In The Lazy Way To Buy And Sell Cars For Profit I feature some used car deals that involved me trading one car for another and making good money doing that.

Well, our good friend Ryan, who has generously contributed to this blog here and here, emailed me yesterday to reveal how he is in the process of an interesting car deal that involves trading one used car for another.

I wanted to share this with you because I have personally turned not-so-great car deals into great car deals because I was open-minded enough to trade…and that is what Ryan has done.

Here is the email from Ryan about used car trading…

Well Steve,

Times have been a bit slow for car sales the last 6 weeks or so, plus I’ve been extra busy with work so that hasn’t exactly helped.

I’ve kind of been in a holding pattern with the same 4 vehicles for a little bit, so I’m getting more motivated to sell soon!

Currently I have:

01 Mercury Sable LS (LOADED) 124k miles

01 Dodge Durango SLT 4×4 Leather, LOADED 171k miles

02 Pontiac Firebird w/ T-Tops 134k miles

This is what today’s story is about =====> 00 Chevy Tahoe Z-71 4×4 Leather, 69k miles (Beaut)

I had a unique opportunity arise for a deal with my z71 Tahoe with only 69k miles. An older gentlemen called me interested in buying my Tahoe, we set up a time to meet the next day he was coming from an hour north. After we hung up, about 10 minutes later he called me again and wanted to know if I was interested in a trade or if I ever did trades….I don’t do trades, but I told him I was willing to listen….and so I did… (I’ve never made a trade in the past because no trades offered to me had me on the winning end, I’ve had a couple of close calls, but the other side backed out. Generally it isn’t a good idea to take a trade if you break even or lose, I’m only interested if I’m upgrading or getting a more “” sellable ” vehicle.)

He offered me his 2004 Ford F-150 STX (I’ve always wanted an F-150 so of course now I am drooling) with 93k miles worth $9600 for my 2000 Chevy Z-71 Tahoe with 69k miles worth $8600….seems like a no brainer for me, especially since I’ve only got $4650 in the Tahoe and the Ford will be much easier for someone to get a loan on with it being a younger vehicle. Additionally, my Tahoe has hail damage on the hood, driver side, and the roof, its 4 years older and in bad need of tires soon. So this deal is really looking good for me…newer vehicle…worth more…better tires…no cosmetic damage.

We arrange a time and place to meet up and do test drives, we did, and all was good. He primarily wanted to make the trade because he wanted a vehicle to pull a camper with. My Tahoe had a 5.7L v-8 to his 4.6L v-8 in the truck, he didn’t have the money to buy a new vehicle and didn’t want to mess with a dealership, so this deal was perfect for him, and awesome for me since I’m going to make more money now.

He still owed about $2000 on the truck, so I told him he should go and talk with his bank, see if they will release the loan on the truck and transfer it to the Tahoe after we trade vehicles…and they did…it never hurts for the bank to have the title locally as well, he was able to get the title the next day!

Also because I needed cash I told him I’d do the trade if he added $500 cash to my pocket…we negotiated back and forth and I ended up with $250…doesn’t seem like much but it helps with costs of repairs on other vehicles, used tires, cleaning supplies, tire foam, etc. I probably could have gotten the $500, but I wanted to keep the rapport going with him and speed up the process before he found a better Tahoe, changed his mind, etc.

I met up with him this morning at a mid-way point and the deal went down. All the paperwork was in order and I drove away a happy new owner of my first Ford F-150! 

So once I register this bad boy and drive it for a couple of weeks I will go ahead and sell it, hopefully for some where around $9000, which would be a net profit of…$4350 + the $250 cash which would = $4600 profit. YEAH BABY! 

Take Care,

Ryan 

P.S. In case you wanted this info for a blog post here are 2 pics, one of Tahoe, one of Truck.

 

Steve here again… That F150 looks sweet! Regarding the “slow time” Ryan mentioned. Arkansas (where Ryan lives), and much of the U.S., has been experiencing record hot temperatures this summer (not here in San Diego though – gloat, gloat). And since its Alabama, the humidity must be awful, which makes humans listless and apathetic. Plus, you have kids out of school for summer, and families going on vacations, etc. So let not your heart be troubled because vacations will end soon, the kiddies will be back in school, and the temps will cool.  :-)