Trading a car in...help this city girl....

We own our Chrysler Pacifica. We really need to more towards a mini-van now. I am so very sad!

My question is, is it better to trade in at a Chrysler dealer? What about in a different state? Would we get a better deal then in NYC? Our car has very low mileage (18,000 for a 2007) Mostly highway miles from NYC to CT.

Any advice?

Re: Trading a car in...help this city girl....

are you getting another chrysler? I think it would benefit to go there, since you might get some kind of loyalty discount.

You can look up the value on Kelley's Blue Book, but just know that any dealer is only going to give you "fair" rating.

We are trying to hold out buying a new car until end of June/July, since dealers are trying to get rid of their stock for the next model year in September, although the Japanese earthquake may have changed that b/c they produce so many parts for auto companies, I heard that some dealers were told to hold onto their inventories.

Re: Trading a car in...help this city girl....

Like pp said, check Kelly blue book for the value, and different dealers will give you different values so you may want To check around if you have the time. Also, you should negotiate the cost of the vehicle you are going to purchase first. This is how DH has done it in the past. We've turned in 3-4 cars over the last several years and DH has mastered the car purchasing technique-or so I think!
Good luck!

Re: Trading a car in...help this city girl....

Yes, we are going to stay with Chrysler....we are thinking Town and Country....So, when do you think is the best time to buy a car?