What Goes Into a Trade-In Value?

At Thompson Sales in Springfield, you can trade in your current ride to put its value towards a new or pre-owned vehicle. Or, we will buy your car, truck, or SUV, whether you purchase an upgraded one from us or not.

We do get a lot of questions about this process and what goes into the trade-in value we offer for customers’ vehicles. Our team discusses more details about how we arrive at a trade-in value, so you can make an informed decision about your trade.

You Can Do Independent Research!

We recommend using the CARFAX history-based value to get an estimate of trade-in values for your car, truck, or SUV. It takes into account any maintenance that’s been recorded with the vehicle to determine an accurate value.

There is also the Kelley Blue Book car value calculator. It will look at the trade-in value versus the value if you sell it to a private party rather than a dealership.

Trade-In Value vs Sale Price

The trade-in value is a rough estimate of what a dealership might offer you for a vehicle. Our tools will assess more details about your specific vehicle beyond what you input with online trade-in values. The offer we make will likely be different from what you discover through the online tools you use because those tools can’t see what is worn or needs to be replaced on your vehicle.

Our service technicians will examine your vehicle for any defects or worn parts. We’ll then determine how best to refurbish the vehicle to make it in sellable condition as one of our quality used cars on our lot.

Based on that assessment and the popularity of your vehicle as a used car for sale at a dealership, we’ll make you an offer for our trade-in.

Here is where most of the questions we get come from. Many vehicle owners look at the trade-in value as lowballing them. However, that is never the case. The trade-in value is always lower than the “price” of a used vehicle because a dealership will resell your trade-in after refurbishing it.

The price of a used car would be if the vehicle owner sold it to a private party on their own and not a dealership. 

Another issue we see is that some vehicle owners have an idea of the value of the vehicle based on the amount of any auto loan they have left to pay off. Remember, the amount of the auto loan was for the vehicle’s price when you first bought it but not what the vehicle is worth now. Simply adding together the vehicle price or even a trade-in value plus a loan balance does not equal the amount of an offer you’ll get from a dealership.

But there is one way Thompson Sales does take care of you when trading in your car, truck, or SUV.

We Offer Some of the Highest Trade-In Values in Southwest Missouri

The Thompson team has some of the highest trade-in values in the area. How do we know? Because customers often seek other trade-in offers from dealerships and they always come back to us.

Just because we make you an offer, it doesn’t mean you have to sign on the dotted line. We welcome you to visit other dealerships to see what kind of trade-in offer you can get. But our offer will probably be competitive and toward the top of the list of best offers. 

You Can Sell Us Your Car, Even If You Don’t Buy From Us

When we say “trade-in value,” you might think that means you have to buy a vehicle from us when you bring your car in for an offer. But you can sell us your car even if you don’t buy one from us.

The same process applies when selling us your car as it does when trading it in. Selling your car to a dealership means you’ll get an offer less than the retail price we would sell the vehicle for.

The only difference is that you keep the cash proceeds from the sale rather than putting the value of your car, truck, or SUV towards a newer vehicle on our lot. 

Trade-In or Sell Your Vehicle at Thompson Sales

We’ll happily look at your used vehicle to see how much of a trade-in value we could give you. Contact us, call (417) 763-6811 to talk to us about this process.