Question About Trade-In Condition

[BatesMotel6]

Hey everyone,

Got some a question about general cosmetic condition about my 2020 Civic Si, which I plan to trade-in for the Type R when my name is called. I am simply wondering whether it is worth putting in the money to get all (or some) of these cosmetic imperfections worked out before trading the car in.

I have a fair share of minor, but annoying cosmetic blemishes on the car. I'd say about 4 small dents, 2 scratches, one door handle with a bunch of small scratches (thanks, oldest toddler), and one good scuff across the bottom right corner of the front fender (this one was all me...). The car is otherwise in fine condition...no major issues with the car.

Any thoughts on whether it is worth the money to get any of these issues fixed or if it's better to just deal with a slightly lower trade-in value would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for reading, commenting, etc. If enough people need to see pics, I guess I can swallow my pride and post some.

Sponsored

 

[Clark_Kent]

If the cosmetic blemishes are in fact minor, I would leave them as-is. You'll spend a fair amount of time and money addressing these items. In many cases the dealership won't even notice. On a related note, be prepared to not receive a fair value on your trade. You'll want to parallel path acquiring quotes from the many car buying services (GMTV, Carvana, Vroom, CarMax, etc.).

 

[Tickle]

Don't fix it. Dealers can usually repair them for less money than you can.

Just keep it clean... when you take it for appraisal it doesn't hurt to have it standing tall.

 

[TypeRD]

Yep. When trading-in the dealership won’t care about minor stuff as long as it appears you’ve taken good care of the car otherwise and kept up with maintenance. It may be helpful to give it a good cleaning especially the interior. Some people are disgusting in their cars ; Dropping food and leaving it. Spilling drinks and leaving it. A dealership will definitely low ball further if your car is gross. When selling privately take care of the minor stuff as best you can without blowing the bank. The above still applies with regard to the interior too.

 

[mbaapk]

Id get the interior detailed.

 

[AspecR]

Don't waste your money, minor dents and scratches don't really affect trade in values

 

[BatesMotel6]

If the cosmetic blemishes are in fact minor, I would leave them as-is. You'll spend a fair amount of time and money addressing these items. In many cases the dealership won't even notice. On a related note, be prepared to not receive a fair value on your trade. You'll want to parallel path acquiring quotes from the many car buying services (GMTV, Carvana, Vroom, CarMax, etc.).

Great advice, Superman. And thanks to everyone else as well for your replies as well. The overwhelming consensus is reassuring.

 

[CaryH]

Well if u don't fix don't expect all kind of cash at trade in.....expect the least becaue that what your going to get.

 

[Clark_Kent]

OP, the above post is poor counsel. This is just Cary being Cary.

 

[Cornercarver]

If the dealer looks at your car and thinks - I can sell this tomorrow, needs nothing, that is a plus. If you can fix fast and cheap, do it. And definitely detail the interior, etc. You didn't mention what shape your tires are in - they look at that and use that to beat you down - 'for liability we have to put new expensive tires...blah, blah, blah. Unless your tires obviously have very little wear.
If brakes have just been done, for example, another bargaining chip. I had the original brakes and pads on when I traded, they were still good.
They will tell you they have to put money into it so they can sell it as a CPO car. True, but not nearly as much as they imply. Plus that just means they charge more for it. Yeah, they pulled that on me, too.

It is true that dealers who have access to lower costs on cosmetic repairs may not really care about small things - but they will use them to lowball you. Not saying spend a grand to get it ready - but a couple of hundred dollars invested may net you a profit.

The SI is a desirable. low production - not as limited as the Type R, but still rare, hard to find model that they can sell quickly- remind them of that when they try to lowball you - and they will. Have your offers in hand from the big car buyers as well as KBB or NADA.

Good luck! Let us know how you made out when your car comes in.

 

[Bazgab]

Just trade it in if you don't care about maximizing your value or do a private sale. Trade-ins are easy which is basically the only upside for most cars on trade-in.

I know on my M2 I pretty much only had the option to do a private sale even though it was a low production vehicle (only around 7,000 total cars for North America for the non-Competition model) that is highly desirable on the used market. Not sure how the SI market is currently but for the M2 there is a huge disparity between stuff like KBB, Vroom, Carmax, etc and private sales.

I was getting offers between 20-50% lower than what I will be getting for a pending private sale. I checked with a few dealerships too and they were on the lower end of the offers I was getting from the car buying sites, so basically insultingly low.

 

[TypeRD]

If you can, sell it privately. My local dealership made me a truly laughable offer on my very well cared for, single owner, FA5. What puzzled me was that they were totally, straight-faced, serious too and acted confused why I didn’t take their offer. ? The assessor only glanced at my car, then gave me KBB “fair” trade-in value. I don’t know what kind of game they were trying to play with me, but it didn’t work. I sold it privately and put an additional 65% in my pocket (over the dealership’s offer).

 

[Cornercarver]

Yeah, I should have done that, but early 2020 was not the peak car market.
So I took $ 13K on a $ 15K blue book value.
Two years later- I could have gotten $ 20K for that '17 SI.
But I did get a fair deal on the buy side. At least.

Sponsored