What does "minimum trade-in allowance" mean when buying a car?

Question

For example, when it says:

Buy a new (car brand) and get (dollar amount) minimum trade-in allowance.

Answer 1

Basically it is the minimum they will take off the screen price of the car they are offering for sale for any car that you may bring in, so if you car is a complete shed you will get the minimum, if your car has some resale value you will get more, and this is knocked off the cost of the vehicle you are buying, you don't get it back as cash just as a reduction from the price the car is offered for sale at.