Trading in a car for a less expensive one

T

triona

Registered User
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Hi,

I bought at 2001 Volkswagen Golf 1.6 Comfortline in January for €11200. It had 48K on it and now has 57K. I now want to trade it in for a 2001 Renault Megane Coupe 1.6 16v with 16K on it. The garage is asking €9950 for the Megane including a year's warranty (electrical and mechanical).

Presuming everything is ok with the Megane (mileage is amazingly low!)what kind of a deal do you think I could get trading in the Golf for the Megane?

I know people will think I'm mad trading in a 'reliable' car for an 'unreliable' one but I've made my decision based on the car I prefer to drive - just looking for advice on the money/trade-in aspects!!

Thanks for your help in advance.
 
Your best bet would probably be to try and sell your own car privately and approach the garage with cash in hand. That should ensure that you will get a good discount on the Megane. You should be able to buy it for around €9k. Its anyones guess though how much you would get for your own. With the mileage you are putting up though I would be looking at a diesel.
 
triona said:
Presuming everything is ok with the Megane (mileage is amazingly low!)
Click to expand...

Just as an fyi that isn't automatically a good thing. If genuine then that amounts to roughly 3k a year, i.e. lots of short journeys and/or lots of the car sitting unused. Neither is a good thing mechanically, 80% of engine wear occurs during the first few minutes while the engine(and oil) warms up to assist lubrication.

I'd be very suspecious of such low milage anyway, look for original nct certs (not discs) showing the milage on those dates and check the service history by phoning the garage to confirm milage on the appropriate dates.

The car should also have been serviced annually despite the low milage so don't accept a car that may have only had a single service in 5 years.
 
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