Best Option: Private Sale or Dealer Sale for a Chevy Tahoe?
Selling your Chevy Tahoe privately should net some extra cash. But is it worth the loss of convenience?
When it’s time to upgrade to a new vehicle, you’re faced with a number of choices over what to do with your old one. You could keep things simple and trade it in, though you won’t get very much for it (most likely). Or you could sell it privately and score a better price, though you have to deal with a bit more hassle. A third option is to head over to a place like CarMax and let them give you an offer. And that’s exactly what Chevrolet Forum member SabrToothSqrl decided to do with his 2009 Chevy Tahoe.
“Took the Chevy Tahoe to CarMax to get a trade-in offer. So when we trade it in on the Model 3, we know if it’s good enough, or if we need to go private sale. I would like 15k for the truck, but would take 13k. Was expecting 12k on trade, but they offered 11k. The truck is in flawless condition. The rear DVD player still has the plastic on it and the RSE headphones are still in the original box.
The 3rd row seats were stored in the basement since new. NEVER used. Soon as she can configure her car I’m going to post it online, maybe someone can make a better offer than Car Max. In PA you get 6% trade-in credit on the new car registration. So that has to factor into the hassle of a private sale too.
Overall CarMax was very clean and professional. If I was looking for a gas sucker, maybe I’d check their website!”
Sounds like a pretty reasonable scenario. But as 73shark points out, there is a problem with taking higher-mileage vehicles like this Chevy Tahoe to places like CarMax.
“The problem with a vehicle that old with that many miles is that CarMax will just run it thru the auction since it doesn’t fit their inventory requirements. I do it because it makes it easier to sell in a private sale. I usually sell most of my used cars myself.”
Which is a great point. But not everyone has the patience to deal with private sales. If you do, however, it’s pretty clear you can make yourself some extra cash by extracting maximum value from your ride. And ultimately, that looks like the direction the OP is headed in with their Chevy Tahoe.
But we want to hear what you think. Have you had any experience selling a used vehicle to CarMax? Was it worth losing a little coin over a private sale? Head over here and let us know about it!
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