Trade in value (so says the dealer) on my 1LE

[GONIF]

If you want to trade ,you always get less then a private sale . Every dealer and salesman always try for a high gross . People who trade always leave money on the table . In fact a new car dealer always make more money on a used car then a new one .

[Mmar88]

I guess the thing that bugged me the most is that the second dealership website I was looking into give you the ability to value your trade in, but they use kbb on their website as the source to appraise your car. I understand dealerships don't go by kbb but why use it as a tool on your own website for customers to value their trade in if you can't even go by the values it comes up with haha

http://www.davidcars.com/section/car...ue-your-trade/

Just doesn't make sense to me

[thkfast]

Originally Posted by Mmar88

I guess the thing that bugged me the most is that the second dealership website I was looking into give you the ability to value your trade in, but they use kbb on their website as the source to appraise your car. I understand dealerships don't go by kbb but why use it as a tool on your own website for customers to value their trade in if you can't even go by the values it comes up with haha

http://www.davidcars.com/section/car...ue-your-trade/

Just doesn't make sense to me

When I was working my deal on the Camaro, I walked into four different dealerships armed with KBB, NADA and Edmunds trade-in values printed out. I expected to get "the average" of the three for my nice, clean, low mile BMW 335i sedan. Everyone was $2-3K below that. I tried to explain, "I didn't pull these numbers out of the air, these are generally accepted non-random trade-in values for my car!" I also explained, "I'm not wholesaling the thing, I'm trading it towards the purchase of a new car from you!"

It's frustrating, but selling on Autotrader or Craigslist has it's hassles also.

[wadeh]

Originally Posted by thkfast

I also explained, "I'm not wholesaling the thing, I'm trading it towards the purchase of a new car from you!"

Of course you are wholesaling it. Why would the dealer give you any more money than what they'd spend acquiring an identical one on the wholesale market?

I don't like being lowballed on a trace any more than the next guy, but if you work the new car deal right, they are making some money - but not extravagantly so. Before walking in to the dealer, you should already know what to spend on the new car.

So that leaves the trade. If you have an exceptional (as in ability to sell at a premium, not as in condition) vehicle, you may get a good deal on it. Think about this, though. If it's a pretty common car, why would the dealer even want yours if they could get one just like it at auction or some other wholesale source? Unless they are making a whole lot of money on the new car (which means you didn't do your homework), there is no incentive at all for them to over pay for your trade. They are in business to make money after all.

At the end of the day, you should consider a trade-in to be a convenience to you, so that you don't have to assume the risk and work of selling your car. And if your state offers a sales tax advantage, that's nice as well. But if you want to get top dollar for it, you need to do the work of selling it yourself.

[06_warrior]

When i traded my 12' 1SS in January most dealerships i checked with online used the Black Book value for my car and wanted to give me 20K. I paid 32K for my car in July 2012.

Carmax was going to give me 23K

One dealer wanted to give me 24K with all my custom parts on the car and said i couldn't remove any of them to get the 24K.

I took the car home stripped all of my custom parts off and put the stock parts back on and i ended up getting 26K for the car as a trade in. I had it for 18 months and 24,000 miles. I sold the parts off the car and basically i got 29K total for my trade. Not too bad considering the dealerships that went by Black Book value.

[The_Blur]

If he wants the car for wholesale, let's make it worthwhile. Send me all your 1LE suspension components, and install my FE3 suspension. He gets a car worth his wholesale quote, and I get 1LE suspension upgrades for my SS.

Anyone who seriously considers a wholesale price quote from a dealer is not negotiating. They're removing their pants and bending over with a smile on their face. Wholesale is dealerspeak for profit margin.