Trade In Your Truck at Bud Clary Ford of Moses Lake

Selling outright is fine with us: we buy vehicles from people who aren't buying one of ours, and appraising yours costs nothing and obligates you to nothing. If you are shopping, that same appraisal becomes your trade. Either way, the people looking at your truck sell and service Fords in Moses Lake, so a crew cab with a tow package or a diesel Super Duty is familiar ground.

Still making payments? Our team settles up with your bank or leasing company on the payoff. Title tucked in a drawer somewhere, or a spare key that vanished during harvest? We handle the DMV side of the sale and work from whatever paperwork and keys you still have.

Trading in also lowers the taxable price of whatever you buy next, so you pay less sales tax. How Washington's rule works, including what it says about farm equipment, is covered further down.

Work trucks don't age alike. One that pulls a loaded trailer on I-90 wears differently from one that crawls field roads at harvest, and the appraisal accounts for both. Records help here, because an appraiser can only credit what can be checked: oil and filter receipts on a truck that lives in dust or tows heavy, every key and fob, the owner's manual, and paperwork for anything bolted on after the sale. If yours is a 6.7L Power Stroke, our diesel service page walks through Ford's maintenance schedule for trucks that tow or run in dust.

• Mileage: harvest runs and hauls to the Tri-Cities stack up on a ranch truck's odometer
• Condition: dust packed into cab vents and seat tracks, gravel chips in the glass, bed and tailgate wear, tire tread, and any warning light on the dash
• History: accident and title records, and whether a lender is still listed as legal owner
• Equipment: 4x4, engine and trim, plus towing gear such as a factory tow package, a gooseneck or fifth-wheel hitch, or a flatbed or service body added later
• Local demand: what trucks like yours are selling for in the Columbia Basin at the time you bring it in

In Washington, sales tax is figured on the price of what you buy minus the value of a like-kind trade. WAC 458-20-247, the Department of Revenue's rule on trade-ins, puts all motor vehicles in one class, which means an SUV can count toward a truck and a truck toward a car.

Two details matter on a farm. Hand over two vehicles toward one purchase and the rule counts the value of both. Field equipment is a separate class, though: the rule's own examples of trades that don't qualify include farm machinery, even tractors and self-propelled combines, swapped toward a car.

The trade has to be part of the same deal, and the sales agreement must name both vehicles and the value given for yours. A loan on the trade doesn't shrink the tax benefit, since the rule allows full trade-in value for tax purposes even while a lender holds a security interest.

That gap is negative equity. The Federal Trade Commission explains where it usually goes: into the new loan, out of your down payment, or both. A promise to pay off your old loan does not make it disappear.

So ask us how the balance is being handled, and find the amount financed and the down payment on your disclosures before you sign. Among the FTC's other suggestions: hold off and make extra principal-only payments, sell the truck privately, or finance the next one over the shortest term your budget allows. It adds that a dealer who says it will pay off your loan and then rolls that amount into the new one is breaking the law.

Rebuilding after a bankruptcy or repossession? Our car loans after bankruptcy page explains how financing works here, and the credit application is online.

The Washington Department of Licensing lists trading to a dealer among the sales a seller has to report. Within 5 days, a Report of Sale must be on file. Washington dealers are allowed to send that report in for you; DOL still holds you responsible for checking that it was filed.

• The title. If a bank or credit union is on it as legal owner, bring its name and your loan account number
• No title? Replacing one runs 4 to 8 weeks by DOL's count, and DOL also accepts an Affidavit of Loss/Release of Interest, so mention it when you call
• Every key and fob, the owner's manual and your service receipts
• Your current registration
• A plan for your plates: DOL has the seller take them off, and a truck plate can move only to another truck you own, or be turned in
• An empty glovebox and console, since DOL advises removing anything with your name or address, like old registration and insurance cards

Our area pages cover the towns we serve beyond Moses Lake: Othello, Quincy, Ephrata, Wenatchee, Yakima and the Tri-Cities.

Wherever you start, run the tool before you leave the yard. Your online offer gives you a figure to weigh against our used inventory, the new Super Duty and F-150 trucks, or this month's Ford specials, so the drive to Moses Lake is about confirming a number instead of starting from zero.