Part exchange condition

[BobToc]

So I’ve never sold or part exchanged a car, so I have no idea what happens in practice. Do dealers charge you the full cost of rectifying minor scratches etc that are on the car? I’m talking things like a little bit of rubbing against the outside plastic fittings etc. Or is there just an acceptance of a certain level of ordinary wear and tear? I’m not talking scratches into the paintwork and such. Or does it all get wrapped up in the deal with the new car and you never really know.

Tangentially related, I’d also like to know where I can buy a pre-scratched and damaged car for my wife…

[ARHarh]

The dealer will.look.at your car and give you a price. That will be it, you can haggle if you.like.

Any second hand car will.be scratched and dented, the older it is the more scratched it will be.

[BobToc]

Yeah that’s I figured. I guess the cost of replacing one of these plastic fittings can be quite expensive and if you were keeping the car yourself you just wouldn’t bother, so was trying to get the sense of whether a typical dealer will take the full cost of replacement into account, or just knock off a couple of hundred quid because, as you say, cars just have these as they get older. But, also as you suggest, you never really know as there’s so many moving parts in the transaction.

[Glosphil]

ARHarh said:

The dealer will.look.at your car and give you a price. That will be it, you can haggle if you.like.

Any second hand car will.be scratched and dented, the older it is the more scratched it will be.

Certainly true. At the end of December 2022 we traded in my wife's 2010 Renault Clio with a predicted trade-in allowance of £1650 in good condition. It had a large dent in the driver's door, a few smaller dents (at supermarket trolley height!), 2 scraped wheels & a damaged front bumper. Our part exchange allowance was £1500 (after negotiating up from the 1st offer of £1250). The repairs would have cost us more than 4 times the drop in trade-in allowance.

Edited by Glosphil on Thursday 1st August 19:45

[Robertb]

You go to a dealer to PX a car: “we can only offer you £x because we’ve got to rectify the stonechips and the kerbed wheel”

You go to a dealer to buy a car: “Can you rectify the stonechips and the kerbed wheel as part of the deal?”
“well it is a second hand car sir, some wear and tear is inevitable…”

[interstellar]

Take it clean and tidy, it does make a difference sometimes.

[Panamax]

The dealer's offer will be the dealer's offer, how he gets there doesn't matter.

IMO the main thing is to have in your own mind a clear idea of the price at which you say, "no, sod it, I can easily do better selling it privately myself". But for many people the whole convenience/finance issue will swing the deal.

[Gas1883]

I think it depends what dealership you go to , our local Evans Halshaw look like the cars have been through a war zone whereas the local Honda dealership they all look as new
Wife won’t sell her mk7 fiesta st so any slight mark , scratch it’s in garage & put right , cost me a bomb but it’s worth it to me as car is wife’s pride & joy , if we traded it in , wife won’t , there not a thing on car they could deduct for .

[66HFM]

I think it also comes down to how old your car is and its mileage.
If its 2 years old and has scuffs, scrathes and dents on every panel then you would get a suitably low part ex value, if its 15 years old and is worth £1500 no one is going to spend £2k on rectifying work on it.

Work on the 'price to change', i.e. how much is the difference between the car you are selling and the one you are buying, don't get hung up on how much they offer you for your car, work on how much money you need to spend to buy the new car.

[BobToc]

Thanks everyone, comments much appreciated.

[MrBen.911]

66HFM said:

Work on the 'price to change', i.e. how much is the difference between the car you are selling and the one you are buying, don't get hung up on how much they offer you for your car, work on how much money you need to spend to buy the new car.

Exactly this - if you are £500 out from where you need to be to do a deal, it makes no odds to you if they drop the price of the car you are buying or if they increase the P/X value, but one of those may be much easier for the dealer to achieve.

[griffter]

interstellar said:

Take it clean and tidy, it does make a difference sometimes.

It’s well worth cleaning inside and out, emptying the boot, door pockets etc. If you can, touch in any stone chips, glue any loose trim etc. These things cost next to nothing but will influence the person appraising (consciously or subconsciously) and could earn you a few £100.