My commute to work is being reduced from 80 miles a day to 6 miles a day in the next couple of weeks and I'm considering trading in my Camry Hybrid, to reduce my monthly costs.

I'm just curious to see if any of you out there have traded in your Camry Hybrid, and if so, how much did the dealer offer you?

My vehicle is magentic metallic grey and has leather, nav, seat warmers, moon roof. It pretty much has every option except for the remote start and has less than 8,000 miles on it and is in pristine, excellent condition with absolutely no scratches, stains or flaws of any kind.

Edmund's lists the trade in value for a Camry Hybrid in my condition with my options at $24,106.

Unfortunately, Kelley Blue Book and NADA do not have trade in values for the Camry Hybrid yet.

 

I would expect that if you considered the total cost of ownership rather than just your monthly payments you would probably keep your TCH. The first year depreciation is the worst, so your ownership costs are actually going down considerably. And if you buy a new car, you will have that first year depreciation hit all over again.

Finally, what happens if, in a few more months, your commute gets longer again?

 

Your first year's depreciation will be the largest. The Edmonds number may be a little low but not much. Why not keep it. You already got a tax credit and saved a lot of gas. Even a 6 mile commute should be sufficient to get good mileage.

 

My commute is about that much and I enjoy the 35 mpg. I don't know what else you'd use?

 

i traded in my 2006 prius for the 50th anniversary hycam. i only commute 10 miles a day but i love the great gas mileage and smooth ride. Polluting less is a nice thing as well. i don't like to ride in standard cars that idle roughly anymore, and now that i have the hycam i barely feel the ICE come on. keep it and smile!

 

You really going to get huge financial hit with those 8k miles. If I was you I would not trade the car in, rather try to sell it myself at higher price, but most likely I would try not to sell the car at all. Unless you really hate the car or it's not what you need I would keep the car. With low mileage it will keep it's value longer, it will still save you money on gas and if gas went up in price again next spring, you could probably sell it then for similar price.

 

Remember, selling a car outright versus trading it in on a new vehicle results in a substantial SALES TAX penalty. In my state the sales tax is computer AFTER the trade-in is subtracted. Sell the car yourself and you pay sales tax on the entire cost of the new vehicle. Using 8% as an example ...
8% of 24,000 is $2020. So unless you can sell the used car for $2K more than $24K you are loosing by not trading it in.

 

That's not true here in Virginia. The sales tax you pay on a car purchase is the same, regardless of whether you trade in a vehicle or sell it outright. So I'd say rather than remembering anything, make sure you understand the tax implications in your locale, and factor that into the decision.