“You Aren’t Giving Me Enough for My Trade”

The value of a customer’s trade offers often needed assistance in getting them into their next vehicle. So, what happens when customers don’t feel like they’re getting enough for their trade? Naturally, after hearing their trade valuation, many customers will object. However, this doesn’t mean that it’s always a serious objection. Customers tend to be hesitant to trust dealership valuations, so they toss out a “test” objection to quickly check if they’re truly getting a good deal.

This means that many times, this objection can be quickly overcome with a little bit of logic. However, even in cases where customers have a serious objection to their trade valuation, it doesn’t mean that the deal cannot be closed today. The automotive marketplace has never been more transparent and customers should already have a rough idea of what their trade is worth before ever coming into the dealership. So, with the right techniques and know-how, this objection can easily be handled. In this blog, learn how to handle “you aren’t giving me enough for my trade” and close the deal today!

Negotiations Start Early

The time to start preparing for negotiations is early in the deal during fact finding. When you’re walking around the customer’s trade, that’s one of the best opportunities to handle this objection. By discovering needed reconditioning and keeping that in your back pocket for later in the close, you will be able to logically explain why their trade has a specific valuation. Customers know that their vehicle will need reconditioning, and when you can break that down, it becomes far easier to overcome this objection.

However, it’s important to remember that the walkaround is the time for positivity and compliments. Insulting a customer’s trade will only damage the overall health of your deal and make them hide information from you. In fact, this negativity could very well make you lose the deal altogether. On the other hand, compliments help you establish rapport and gain valuable vehicle information. This is the time to make the customer feel good and not the time to lock up the deal with aggressive tactics.

So, when walking the customer’s vehicle, make sure to note any issues with the vehicle, but keep the walkaround light! Ensure the customer that they have a fantastic vehicle and that your dealership wants to purchase it. Then, keep those issues in the back of your mind for ammunition to use later in the deal. So, now when you hear:

“You aren’t giving me enough for my trade.”

You can say:

“I guarantee that if you’re looking for the best trade value, you came to the right place. Do you remember when I was walking your vehicle and we saw XYZ?...”

Explain the Trade Valuation Logically

Unfortunately, many customers have issues trusting dealerships. However, they have no issue trusting outside sources like third-party websites. So, whenever possible, use this to justify your dealership’s trade valuation. When you can show the customer that their vehicle is valued similarly or less online, it becomes incredibly easy to move past “you aren’t giving me enough for my trade.”

On the flipside, a customer may bring in outside information to doesn’t align with your dealership’s valuation. Yet, there’s still no problem! To start, ask the customer where they got the information and then look it over with the customer. In many cases, the value can come down to equipment and features not in their vehicle, lower mileage, and various other differences. This is also another good time to bring in the information you received while fact finding. When you can logically break down why the valuation is different, this objection will almost always disappear!

Trade Objection: “The Other Dealership Said…”

Sometimes when handling this objection, the customer will toss out “the other dealership said I could get XXX for my trade.” Oftentimes this isn’t even true, but customers want to check that you’re giving them a fair price. This is the time to commit. Hesitation and getting flustered at this test objection only makes customers think they’re not getting a great deal. Instead, commit and be prepared with one liners like:

“When people are looking for top-dollar for their trade, they always come here!”

This objection is typically just a test, and if you don’t react wrong, the customer will move past it. Buyers want to get a win when they come into the dealership. So, make them feel like they’re getting a win by ensuring that they are at the right place, at the right time, and are getting a great deal!

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