I recently found out my wife and I are expecting twins. We already have a 2 year old so now the cobalt isn't very practical. What should I expect or shoot for as a trade in? I saw bluebook value is low 4k in fair condition. My service airbag light is on because I need a new seat belt assembly. How much will that effect its value?

2007 Ls Coupe
Automatic trans
67000 miles
Original owner
No body damage or other issues

 

Congrats on twins! prepared to be screwed for trade in lol

 

Lol thank you. I'm assuming its gonna be a long battle. I hate buying cars lol

 

You'd be much better off trying to sell it own your own first if you don't need it gone immediately. Even if you can get an extra thousand dollars it would be well worth it.

 

Yeah I thought about that. But I don't feel like fixing/replacing the seat belt retractor and it would be hard to sell with the airbag warning light on. I was hoping to get rid of it by the weekend too.

 

That's fair enough. Best thing you can do is call around to a bunch of local dealerships and see what they'll offer you.

 

Do most dealers go by bluebook or at least close to it? Because other than the airbag light its in nice condition so I would like to get at the very least "fair" bluebook value.

 

There first offer is always lowball. be prepared for that.

 

I highly advise doing a private sale!

I had a 2007 LT with just a few minor goodies on it with a salvage title & 58k miles.. a dealer wouldve maybe given me $3k for it

went up and sold it for $9k but wouldve let it go for less.. goes to show you find the right buyer and you take car of your car and you can get a good price back

 

Well I might reconsider if you got 9k. If I got 6k I would be happy. I guess I could look into ordering the seatbelt assembly and listing it on craigslist for 8k and see what offers I get. I have put a lot of time into the suspension recently so it would be nice to be compensated for it!

 

They do try to screw you over. My mom traded in her explorer sport trac at a Ford dealer and they wanted to give her 6k she said no and showed the kbb value and they said ok we give you 12k

 

You just gotta find a dealership with a dumb used car manager. I've seen some give people private party value for trade in.

 

Haha wish it was that easy

 

It depends.

You have to negotiate.

My 08 corolla LE was blue booked for retail sale at 14,100
Private party 12,900.

The first time I talked to the dealership for a trade to my SS they offered me a measly 9,000. After four different convos and some negotiating I got them to give me 11,900 for it.

What are you lookin to buy? Call dealerships that have the car you know you want and tell them what you have and what car you want. See what they offer. Call around for ball park offers and write it all down for each dealership. (They compete against each other too). Get online and find the trade in value of your car and start making calls back to negotiate a better price. Do NOT let them talk you into coming in to work out a price, ballpark phone figures first. Don't go into a dealership until you found one that is dedicated to making the sales. The ones that really want to move cars are going to be way more flexible to get you into one of their cars.

Also, post your car on CL and such for like $6,000 or so unless a dealership offers you more. A lot of people are buying used cars and paying cash versus taking loans right now.

 

I got 7500 last nov for my 08 lt with 46k