Comparison
Get private sale upside without selling the car yourself.
Trading in is faster. Selling privately pays more. Here is what each one actually costs you, and the option that sits between them.
How much are you leaving on the table?
Tell us your car. We will show what a dealer pays, what it is really worth, and what you pocket.
Enter it and the figures below are worked from your car's actual offer instead of an average.
You pocket an extra
on top of the trade-in price, for no extra work
Indicative only. A guide to the size of the gap, not a valuation, appraisal or offer. Your actual figures depend on your specific vehicle, its history and the market at the time. We give you a real assessment, free, before you commit to anything.
A trade-in gets you wholesale value the same day, with none of the work. A private sale gets you close to retail value but every task is yours. The difference between the two is the dealer's margin, and on a $20,000 to $100,000 car that is frequently thousands of dollars. The third option is to have someone run the retail sale for you against a floor you set, so you get the convenience of the trade-in and a share of the private sale upside.
Side by side
The three options, honestly compared.
| Trade-in | Private sale | TradeBeat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How long it takes | Same day | 2 weeks to several months | 2 to 4 weeks |
| What you get | Wholesale value | Close to retail value | Your trade offer, plus your share above it |
| Who writes the listing | Nobody, there is none | You | We do |
| Who answers the messages | Nobody | You, including at 11pm | We do |
| Who hosts test drives | Nobody | You, usually at your home | We do, with verified buyers |
| Who negotiates | The dealer, with you | You, with strangers | We do, on your behalf |
| Finance payout and PPSR | Dealer handles it | Yours to get right | We handle it |
| Paperwork and transfer | Dealer handles it | Yours to get right | We handle it |
| Up-front cost | None | Listing and photography | None |
| Risk if it does not work | None, it is done | Weeks lost, relist | No fee, but your offer may expire |
What a trade-in actually costs you
Nothing, on the invoice. The cost is in the price. A dealer buying your car has to recondition it, provide any statutory warranty, photograph and advertise it, carry it on floor plan finance while it sits, and pay someone to sell it. Their offer is set to leave room for all of that plus a profit, and that room comes out of your number.
This is not a criticism of dealers. It is simply the structure: they are buying at wholesale because they are taking on the retail risk. The question is whether you want to pay for that, or take some of it on yourself. More on where the margin goes.
What a private sale actually costs you
Also nothing, on the invoice, and that is why people underestimate it. The real cost is the listing fees, the photography, and then every hour of it: answering the same three questions forty times, the buyer who books Saturday morning and never arrives, the one who opens at half your asking price, the stranger you have to let drive your car, verifying that a bank transfer has genuinely cleared, and getting the finance payout and transfer right so the sale does not unwind.
For plenty of people that is a fine trade for a few thousand dollars. For plenty of others it is exactly why they take the trade-in knowing they are leaving money behind. How to avoid the private-buyer circus.
The third option
Get your dealer offer, then let someone else run the retail sale against it. Your offer becomes the benchmark and your floor. Everything above it is value that would not have existed if you had simply traded in, and it gets split 50/50. If the benchmark is not beaten, there is no fee and you keep your car.
The genuine risk, and we would rather say it than bury it: dealer offers usually expire within days. If we take a few weeks and do not beat your number, that original offer may no longer be on the table. That is the real cost of giving us a go, and it is why we decline cars we do not think we can beat.
There are other routes too, instant online buyers, auction, traditional consignment. We have set out every alternative to trading your car in, and explained how car consignment in Brisbane compares to an upside-share arrangement.
Common questions
Do you always get more money selling a car privately?
Usually more than a trade-in, yes, but not always more than a trade-in plus the time and hassle you spent getting there. A private sale that takes three months, two relistings and a dozen no-shows to gain $2,000 is not obviously a win.
The honest answer is that a private sale gets you closer to retail value, and the question is what that difference is worth against the work.
How much more is a private sale worth than a trade-in?
It varies by model, condition, history and market conditions, and anyone quoting a fixed percentage is guessing. The gap tends to be widest on utes, four wheel drives, European cars and electric vehicles, and narrowest on older, high-kilometre and hard-to-place vehicles.
The reliable way to find out on your specific car is to get a real trade offer, then test it against the retail market.
Is trading in ever the better option?
Often. Trade it in if you need to be out of the car within days, if the offer is already strong for the market, if the car needs significant work before it would present at retail, or if it is worth well under $20,000 where the spread does not cover the effort.
We tell people to trade in regularly. A car we cannot beat the offer on earns us nothing.
What is the third option between trading in and selling privately?
Having someone run the private sale for you against a floor you set. You get a dealer offer, that figure becomes your protected benchmark, and a service sells the car on the retail market. You keep the benchmark plus a share of anything above it, and pay nothing if the benchmark is not beaten.
That is what TradeBeat does. Here is the full process.
You already have a number. Let us try to beat it.
Send us the car and the offer. We will tell you honestly whether we can do better, including when the answer is no.