Why is my car worth so little?

Please help! My local Ford garage offered €9,000 trade in for my 2-year old Fiesta 1.4 automatic, 17,000 miles against new 2 litre Focus Ghia automatic. . My friend was offered €11,000 for her 2 year old Focus 2 litre automatic 20,000 miles against new Focus Titanium. Both cars were originally bought in this garage.

Changeover date for both cars Feb. 2012. Can such apalling values for our cars be correct? We are going to shop around but we have no idea what figure we should be looking for. Please , please give us your opinion. Regards, Teresa

Teresa Joyce (Ennis, Co. Clare)

Aug 2011 Filed under: used car values

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Expert answer

Hi Teresa,

As with any car exchange - you need to look at the cost to change, not the value of your trade in. At the moment there are lots of Ford Fiesta and Focus models on the used market so the values of them aren't great. The dealers are also pricing your cars as to what they will be worth in February 2012 when the cars arrive. 

You said you are going to shop around and that is exactly what you should do. We could tell you that your cars are worth more, but unless a dealer is offering you this then it is not much use. 

You need to shop around!

Complete Car Adviser