanding balance, although this might be better if the finance was higher as you might get a better deal
Sometimes they might offer you a really good deal if you take their finance, the salesman will get his commission, then after a few days you can ask for a settlement figure and pay it off, a bit naughty but perfectly legal…
Apparently (according to the gentleman who telephoned me), they were not included initially for some reason to do with ‘production methods’. That’s all he could say.
However, he assured me that they would be included by March.
Personally, I can’t see what the big problem could be. The present models have it, so the switches, motors, connections, etc., must already be readily available.
If it’s a cost thing, how much would it save not to fit it? Peanuts!
Two reasons:
Firstly, when our car is three years old, MoTs begin. Then things need repairing or replacing. I’ve been there. The older the car, the more expensive it becomes and the less it is worth in part-exchange.
Secondly, there have been some improvements in the new model which we think are worth having.
Yes, we had thought about pre-registered cars but, as I mentioned earlier, the existing Golf 8s lack certain things - notably the folding wing mirrors, the lack of which I explained earlier would be quite inconvenient for us with a narrow garage.
Not as old as your old banger, but until we bought this car, I had a 2003 Skoda Fabia diesel which was an excellent car. That, despite being reliable and nice to drive, began to need repairs and replacements. Also, as we were then both retired, we had no need of two cars, so Marge’s Mazda 3 went in part-exchange and my Skoda qualified for the government’s generous £4000 reward for scrapping. It would have been worth £400 at best!
I’ll never again accuse the government of not being generous!
Personally, I can’t see what the big problem could be. The present models have it, so the switches, motors, connections, etc., must already be readily available.
If it’s a cost thing, how much would it save not to fit it? Peanuts!
Well it’s all about money, of course, it used to be that manufacturer’s had a range that usually started with a base model, then a medium then higher spec models, somewhere along the way somebody realised that they could make more money by putting what used to be standard equipment on each model, on the options list, where you would spend more money getting the desired equipment on your car, Now they have realised that packs are the way forward, such and such pack comes with these features, and another pack will come with something else, so you could find yourself having to buy different packs to get the options you want…
