Dealerships Rip You Off With The "Four-Square," Here's How To Beat It

[yates ™]

Every state is different. When I lived in Illinois you paid the tax if the entire vehicle, regardless if there was a trade or not. In Missouri you get a credit whether you sell your car out right or trade. Only kicker is you have to sell your car before you title your new one(within 30 days), and have to buy the new one within 6 months of selling the old one.

I normally sell my vehicles on Craigslist, then use the bill of sale for the tax exclusion. The last one I traded, but I couldn't have sold it for much more than I traded it for. I don't know what they got for my truck, but I traded it for 37 and they had it listed for 37,900 on their website. Sold in 3 weeks. Only reason I paid attention is because they over paid for my truck [emoji16].


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And that is what I wasn't sure. In Iowa, as an example, if you trade in a vehicle for $37k and buy a vehicle for $40K you only pay tax on the difference so $3k. That makes it so that you would have to be able to sell your trade in for roughly $39,590 to break even, not worth the hassle.

 

[JayceeP]

Every state is different. When I lived in Illinois you paid the tax if the entire vehicle, regardless if there was a trade or not. In Missouri you get a credit whether you sell your car out right or trade. Only kicker is you have to sell your car before you title your new one(within 30 days), and have to buy the new one within 6 months of selling the old one.

I normally sell my vehicles on Craigslist, then use the bill of sale for the tax exclusion. The last one I traded, but I couldn't have sold it for much more than I traded it for. I don't know what they got for my truck, but I traded it for 37 and they had it listed for 37,900 on their website. Sold in 3 weeks. Only reason I paid attention is because they over paid for my truck [emoji16].


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That's pretty cool. Never heard of that in Ontario, New Brunswick, or Nova Scotia. Just called the NS DMV to ask and he had no idea what I was talking about.

Anyway, most of Canada has sales tax of 13-15% so often times a dealer trade nets you close to market value and it's not worth dealing with the low ballers of online selling.

 

[schaffer05]

That's pretty cool. Never heard of that in Ontario, New Brunswick, or Nova Scotia. Just called the NS DMV to ask and he had no idea what I was talking about.

Anyway, most of Canada has sales tax of 13-15% so often times a dealer trade nets you close to market value and it's not worth dealing with the low ballers of online selling.

Yea craigslist is a different beast. I've sold 3 vehicles on there in the last 2 years. Thing I do is I post the price I want, usually in the middle of trade and private party. I don't negotiate from that price. The low ballers get emails back, because they could turn into potential buyers, but they only get the initial email back if they continue on their low ball ways. People that actually show up to look at the vehicle I've found almost always buy what they came for. They may try to lowball you once there, but you now have them. It's never taken me more than 30 days to sell a vehicle on Craigslist.

Stinks that you guys don't get credit for taxes on personally sold vehicles. Sounds like some of your lawmakers might own some car dealerships


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[Protect1989]

How do you do a craigslist vehicle sale? I mean are the vehicles you are selling only 3-4k or are we talking about a 20-30k vehicle? Im just curious if they show up with cash, write you a check (which is sketchy), etc. I think id rather trade my vehicle in to a dealership than have to meet with random people from the internet.

 

[schaffer05]

How do you do a craigslist vehicle sale? I mean are the vehicles you are selling only 3-4k or are we talking about a 20-30k vehicle? Im just curious if they show up with cash, write you a check (which is sketchy), etc. I think id rather trade my vehicle in to a dealership than have to meet with random people from the internet.

I sold a truck for 10k, a truck for 32k, and a truck for 31k. The first two were cash transactions. The second the guy brought me 10k in cash and then wired the remaining amount to my checking account. He had to wait until funds cleared, and then he was able to pick up the truck. I never take checks, not even cashiers.

Meeting sketchy people from Craigslist doesn't worry me, but I also have a pistol on me.

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[Rdr854]

I sold a truck for 10k, a truck for 32k, and a truck for 31k. The first two were cash transactions. The second the guy brought me 10k in cash and then wired the remaining amount to my checking account. He had to wait until funds cleared, and then he was able to pick up the truck. I never take checks, not even cashiers.

Meeting sketchy people from Craigslist doesn't worry me, but I also have a pistol on me.

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Sometimes, things are just not worth the hassle.

 

[leonpiper69]

I just bought my tahoe Sat and while I wish I had had the time to get financing first because I did go with theirs and it's 9%, the truck is 10 yrs old so I know I am not going to get a 3% loan and I could go to my bank and refinance it if I really wanted to. But also I plan on paying it off faster instead of the 48 months so I will save money there as well.

But I still wonder if I could have gotten a better price. I knew I would get the shaft on the trade (02 trailblazer with 190K and a dented rear door form a deer running into it) and my buddy who works at a dealership offered him 1500 for his 06 MINT trailblazer with 160K so I was prepared to not trade.

I put the trailblazer on the lemon lot on base with an asking price of 1800 (has a crap ton of new parts and mechanically is a good little truck) if I even 1K I would be happy. but the dealer was going to offer @ 500.

I brought 4500 cash with me and ending up paying 11,600. So I financed the 7100 plus title etc etc.

I did research values ahead of time and it looks like fair dealer price for good to better for this truck is 15K and change. It has 120K on it and it really is almost mint condition. the interior is immaculate garage kept etc.

I still do wonder if they laughed after I drove away but I am happy with the overall deal.

 

[JayceeP]

I just bought my tahoe Sat and while I wish I had had the time to get financing first because I did go with theirs and it's 9%, the truck is 10 yrs old so I know I am not going to get a 3% loan and I could go to my bank and refinance it if I really wanted to. But also I plan on paying it off faster instead of the 48 months so I will save money there as well.

But I still wonder if I could have gotten a better price. I knew I would get the shaft on the trade (02 trailblazer with 190K and a dented rear door form a deer running into it) and my buddy who works at a dealership offered him 1500 for his 06 MINT trailblazer with 160K so I was prepared to not trade.

I put the trailblazer on the lemon lot on base with an asking price of 1800 (has a crap ton of new parts and mechanically is a good little truck) if I even 1K I would be happy. but the dealer was going to offer @ 500.

I brought 4500 cash with me and ending up paying 11,600. So I financed the 7100 plus title etc etc.

I did research values ahead of time and it looks like fair dealer price for good to better for this truck is 15K and change. It has 120K on it and it really is almost mint condition. the interior is immaculate garage kept etc.

I still do wonder if they laughed after I drove away but I am happy with the overall deal.

You could probably get an unsecured line of credit with a better interest rate unless you have poor credit and high debt servicing.

 

[leonpiper69]

OK credit but the wife's is a little better since she has a job and I don't (just stay at home dad) so we bought it in her name anyway.

 

[schaffer05]

Sometimes, things are just not worth the hassle.

It's all personal preference. I don't mind dealing with other people, and if I can make an extra 3k off my vehicle for maybe 3 hours of work in a one month period I will.

It's kind of like haggling with a dealer. Some people (my wife) would rather go in and pay sticker price rather than walk away from a vehicle. She doesn't enjoy haggling with sales people and thinks it is worth just paying more for a vehicle.

Everyone has different things they're willing to do for money. I'm a tightwad. I'll negotiate over anything. I actually see it kind of like a chess game.


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