Offered 7k trade-in, car sold for 12.5k

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I've found that dealers don't like to come off the price of the car they are selling. They will move up or down on the trade to make the deal. As for reconditioning, their service dept charges unrealisticly high prices to the dealer. I recently bought a 15 Mercedes ML350 from a Lexus dealer. They overcharged for everything they did on the car. Dunlop tires with a 200 wear rating for over $200 each. Ridiculous LOF charges. They charged 2 hrs mechanic time for Inspection. They didn't even check the air filter and cabin air filters which were original and filthy. I don't know what their game is.
 
That's an interesting question, one that I never thought of before reading remarks like this in this thread.

If a dealer can show that it paid mega-bucks to recondition used cars, then it officially makes less "profit" on those cars, and so pays lower taxes?

They were not billing you for these charges, correct? They were just telling you what they did to bring it up to speed?


I've found that dealers don't like to come off the price of the car they are selling. They will move up or down on the trade to make the deal. As for reconditioning, their service dept charges unrealisticly high prices to the dealer. I recently bought a 15 Mercedes ML350 from a Lexus dealer. They overcharged for everything they did on the car. Dunlop tires with a 200 wear rating for over $200 each. Ridiculous LOF charges. They charged 2 hrs mechanic time for Inspection. They didn't even check the air filter and cabin air filters which were original and filthy. I don't know what their game is.
 
Has anyone watched any of Kevin Hunter’s YT videos on new/used car buying?



Says you should take the KBB actual cash offer ( or ACV as it’s supposedly known in the biz) and add 5% for your negotiation.

I tried it, using a throwaway email of course, on a used ‘17 CX-5 VIN and sure enough the listed price was 7% higher than the ACV. Incidentally, CarFax listed it as a “Great” price.
 
That's an interesting question, one that I never thought of before reading remarks like this in this thread.

If a dealer can show that it paid mega-bucks to recondition used cars, then it officially makes less "profit" on those cars, and so pays lower taxes?

They were not billing you for these charges, correct? They were just telling you what they did to bring it up to speed?
That would require at least 2 sets of books. The service department was charging the sales dept. I just got a copy of the invoice.
Similar thing when I traded for a new Harley. They wouldn’t come off the msrp of the new bike but gave me more than I could have sold my old bike for the trade.
 
That’s why I never, ever concern myself with the ‘trade-in’ price.

The ONLY figure that matters is the one you are paying them to get your butt into the new car. If you are happy with that, then who cares?

If they move a few bucks from Pot A to Pot B and everyone’s happy, go and enjoy the new car :)
 
Back in 2005 CarMax offered me $5,000 for my 130,000 mile 1997 528i. One week later I sold it to a customer of the indie shop I used at the time for $10,000. My wife was deciding between a new Xterra and a 2004 CPO X3. She probably would have gone with the Nissan if the sales manager hadn’t pushed to trade the 5er for $6,000 insisting that my private sale was likely to fall through.
 
That’s why I never, ever concern myself with the ‘trade-in’ price.

The ONLY figure that matters is the one you are paying them to get your butt into the new car. If you are happy with that, then who cares?

If they move a few bucks from Pot A to Pot B and everyone’s happy, go and enjoy the new car :)
I always negotiate an OTD price; I factor in a fair price for my trade as well as the car I’m buying and I also calculate the sales tax. That way there are no surprises from add-ons or other fees. I’ve never had a dealer refuse to negotiate on that basis, but I have heard some dealers refuse to make OTD offers. If I ran into one of those jokers I would walk.
 
The big dealer groups need big profit to stay running. They would go bankrupt only making 1k for every car they sold. You usually get alittle more from the smaller dealers.

even though I’m a dealer I sometimes still buy from the big guys for my personal car. Traded in my old car to Toyota for $19,000. Their original offer was $18,000. The wholesale value and KBB trade at the time was $21,000.

My Tacoma was $26k. Off lease, original MSRP was $29k. Assuming the PO was paying $220/mo lease with $1500 down, and charged for smoking in the truck, Toyota made 6700 ish on lease payments. Long story short they were still easily making 2-3k if not more selling the 2 year old Tacoma at 26k(I wanted new but couldn’t find that spec anywhere).

I have access to the local dealer auctions and I see my old car go for...$23,600. All done were new tires. They made $3600 off my trade in, then made another 2-3k+ on my purchase. And that’s just me on a random day in November. they’re making like $7k a person - now think of how many deals they close a month being a franchised dealer selling new cars.
 
Sold a 1995 Z28 on Craigslist before. That is the last car I sold outright. I am ok taking a hit.

Same here. And I’m a dealer. Private party is a pain for cars that are still worth some decent change. Only ones easy to sell are sub 5k cars. But even then you have to deal with bs.

as a dealer I probably deal with 30 tire kickers a week. It’s gets tiring. The only motivation factor is I make money on the deal. Take that out of the equation and I much rather take a 2-3k hit and let it be another persons problem.
 
It probably cost the dealer $1-$1.5K to get the car ready for sale. They probably strive to make another $2k (minimum) on the vehicle.

Here is a good local example:

2017 Forester XT, 40K miles: https://www.hondaofserramonte.com/u...Forester-0633a7d10a0e0a6b7925ecf9b59bfb35.htm

View attachment 52020


Dealer spent $923 for a used vehicle inspection, oil change, pad slap for the rear brakes, smog and lot security system.
They also spent another $600 for dent repair and minor paint work to the front end.
That looks like about $200 worth of stuff, probably cheaper at their cost, eh?

Zmax... LOL. And I don't know what a Phantom Footprint is. :LOL:
 
I've sold three vehicles on Craigslist. They went fine, knock on wood! By direct, upfront and confidently firm in your approach. They'll get the queues that you're not one to play with.
 
Yeah. Not to mention in most places when you trade in you also get the taxes from that amount applied to a new purchase. So if your sales tax is 6%, on a 9k trade you would have to sell the car for $9540 privately... Plus deal with all the test pilots and no-shows.
Plus the whiners, convicts on parole, serial killers and mule skinners. Don’t forget the ones who return to you because “ they think they smell anti-freeze.”
 
I'm extremely fortunate in that I have a reputation for being obsessive about the maintenance and repair of my vehicles. As a result I'm almost always able to sell a car quickly- and for a good price. I've only traded in two cars in the past fifteen years. Here are the gory details:

1973 Bavaria 3.0- Sold in 1990 to the service manager of the independent BMW shop I use. Time on market: 2 days

1987 Scorpio- Sold in 1991 to a co-worker for $2500 over best trade-in offer. Time on market: Zero- buyer asked me if I wanted to sell it.

1987 535is- Sold in 1992 to a friend. Time on market: Zero. The buyer had made me a standing offer to buy the car whenever I wanted to sell it.

1991 740 Turbo- Traded in 1994 on a 1993 Pathfinder SE for $1200 more than lease buyout. I must have made a good deal, as the car sat on the dealer's lot for over two months...

1988 M6- Sold in 1995 to fellow BMW club member(who never test drove it). Time on market: 1 day.

1984 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe- Sold in 1998 to the owner of my son's day care. Time on market: Zero. Buyer asked me if I wanted to sell it.

1998 318ti- Traded in 2001 on a 1997 528i for $1000 over auction price. This was one time when the deal was so good that it wasn't worth selling it myself.

1993 Pathfinder SE- Sold in 2003 to the owner of the previously mentioned BMW shop. Time on market: Zero. I mentioned to him that I was putting the truck up for sale and he said "I'll take it."

1997 528i- Sold in 2005 to a customer of that same BMW shop. Time on market: five days. The car had 130K miles and four accidents on Carfax-which I disclosed. The selling price was double what Carmax offered. FWIW, I talked to the buyer a while back; she still loves the car.

1975 2002- Sold within 2 weeks to a person on one of the FB '02 groups.

2004 X3 2.5i- Sold in 2017 to a friend. Mentioned on FB it was for sale on a Wednesday and he picked it up the following Sunday

2007 MS3- Traded on my M235i. I received a fair price for it and was offered a good deal on the 2er(it was January in Cincinnati and the 2er was RWD- which we all know is absolutely lethal on anything but a perfectly flat, arrow straight, arid desert highway).

I currently have 3 standing offers to buy the Wrangler and 7 or 8 more than that want my Club Sport

I've never bought a newspaper ad, although I did list the M6 in the local and national BMW CCA classifieds.
 
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