Im currently looking to move up to a Tundra as I need more room for the little ones, work and be able to tow more. My question is regarding my Tacoma. Its a '15 TRD Sport with just under 90k miles. Yes I know, I drive a lot. Should I trade it in to the dealer or sell it outright since it holds its value so well. What has been your experience?

Assuming you have the negotiation skills to get decent value for your trade, the general rule is to trade vehicles worth 15k or more and sell yourself when worth less than 10k.

This is because you only pay sales tax on trade difference and the tax savings on high value trades outweighs the lost money

In addition selling a Tacoma brings out the very worst buyers in the entire world. You will hate every single minute of trying to sell that thing as 98% of the purchasers will not have the financial ability to purchase

obligatory ill give you tree fiddy

Thanks for the response.

Drive in to Colorado and sell it here. It's like they are made of gold here. It's crazy what they go for.

knoxtom said:

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Assuming you have the negotiation skills to get decent value for your trade, the general rule is to trade vehicles worth 15k or more and sell yourself when worth less than 10k.

This is because you only pay sales tax on trade difference and the tax savings on high value trades outweighs the lost money

In addition selling a Tacoma brings out the very worst buyers in the entire world. You will hate every single minute of trying to sell that thing as 98% of the purchasers will not have the financial ability to purchase

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There's a lot of truth in that post. A couple of times, we have tried selling a replaced vehicle ourselves. It can be a drawn out and frustrating experience, with no guarantee you will get anything close to what the services like KBB or Edmunds or the like will tell you what your vehicle is supposedly worth. Your time and effort really does come at a cost.

I heard of a strategy a while back that I used during my most recent vehicle replacement. Get quotes from various places to just buy your used vehicle outright. That will often be between the trade-in and retail value. Carmax is an option if you have one nearby, otherwise various car dealers will do it as well. I got one using the service from Consumer Reports, which turned out to be the local dealer for my brand of vehicle, which was different from the new one I was looking at.

I had the quote handy when shopping the new vehicle. When asked if I had a trade-in, I said that depends on what I could get for it. They first offered the usual low ball trade. I said no, I have a higher offer for it already and will just pay a down payment and sell it the next day. Long story short, we finally agreed on a trade that was still less than my quote, but with the tax savings the trade-in gave me on the final purchase price, it was close enough for me to just do the deal there and be done with it. I think it helped me get a better trade quicker than just the usual haggling.

Email me some pictures and the Vin# and I'll get you an appraisal. Email in profile.

I just sold a 2003 Tacoma a few months ago and it went well.

That said, as mentioned above, one big benefit of the trade-in is the reduction in sales tax on the purchase of your new vehicle, which can do a fair amount to close the gap between private sale vs. trade-in values. So for a newer Tacoma like yours, I'd probably recommend just trying to drive yourself a higher trade-in value.

If you're near a Texas Direct location see how much they'll give you for it. I sold them a 2011 Tacoma 2 years ago for $3K more than I paid for it when I wanted to upgrade to a Tundra.

You can get an offer estimate on their site. I believe that gave me a range in the estimate and the offer was right in the middle of the range once they saw the truck.

I thought selling used tacomas always makes money?

1agswitchin4lanes said:

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I thought selling used tacomas always makes money?

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If it does, I should upgrade to a Tundra!