Pay for repairs if I am going to trade in?

[TheBDB]

I managed to scrape and dent the side of my 2006 G35 entering the garage and I got back the estimate to fix it...$1500. I was planning on trading that car in when I buy a new one in the next 6 months or so. The Blue Book value right now is between $12K and $10K depending on the condition of the car.

My question is, would paying for the repairs now be recouped during trade in? Or would the trade in value be about the same so I should skip the repairs? I'm not sure if they would ignore the damage because they want to make the new sale. Or is it really impossible to know? Any advice I appreciate it!

 

[Vdubchaos]

Go to CarMax and ask them to give you an offer.

Once they give it to you, ask them how much more they would pay you if you fixed the dent.

You will get a better answer.

Chances are, you will get less than you think anyways. But most people seem to get best deals from Carmax over dealers.

 

[T2urtle]

Its hard to know. Pending on how bad it looks.. If you were to buy your car USED would it be a problem for you?

Any dealership taking this for a trade will abuse you and make it a HUGE deduction. I know i do that when i want to buy a car and the dent/ding/scuffs dont bother me at all, I use all the leverage i can against them.

The DENT might be able to pop it out with the PDR guys. Scrapes well nothing you can do about that. Try to sell it private party and you might be a little better off.

+1 on carmax.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Get some touchup paint on the scrapes

 

[power_hour]

Definitely get that touched up. Dentless repair or something like that. Once they notice the mark your value is sunk.

 

[TheBDB]

Interesting. I was hoping you guys would say to not bother because the dealership will want to make a deal, and they will still make money on the new sale and can always fix it for cheap and make money reselling the used car.

Maybe I can stop by carmax and see what they say.

 

[Slacker]

Catch 22, even if you fix it they will see the repair and ding you for it.

 

[NutBucket]

BS. If its a small repair they'll never know unless you did a shitty job fixing it.

EDIT: That said I still wouldn't bother. I would, however, highly recommend selling private party as a dealer will give you a ridiculous low-ball offer most likely.

 

[trmiv]

I'm in the same situation with my Mazda 3. Some asshat keyed it about a year after we got it, and I haven't had it repaired. Now I'm thinking of trading it in since we're having a baby and the size does't cut it.

Most people seem to say just trade it in without fixing it because they will know anyway. I know when I took our last car to Carmax a few years ago, which had also been randomly keyed, but was repaired perfectly by a body shop, Carmax said on the report that the door had been repainted and deducted for it. That tells me it's probably not worth repairing if I trade in at a major dealer.

 

[Midwayman]

I'd have a PDR place look at it. They can probably fix most of the dent, and buff the paint.
What's left check out
http://www.drcolorchip.com/how-it-works.shtml
It'll help with the rest. Sell it private party.