How to Trade In Your Car

Trading in your current car is a smart way to save on your next vehicle purchase, and many Hood River-area drivers choose this route when updating their ride. Unsure about how to trade in your car at a Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram dealership like C. H. Urness Motors Co.? Fortunately, the process is simple! See below for our guide to how to trade in a car, and be sure to follow up with our finance team if you have any further questions about buying and selling your car at C. H. Urness Motors Co.!

Value Your Trade-In Vehicle

We’ll go over how to trade in a car step-by-step, so that you can easily understand each part of the process. First, you’ll need to find out how much your current car is worth. You can get a free trade-in value estimate online using our Value Your Trade tool, or from other resources like Kelley Blue Book Value® and Edmunds True Market Value®. 

Doing so allows you to plan your budget more effectively and narrow your search for a new vehicle. We also recommend getting an estimate from all three of these sources (or more), as this will provide a more accurate figure.

Get an Appraisal

With your estimated trade-in value in hand, it’s time to visit a Goldendale, WA-area dealership for an inspection and appraisal of your vehicle. Our certified Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram technicians will carefully inspect your car’s condition, features, and any relevant upgrades to determine whether it is a good fit for our used vehicle inventory and the amount at which it can be resold. Then, we’ll make you a trade-in offer.

Negotiate or Accept an Offer

At this point, you can either accept our trade-in offer or negotiate for a higher offer. You’re also free to get an appraisal from another dealership to see if they extend a better offer. If you feel that our offer is too low, your estimated trade-in value may provide leverage for negotiating a better offer.

Why Trade-In Your Car at a Dealership?

Learning how to trade in a car at our dealership offers numerous advantages over selling your car privately. Here are just a few:

• Trading in at your dealership streamlines the selling and buying process, so you’ll be hitting the Portland roads in a new model much sooner!
• You won’t need to schedule test drives with potential buyers.
• There’s room to negotiate for a better trade-in offer.
• If you owe more on your car than it is worth, you can still trade it in at a dealership! We’ll help you to consolidate what you owe with your new vehicle loan. 
• After accepting an offer, you can either put the money toward your next car or receive it in cash on the spot.

We Want to Buy Your Car!

If you have questions about how to lease a financed car or how to get a better offer for your trade-in, we’re happy to help. Contact us today, or stop by our buyback and trade-in center in The Dalles to speak with our auto finance professionals about your opinions!