I own a 2002 Passat Wagon v6, 4motion. I plan to trade it in in the next 2 months, but wondered if I should make necessary repairs before I trade it in, or just send it as is? The engine and brakes are perfectly fine, but it apparently has a bent wheel, a leaky power steering fluid hose, a cracked washer fluid basin, a few scratches and dents, the interior lights don’t always go on when they are supposed to, the keyless entry works intermittently, and one headlight is out because of melted wires. I really don’t want to spend anymore $ on this car, but maybe some of these repairs will help with its trade-in value? Any guidance would be much appreciated. Thank you!
It’s not worth it and you’ll receive about the same amount as a trade-in anyway. The vehicle is roughly 7 years old, has a few flaws, and if the mileage is around a 100k or so the dealer is just going to wholesale it out anyway.
Very helpful, thank you! The car has 75000 miles and I’ll frankly be glad to get rid of it. A good car, but very expensive to repair.
A car this age will be wholesaled by the dealer after being washed. You will not recoup anything you spend on it. If the car was newer and had some problem and the dealer would keep it for his used car lot, they would already allow for the fix, and they can do it cheaper than you can.
In all cases, though I would go for the cheap stuff; clean the car and change the oil if necessary.
Good luck!
Typically, the amount a car dealer will give you for a trade-in is some cursory sum that has nothing to do with the actual condition of the vehicle. The amount they give you has much more to do with the new car you’re buying and playing games with the trade-in to make it seem like you’re getting a better deal is a very common car salesman trick. If you are at all in a position to do so, you will be much better off selling the car yourself to a private party. I’d bet you could get the trade-in value easilly as-is or you would likely recoup your repair costs and then some in a private sale.
Do nothing to it except pay for its final car wash and vacuum. Trade it in and forgot about it.
Don’t bother. If you have it done the dealer will make money on the job. If you trade it as is then the dealer will do the same job, but he will not be making extra profit.
Advise the new owner - whomever that is, of the defects, and be done with this vehicle.
Don’t do anything extra. If it’s time for an oil change, do it. If you wanted to sell it yourself, I’d say to fix everything.
JUST FIX THE HEADLIGHT SO YOU DONT GET A BIG TICKET FROM THE POLICE AND KISS ITS BUMPER GOODBYE! 
I WOULDNT EVEN WASH IT. IT MAKES THE DENTS AND SCRATCHES LESS NOTICEABLE