Benefits of trading in your vehicle when purchasing
Kirt Gill, general manager at OpenRoad Toyota Port Moody. Photos by Benjamin Yong.
Got your eye on a new car? Before you go and list your current vehicle privately, consider trading it in to the dealership instead. The benefits are many, as Kirt Gill, general manager at OpenRoad Toyota Port Moody, explains in today’s blog post.
Tax savings
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To put that into perspective, tax on the latter would be $1,800 versus $3,600 for the former at a rate of 12 per cent combined GST and PST— in other words, a significant amount.
Convenience
Most of us have had not so great experiences selling things online, be it clothing, electronics or furniture. The headaches can be compounded for an automobile sale, from test pilots just out for a drive with no intention of buying to unreliable inquirers.
“You might go through 10 people who say they’re going to be over right away, then they never show up.”
Safety
Giving a stranger seat time behind the wheel, and the location of your home, can be unsettling for obvious reasons. And then there’s the issue of potentially fraudulent funds. Avoid the unknown by having a professional appraise the value and make an offer on your vehicle instead.
Everyone wins
A common misconception is that a store is always going to pay less for a trade-in than a seller could get from an individual third party. Gill says there is a huge incentive on a dealership’s behalf to bring in used cars, which represents future business.
“When you’re dealing with a company like OpenRoad, we have most of the major import and luxury brands and we know the purchase of a car is not a one time thing. So we really want to make the experience as easy and simple as possible so people feel good about trading in their cars more frequently, and with us,” he says.
Final thoughts
Gill adds it’s incumbent on the consumer to do the proper research and know what it is they’re selling. With an accurate idea of what their used car is worth, they can ask the salesperson to justify the number brought to the table.
OpenRoad takes trade-ins of all makes and models. Want an idea of what your vehicle is worth? Check out our handy online appraisal tool powered by Canadian Black Book.
