Trade-In vs Sell Privately Calculator NZ
This calculator compares two ways of getting rid of your old car, trading it in to a dealer or selling it privately, so you can see in dollars which leaves you better off. When you buy a new vehicle, the dealer will usually offer to take your old one as a trade-in, which is quick and convenient: you hand over the keys, the value comes straight off the new car, and you avoid the hassle of advertising, showing the car to strangers and handling payment. The catch is that a trade-in offer is almost always lower than what you could get selling privately, because the dealer needs to make a margin reselling it. Selling privately typically fetches more, but it takes time and effort and carries some costs, such as advertising, a groom or valet, and any minor tidy-ups to present the car well. This tool weighs the two up. You enter the dealer's trade-in offer, the price you realistically expect from a private sale, and your estimated costs of selling privately. The calculator works out your net proceeds from a private sale after those costs, and shows how much more, or less, you would walk away with compared with the trade-in. The results update as you type, so you can test different private prices and costs. Use it to decide whether the extra money from selling privately is worth the effort, or whether the convenience of a trade-in wins. Remember to factor in the value of your own time and any risk, and that a trade-in can sometimes be negotiated alongside the new car price.
Net private proceeds = private price - selling costs. Advantage = net private proceeds - trade-in offer. Consider the value of your time and any risk too.
How it works
The calculator subtracts your selling costs from the expected private sale price to get the net proceeds you would actually pocket. It then subtracts the dealer's trade-in offer from that figure. A positive result is the extra money selling privately would put in your pocket; a negative result means the trade-in is the better deal.
Worked example
If a dealer offers $12,000 to trade in, but you could sell privately for $15,000 with $400 of selling costs, your net private proceeds are $14,600. That is $2,600 more than the trade-in, about 21.7 percent better, which you would need to judge against the time and effort of selling it yourself.
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