because a trade in is done on a wholesale level not a retail level. The upside, most states have sales tax credit, which when you’re talking dollar amounts such as this, is significant money. Also, selling a car can be a time consuming process. It can also be costly depending where and how you choose to market it. Trade ins require nearly 0 time, there is zero cost, and it’s done quickly. The trade off is, yes, you won’t get retail. But often when trying to sell a car, whether it’s $10k or $70k, you also won’t get retail. A trade also doesn’t have contingencies. I’ve tried to sell multiple cars, have spent time adverrisibg, entertaining interested parties, making myself available to do so, only to then have buyers say “great, now I need to talk to my bank to get the loan”

When you are the seller, it’s interesting how attitudes and such changes vs when you are the buyer. I decided a long time ago, personally, that trying to sell a car privately, especially an expensive one, wasn’t worth the effort for a few extra grand. Time saved + the sales tax credit made it more than worth it to trade. There are also no phone calls 3-7-10 days later wondering why it needs brakes, or that a bulb went out, or that some other part of the vehicle isn’t working etc. It’s a one a done transaction.

But like most things, everyone views these things differently.

because mods limit who a dealer can sell the car to, shrinks the potential audience, and mods prevent us from certifying the car

didnt say it wasn’t possible to sell, it is always possible. I’ve done it. Sometimes it was easy, more often than not, it was not. But the more expensive the car gets, the harder it tends to become.

Yeah, I would totally agree with that. The more expensive the vehicle, the more difficult.....