Brake Repair Can Increase Your Trade-In Value

Brake repair is a routine part of automobile ownership. A responsible car owner will need to perform all sorts of maintenance tasks including repairing brakes, replacing batteries, changing oil, replacing the timing belt, hoses, filters and much more. If a person doesn't keep up his or her vehicle, not only will it stop functioning properly, it will lose value when it comes time to sell it. This is true whether a driver decides to sell it privately or trade it in at a dealership for a newer or more appropriate model.

Reasons Why A Person Will Eventually Sell The Car

You may love your car over the years and think you'll never get rid of it. Circumstances change, however, that make keeping your auto no longer workable. Some reasons that the average motorist decides to sell "by owner" or trade it in at the dealership include that it's getting old and having pricey mechanical difficulties; it's too large and guzzling lots of gasoline; it's too small because the family has had a few more children; it's not appropriate for the climate or local - i.e. front wheel drive or 4 wheel needed to drive in snowy mountain country rather than a rear wheel drive sedan.

How Maintenance Affects Value

When a private party purchases a vehicle from the owner, he or she will likely want to see maintenance records. These records will show oil changes, brake repairs, battery changes and more in order to let the potential buyer know what sort of shape it's in. When a motorist wants to trade it in for a newer model, the dealership's mechanic will look over the entire vehicle and give it a grade of excellent, good, fair or poor. If regular maintenance such as brake repair hasn't been performed, this will knock points off its score. The amount the dealers will offer for a trade-in will be directly attributed to maintenance and repairs. A car that has never been in an accident, doesn't have any dents and has decent tires may still only get a C+ ranking which will knock hundreds or even a thousand plus dollars off the trade in value. Dealership appraisers take a look at Kelly Blue Book as well as a few other factors to make their offer.

What A Low Trade-In Value Equates To

When a vehicle is only given a fair ranking, this means less money to put down on the new vehicle. Having less cash via the trade to put toward a down payment will mean a higher loan balance. Loan balances have interest attached so this compounds the problem. In other words, by not performing repairs and maintenance on schedule, not only will the sedan or truck not work as well or last as long, it will cost the owner money in interest and loan payments on a new car even after the old one's been sold off.

The moral of this story is to perform regular brake repair and other automotive tasks. This is important for maintaining a safe and functional vehicle as well as for planning for the future.