[fastball]

Originally Posted by Factorypilot

Wow so they were lowballing you by over 10K? That's pretty unusual I would think. Maybe I'm just being naive.

Depends on the dealer but it should never be a surprise.

My personal opinion is to never trade a car in at a dealer and I never have. Always sell outright, because they will never give you what the car is worth.

[toro1966]

Originally Posted by fastball

Depends on the dealer but it should never be a surprise.

My personal opinion is to never trade a car in at a dealer and I never have. Always sell outright, because they will never give you what the car is worth.

This.

It is a zero-sum game to them. They may give you a great amount for your trade - but then don't expect to get the best deal on the car. Rarely will you get both.

[camaromatt.s]

Originally Posted by CamaroBody

not in California with a loaded 2ss hyper blue @7500 miles a year

not easy to find

I just looked on autotrader and found a 2012 2SS/RS with 46k miles for $19,199 in California (zip code 91790). It's somewhat apples to oranges since the 6th gen killed the value on the 5th gen, but a 7th gen Camaro could easily do the same thing to 6th gens in a few years. I don't think a 5 year old 2016 2SS will be that cheap, but I think low to mid 20's is likely.

[fastball]

Originally Posted by toro1966

This.

It is a zero-sum game to them. They may give you a great amount for your trade - but then don't expect to get the best deal on the car. Rarely will you get both.

All you have to do is look at any of the car value appraisal books or web sites. All of them will tell you trade in value is $2k less or more than selling the car private party outright.

Now frankly even if it's a bit of a hassle to sell a car private party, if you just follow simple guidelines you will still get more money than you can at a dealer.

Your starting asking price should obviously be more than the bottom line you will take for your car, so there's negotiating room. Do a little research as to the realistic value of your car selling private party, and you start your asking price a few hundred to maybe a thousand dollars more. If your car is decent and you aren't asking an unrealistic price, you'll get close to what you're asking for it, even if it takes a few days or even a few weeks.

In the end you're still getting more than the top trade-in value.

Trade ins just seem like throwing money away.

When my stepdad bought a new 2012 Buick Regal he wanted me to help him put up his 2003 Pontiac Grand Prix GT for sale. The dealer offered him $3500 on trade. At the time the top end was $6200 private party for it's condition (it was mint and had about 60k miles). I cleaned it up real nice, glossed the tires, cleaned the engine cover and as much of the engine bay as I could, took pictures and put it up on craigslist for $6500.

The next day he got a call, they came down to look at it and drive it, and made him an offer of $6000. He countered with 6200 and they gave him the cash right there.

Now, he had always sold his cars the old fashioned way, putting it up on the corner with a sign in it. This time it never left the driveway. He was blown away at this whole interwebs thingy lol!

That's 2700 more than the dealer would have given him. And that cash went in his pocket.

[7WSM]

Originally Posted by toro1966

This.

It is a zero-sum game to them. They may give you a great amount for your trade - but then don't expect to get the best deal on the car. Rarely will you get both.

Zero Sum game would mean no one wins and no one loses. The dealership wins in most cases. A lot of the time why people trade their cars in below market trade in value is because of the tax break they get on the new car since you pay the tax on the difference.

[zeekle]

Originally Posted by fastball

All you have to do is look at any of the car value appraisal books or web sites. All of them will tell you trade in value is $2k less or more than selling the car private party outright.

*SNIP*

That's 2700 more than the dealer would have given him. And that cash went in his pocket.

my trade is sitting on the dealer lot for 3k over what I got in trade. They will probably get 2k over what I got for my trade. But that did save me 1330 in taxes and not spending time dealing with people for a few days to weeks wanting to look at my old car and keeping it clean.

[ron scubadiver]

Originally Posted by zeekle

my trade is sitting on the dealer lot for 3k over what I got in trade. They will probably get 2k over what I got for my trade. But that did save me 1330 in taxes and not spending time dealing with people for a few days to weeks wanting to look at my old car and keeping it clean.

Not every state has a sales tax break for trade ins, most notably California.

[srcstc]

Originally Posted by Factorypilot

Wow so they were lowballing you by over 10K? That's pretty unusual I would think. Maybe I'm just being naive.

Every time I've gotten a trade in value at a dealership I've been shocked. I don't know why I bothered.
All I did was put it up on Craigslist and it sold in less than a week to the first person that came to see it. And he paid exactly what I was asking.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gdgraph]

Yeah, on a trade in you are "paying for the convenience" by accepting a lower price for not having to wait to sell your car or to deal with emails, strangers, and setting up times to let people test drive. You'll almost always get a better price selling it yourself if you have the patience.

Also, if you financed the car and didn't pay it all off, the convenience factor of that is sometimes worth more to some people because it's a lot more work private sales and the buyer has to be willing to wait to get the title.

[Ernest T]

Originally Posted by ron scubadiver

Most dealers use Edmonds for used car values. They are usually lower than the other guides, but also closer to auction prices.

Most dealers use NADA blackbook which is only available to dealers.

[Zeke.Malvo]

It's not fair to compare to an FJ cruiser. Pretty silly actually. A FRS, BRZ, or Genesis Coupe would be a btter comp.

[BigGuy81]

Originally Posted by Cdflyer

Just a thought, but who buys a new car only to worry about what they're going to sell it for? Buying a new car is the worst possible choice financially. Buying a year old car with low miles is smart. Leases are good if you always want the latest and greatest. Never buy new. You will always take a hit as soon as you sign the paperwork. If you want an investment car, look older. Lots older.

I bought my car new simply because I've always wanted a new Camaro. I bought my wife's Jeep because she always wanted a Jeep. The Jeep will probably be driven until the body falls off. The Camaro isn't going anywhere because in the long run, I don't need anything more then I have. If I get bored with the HP levels....I'll just add some more. Easy fix.

So like a year?

[Memphis SS]

Originally Posted by srcstc

Every time I've gotten a trade in value at a dealership I've been shocked. I don't know why I bothered.
All I did was put it up on Craigslist and it sold in less than a week to the first person that came to see it. And he paid exactly what I was asking.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've done both trade and private sale. Both can work for you if you do your research, my last deal I did a trade. Good for me my Uncle retired from GM. I had a GMS number, which means price is locked, I can see the pricing on a login site from GM before going to the dealer. My doc fees are locked as well. So cash or trade I know the price of the new car. I was able to get above NADA for my trade. When I looked at complete sales for same condition cars on websites I traded for about $2,000.00 less than if I had sold it myself, but it saved me about $1400.00 in taxes. When I figure what I make an hour and the cost of ads dealing with the public. It not worth the $600.00 I could have maybe made extra.

Originally Posted by ron scubadiver

Not every state has a sales tax break for trade ins, most notably California.

California is just about its own country..LOL Seems most states allow only having to pay taxes for trade diff which allows the buyer to move closer to a breakeven point vs. private sale.

Originally Posted by Ernest T

Most dealers use NADA blackbook which is only available to dealers.

Not correct, these are separate books. NADA (National Automobile Dealers Association) is mostly used by Insurance companies, Banks, and Credit Unions. It provides the Retail, Wholesale, and Loan value of vehicles. I've never run across a dealership that uses that as their trade guide. I use it because it on the high side... PS: The public can use NADA free.. Just go to their site and load in your info on the car.

Blackbook is a dealer tool for getting trade values and you will find that number to be the lower of most guides.

As far as foreign cars holding value better. I think that is more of a thing of the past, now it's more of supply and demand.

Just my thoughts and what I've seen

[ron scubadiver]

In the last two months the trade in value for a 2016 Camaro 2SS, A8, Sunroof & Nav is virtually unchanged. This tells me the overstocked condition when 2017's became available knocked things down, but now that those deals are gone prices are normalizing.