Quote:
Originally Posted by Chewie4299
Check KBB and NADA guides (google it) print both sets of pricing and be honest with yourself about the condition of your car.
Then look at prices for vehicles similar to yours being sold by dealerships and private sellers. I located about 6 between Carmax, 3 dealers, and 2 private sellers for my Jeep all with roughly the same miles and options. Print these too.
This gives you a good idea of what the dealer can expect to price the car at after reconditioning. Don't ask for these prices as you'll never get it. You take a hit for the convenience of the trade in as the dealership needs to make money on the deal or it's not worth their time.
Additionally, get Carmax to appraise your vehicle. Sometimes they'll surprise you and make it really easy. You can sell your car to them without buying one in return if you like their offer. You can also use their printed offer as a bargaining chip to see if the dealership will beat it.
In my case I actually never whipped out my Carmax appraisal because it ended up being low but your mileage may vary on this.
Here's my example....
I was buying a Scion FR-S. Pure price means the price is the price. I had a 2006 Jeep Wrangler X with a few solid options in good condition with low mileage. I owed $1.5k on the car. Private sellers were getting ~$16k. Dealers and Carmax were getting ~$17.5-$19k. Carmax appraised it at $11k. KBB and NADA valued it as a 'fair' condition trade at ~$12.5-$14k.
When I went to my Toyota dealership and I realized I was not going to get any movement on price for the new car I let them know I'd be trading in. Typically it's best to nail down a price and THEN introduce the trade. Negotiate the two separately because when you put more on the table the dealer then has more to work with to eek out profit.
The sales guy got my keys to their used car guy to look the car over and then came to talk to me while we waited. I had a notebook, calculator, binder and folders with all my printed research in it out in front of me in the showroom constantly working out numbers to myself but not letting them see anything I hadn't already laid out for them EXCEPT my BRZ research. I wanted the to know that I was considering the other option and I mentioned my dealings with a couple of Subie dealerships many times. This helps let them know they need to give up a little more on the trade to capture the sale as I'm not 100% sold yet. He asked my what I was looking for on my trade so I sifted through my folder and pulled out my NADA printout (NADA valued my car a little higher than KBB) and handed it to him. He took it with him to work up numbers.
They came back to me with an offer of $12k. I was a bit surprised by this so I put down a REFUNDABLE deposit on the car I wanted but DID NOT sign a sales agreement and left it at that for a couple days. Then, when the sales guy emailed me to say they were having trouble locating the car I wanted but had a similar (different color) one coming in that they wanted to know if I'd consider I replied with more than they expected. I said I would look at thew new color when it came in and consider it but that I had also been reviewing the numbers and trying to get my payments where I want them. I told them that I needed a little flexibility on my trade in order to make the deal happen. I again included the NADA data showing roughly $14k for my trade and said that's where I was aiming. In reality I only wanted/needed another $500-$1k on my trade to be happy but you have to shoot for double if you want to land there.
In the end I got $12.5k for my trade which I was happy with because it got my payments where I wanted them, saved me tax money, and I didn't have to go through the pain of working out a private sale. They made out well on the deal as they'll likely make several grand when they sell it and I'm okay with that. It makes no sense for them to be selling cars if they can't make money.
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Wow, thanks for this, REALLY informative for me, should be useful when I try to work everything out soon.
Right now my 03 RSX has 67k miles, which is pretty damn good for an almost 10y/o car. It's in pretty excellent condition. Only noticeable things/problems they will see is a bit of peeling on the passenger door window guard, a broken tray tab in the console/cup holder, and the shifter (which was replaced by guy before me) has come loose. Havn't had any accidents, no mechanical work needed and same with dude who owned before me. Would say that's Excellent condition right?
The previous owner also put new wheels/rims on before me, does this affect anything with the value?
And when they make the offer, they factor in everything that I still owe right? Or that's after the offer?
I still want to haggle down a bit if I can tbh since the trade isn't like your 12k one, hopefully the salesman is cool, bringing up that I may be looking into other cars, or like you said, the BRZ may bring him down a bit?