Summary: An auto trade-in is when a person goes to buy a new car while trading in their used car for a certain value. Discover why a person may not get market value, but rather wholesale value when trading in a car with help from a car salesman in this free video on trading in cars.
"How does an auto trade-in work? An auto trade-in works when you go to buy your new or used car, you will have a trade-in and the trade-in has an actual cash value. In other words, a CV, an ACV is what that car is really worth. So the dealer may show you it's worth 10,000 when it's only worst 9,500 because your hot button may be your trade-in but the trade-in is still worth what it's worth and the disadvantage of trading your car into the dealer is you normally don't get full market value but you will get wholesale value. Wholesale value is left side book in an NADA book what your bank, what most of the dealers use and you will get actual cash value from a dealer. All dealers are going to be pretty much the same, there's usually at the most 500 dollars difference but the actual cash value is the value of your trade-in. The advantage of having a trade-in is that you'll save money on your taxes. In the state of Texas it's 6.25% so you wouldn't pay taxes on the 9,500 dollars on the 10,000 depending on whatever they showed you."
eHow Article: How Does an Auto Trade-In Work?