Used car appraisal can be very tricky! Are you planning to trade in your vehicle to car dealers? In this page, we will walk you through appraisal process and point out things you should look for.

• Walk Around
• Feel and Touch
• Test Drive and Call Around

From dealer's perspective, the purpose of an appraisal is to:

• Access the overall mechanical and cosmetic condition of the vehicle
  
• Determine the Marketability and Profitability of the vehicle

Do they want your vehicle? Can they turn around and make a decent profit selling your car? Or this is not the type of car they are looking for. That's their main agenda!

Used car appraisal is normally done by an used car manager. The idea behind the appraisal is first get a real wholesale value of the car, then MORE IMPORTANTLY, they will persuade you NOW is the best time to trade in your vehicle.

Know The Dealer’s Game Plan and Be Prepared

Let's take a look at the entire appraisal procedure. Hopefully you will learn something alone the way. Remember do not commit to the dealer that you will trade in your car NOW until you are absolutely sure about their value is FAIR ENOUGH.

The keyword here is FAIR VALUE, understand the dealer's business is to buy at wholesale and sell at retail, profiting in between as much as possible. Set realistic expectation about your car's worth by pricing it out with Nade Guides

Avoid Any Commitment No Matter
What The Number Is

A typical scenario of used car appraisal will start off with the salesman asking you to make a commitment NOW.

The car salesman say something like "If we can offer you a fair market value of your vehicle, the figure is agreeable between us. Can we earn you valued business today?" Some of the more aggressive ones will even ask you to initial or get an OK on a vehicle purchase worksheet.

Instead tell them up front, you are thinking about SELLING the vehicle back to the dealer and looking for your best price

Then the salesman will ask you what are you looking for? You will tell them whatever the price you have in mind PLUS $1000 to $2000 (the wiggle room for bargaining). Watch their facial expression, are they excited to hear your low expectation or they are totally blown away by such a ridiculously HIGH expectation of your car?

Conversation and Paper Work

The salesman will engage a friendly conversation with you at the paper work stage. Their goal is to make you comfortable while they are appraising your car. It’s called building the rapport in sales. Sometimes the salesman can be TOO FRIENDLY to win your heart and later on set the stage to “close you”. Be careful about this type of sales technique.

Remember WALK AWAY is your ultimate power during the used car appraisal, especially if you are NOT comfortable with the salesman.

You will see an used car appraisal form with detailed information filled up by salesperson. Owner's information home address, contact phone number and those days they want your email address for future follow ups.

Then the vehicle information, options installed in the car, all the bells and whistles you can think of that are attached to the vehicle. Please NOTE, options in the vehicle can play a tricky part in valuation appraisal. Make sure you read Valuation Variables to understand other factors you need to consider to determine the real value of any car.

STEP 1 Walk around – First Impression Counts

A walk around is the first step in used car appraisal - your impression says a lot about you! How's car look, does it have a nice "curb appeal" what's the overall cosmetic condition. The interior upholstery and exterior paint condition etc. Theused car manager will in most cases write down $150 to even $500 deduction for a full detailing of the car; this is part of the reconditioning cost to the dealer.

A full detailing is more than just a deluxe car wash, depends on the level of requirements, makes models and marketability etc. Anywhere from interior carpet shampoo to a cut polish of the exterior paint. You noticed every dealership have a detail shop, they hire teenage boys and pay them minimum wage and up to make the car look like tip top shape.

“If things look good, they MUST be good!”

The reality is nice looking clean cars always SELL.

So, learn from the professionals and make your vehicle presentable. You can pocket more dollars if you decided to sell the car privately and sell it fast! Most people pay less attention to the presentation of the car they are selling privately.

STEP 2 Feel and Touch – Bring The Reality to You

A feel and touch is basically how used car manager examine the cosmetic condition of the car. They will run their fingers on the hood, rub it against fenders, check the gap between panels, looking at color consistency among hood and front fenders; this is where most frontal collision begins.

Before they do the test drive, they will pop the hood and do a visual check of overall engine, transmission, cooling system, belts inspection. Write down anything that is not satisfactory or questionable like air conditioning hose is not cold, crack in the serpentine belt, oil leaking engine compartment. Value deduction will be reflected upon the appraisal.

STEP 3 Test Drive and Call Around – The Moment of Truth

How does the car drive is the last and the most important part of the used car appraisal. There isn’t anything fancy about test drive other than start the ignition, shifting gears back and forth testing every button to figure out what's working and what's not.

Usually a test drive will last for 5 to 10 minutes. The used car manager will write down the “driving impression” and a final look around for the car to see if there’s anything missed. He will then make few phone calls to shop for the best price for your trade, and present the figure to you.

Here's The Bottom Line

Dealers are interested in buying your vehicle if it is a "above average book value" car, mechanically and cosmetically sound condition, have a good market demand and reasonable profit.

You can always tell how "bad" the dealers want your trade! That will somehow reveal the demand of vehicle - how hot is your car!

Shop around and get a second opinion of your car's trade-in value. Make sure you get the quote from Your Local CarMax Store , you might be surprised that you get higher value for you trade with CarMax. Click Carmax Used Cars review page to learn more about selling your car to the dealer.

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