If you don't want to donate your car because the tax deduction just isn't worth it, consider trading your old car in for a new car instead. This can make a lot of sense if you'd only get a tax deduction worth $500 for donating your car, but you could get $2000 towards a new car if you traded it in.
You won't be helping anyone but yourself and the car dealership, but the extra $1500 might well make you feel generous enough to make a cash gift to the charity instead.
Seven Tips for Trade Ins
1. Clean the car inside and out. Thoroughly. Consider a professional cleaning, and splurge on the deluxe cleaning package.
2. Car Value- Before you ever step on the lot you should do your homework. Check both the N. A. D. A. and the blue book value. Then move to local classifieds and see how similar vehicles are being priced. Take the time to print out any information you find about pricing and go to the dealership armed. Print newspaper ads, online quotes and anything else pertaining to vehicles like yours. If you are interested in top-notch research, you can call some of the ads yourself and see what their cars have sold for.
3. Compare- Do not sticks with just one dealership when it comes to offers on your trade in. Dealerships will vary on what they offer you for your car. The only problem you may have is if only one dealership is holding a new car you want. Even in this situation, you want to check with other dealerships to find out what they would offer you for your old clunker. You are setting up your negotiation tactics by the above acts and these are powerful tools to use on the salesman you are dealing with. Hey, if you are not giving the thing to charity you should at least get every penny that is coming to you.
4. Be smart- It could help you remain objective during the sale pitch to have a street savvy friend with you. They can keep you focused and prevent you from falling for classic sales techniques like a salesman who tells you the car of your dreams is already sold or offering to throw in free undercoating. You should never fall for these techniques.
5. Repairs- Car dealerships are prone to overestimating the cost of repairs that your trade in might require. It is probably a good idea to spend a little money having a mechanic thoroughly inspect your vehicle. They can tell you what if anything should be repaired and give you an estimate. You do not want to be in the middle of negotiations and have to guesstimate the potential repairs. Moreover, if you are going to do anything to the car before you trade it be sure they are visible changes. These repairs and upgrades will get you more cash than hidden ones.
6. Know the code. Car dealers write numbers in code that they don't want you to know. That way they can show you one set of information, and easily see their profits in the same glance. Look for the code for figures like their profit on your trade-in, the cost for repairs, and your ACV. AVC is the "actual cash value" of your car.
The code is not so difficult to crack. Numbers are replaced with letters of the alphabet. Generally it will be the first 10 letters, for example A=1, B=2 and C=3 all the way to J which equals 0. That means if you see something like BJJJ on the appraisal it translates to $2,000 in actual cash value for your vehicle.
Dealers frequently use this shorthand code in plain view - once you know how to spot it you'll have a major advantage.
7. Trade in the car before the odometer rolls over to the next 10,000 increment. 139,000 is better than 140,000.
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