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What Is My Car Worth?
The
question you ask when selling your car is, 'How much is it worth?'
Well this question is actually incomplete. You have to add three parts
and you get three different answers.
How much
is it worth when I sell it to a:
- Dealer
-
Private individual
- Dealer
as a trade-in
You can
answer these 3 questions by going to online valuation web sites such
as: Kelly's Blue Book in the United States or The Red Book in
Australia. You can get these prices for free.
The other
way to value your car is to see how much they are going for in the
classifieds.
Neither
one of these ways is entirely accurate for the following reasons.
-
Classifieds may have only one or two cars of your type and they
could be overpriced or underpriced. The quality of your estimate
depends on getting a good range. It's a good idea to check the
prices over several weeks if you can.
- Online
Valuation services may have inaccuracies for particular models and
should not be relied on exclusively, just because they seem to be
the authorities. Their valuation is only as good as the data they
have to go on. Since a large number of transactions bypass their
data collection you can only consider it an estimate. It could be
out by as much as $1000 easily.
- Seasonal demands
influence the prices of cars. Convertibles sell for higher prices in
the summer time. These swings can exceed the ranges given in
valuations...
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