Autotrader Instant Trade-In offer....NOT BAD

[2005 SRT-10]

I will preface this by saying....it doesnt always work. The Autotrader "instant trade-in offer" is basically a program that allows you to go on Autotrader and plug in your car's information and a short while later you receive an email with an offer as to what a dealership would give you on your car. I have tried this a few times just to put a pulse on what my car would sell for, I ALWAYS laugh at the offer.......until today.

For the hell of it I plugged in my info for my Viper, 2005 vert with about 39k on it. Condition/fine, Title/clear and it gave me an offer of $35,289..... ACTUALLY not bad for INSTANT money. And I am sure I can get more out of them if I arrived at the dealer with it. Keep in mind, I didnt buy this car for much more than that.

Point being, i have read (lately) all the horror stories of people trying to sell their Viper, Trade it in etc. and get ***** in the process....If you NEED to get rid of your Viper quickly, this may be a quick painless solution.... in fact it even gives you a voucher to print off and bring to one of the dealerships listed to honor the trade-in.

Does it work all the time for everybody? No... Do people think that the offer I was given is nuts? Maybe. It's all in the eye of the beholder. But if you are interested in seeing what you can get for your car, try it out.

 

[Mopar Steve]

I sold my HEMI Charger that way and a good friend sold his Mustang to the same place. No hassle, no one coming to the house, no stupid questions, no wait. Drop off the car and take home a check.

 

[mattdillon]

It does seem really low when you first see it, but if you're really wanting to unload your car QUICK with NO Hassles & QUICK cash, it really isn't THAT Bad of a deal! But I think that would be the ONLY way I would do it, is if I was in a bind & HAD to have the money! jmo

 

[2005 SRT-10]

Do you guys think you could have negotiated for a slightly higher price or is It cut and dry?

 

[Timnineside]

Also factor in getting taxed and sales tax. All states are different but if you have another car in mind that few thousand can end up being a better deal for you at the end.

 

[mattdillon]

Do you guys think you could have negotiated for a slightly higher price or is It cut and dry?

I think that would probably depend on each car. If you have a car that has a few issues here & there & don't want to have them brought to light then I'd say just get the papers signed but if you had a pretty tight car with no issues then I'd have to try & get a lil' more out of them! jmo

 

[ZYellow01RT]

Ouch...did mine just for laughs and got an offer of $27459...and did end up laughing! For an '01 in excellent condition, with 16K miles...think I'll pass on the "instant cash". Thanks for the link, though...I'm sure there are some guys who actually get fair offers.

 

[lagalaxy13]

I'm getting ready to sell mine, but wasn't looking for a trade in. Was hoping for a outright sale till i can figure out what i want next.

 

[lagalaxy13]

I just tried it with my daily driver. Offer about $4k less then I can sell it out right for.
I tried the Viper, it was within $500 of what I would probably sell the car if I had to sell it to a dealer. I'd like to get a few $k more but if a dealer wanted to buy it outright without me having to deal with listing it and buying something else from them then i would be all over it.

 

[Mutts02GTS]

Mine came up "further consideration required" whatever the hell that means, NOW the local autotrader dealership won't stop calling me! Just wanted a ballpark estimate of what they would offer NOT this BS...

 

[HyperViper]

You're not supposed to give them the correct phone # lol.

I tried it too, and it came back at $53,***

Mine came up "further consideration required" whatever the hell that means, NOW the local autotrader dealership won't stop calling me! Just wanted a ballpark estimate of what they would offer NOT this BS...

 

[JLorello]

So I can't help to wonder the algorithm involved to produce your offer, and most importantly, if the 20 or so requests the VCA members just sent in drove down the market price due to it thinking there is increased supply of vipers

I wonder if you try multiple times with the same car, but different contact info if the price will be the same each time.

 

[Mutts02GTS]

You're not supposed to give them the correct phone # lol.

I tried it too, and it came back at $53,***

Yeah, I had a senior moment and used my real phone number! WHAT was I thinking?..obviously I wasn't.

 

[lagalaxy13]

Yeah, I had a senior moment and used my real phone number! WHAT was I thinking?..obviously I wasn't.

Yes I goofed too. I said contact email only, but have had aleast 15 calls in 12 hours. Email box has blew up. Do have a dealer pretty interested in by outright but they are 4 hours away. No interested in that game. Going up on ebay this weekend and might try Autotrader to see if i can get a private party interested.

 

[ZYellow01RT]

Mine came up "further consideration required" whatever the hell that means, NOW the local autotrader dealership won't stop calling me! Just wanted a ballpark estimate of what they would offer NOT this BS...

That's the response I got when I first did it ("further consideration required"). When I did it again a week later, I got an actual (lowball) $ figure. Weird.

 

[2005 SRT-10]

Yeah forgot to mention don't put in your real info. Further consideration was what I received and 5min later I had the offers in my email. They are broken down by "buy-centers" which are dealerships that will actually buy your car outright and trade-in centers which will only take your car on trade. Usually the trade in centers are plentiful but the buy centers aren't. Either way not bad if you are looking for quick cash.

 

[slysnake]

I get a letter every year from a local dealership that wants to buy my car because there is "a huge demand for used Dodge Vipers in our area". They always offer about 10k less than I think it should be worth. I wonder what this site will say.