How much for my trade-in?

"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
09/22/2014 at 17:03 • Filed to: Car Buying

As part of my !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! for an interesting/fun family hauler, I asked a local Ford dealer to put together a quote for a Flex SEL, and a trade-in price for both mine and my wife's sedans. I've got a lemony 2011 Malibu LTZ with 41,5oo miles on it that I bought back in January, and my wife has a 2006 Mazda 3 with 51,500 miles on it. Both are loaded, with only some minor paint touch ups needed before sale, they are in otherwise perfect condition.

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Here are the NADA (National Auto Dealers Association) guide trade-in values. I'll call them average, even though I feel they are a bit above average.

OK, so going with average, the two cars combined should be worth $19,800 in trade. Lets go ahead and call it $20k, because I'm such an easy customer to deal with (I really am, I just want to be treated with respect, and get a decent deal). Mind you, these are not some hoopties, that are going to get wholesaled. These are clean cars, that they can detail and stick on their lot, and make a nice easy profit.

So the quote came in today, they offered me $2,400 off the sticker of a $35,000 vehicle ... Meh. It's not nothin', but it's not exactly blowing my skirt up. The trade-in though, oh man. $11,000 for the Malibu, and $4,000 for the Mazda. You're five grand light!! Not even worth negotiating, we're not even close.

The search continues.

DISCUSSION (22)

TurnDownForWatt > shop-teacher
09/22/2014 at 17:19

Interesting, before I even read your article, I looked at those pics of the KBB and said "dealer will give him 10k for the malibu, 3k for the Mazda".

Damn, they were generous.

Steve in Manhattan > shop-teacher
09/22/2014 at 17:25

Counter - see if you can get him down 4K? That would be a pretty good deal.

Moves-Like-Senna > shop-teacher
09/22/2014 at 17:50

Why trade in and not sell privately? If you sell privately, you can detail the car yourself on the cheap and you can keep the tools to continue cleaning your new Flex when you get it.

E92M3 > shop-teacher
09/22/2014 at 17:59

Almost no dealers will give you NADA trade in values. They all use Manheim auction values for trade-ins minus $2000 so you can feel like you negotiated with them.

This is why I never trade in and sell my cars privately. I try to convince everyone to do the same but usually get "I don't have time" or "its not worth the hassle". Maybe not on your planet but I can do a lot with $2000. Take a family vacation, 7 trackdays, I can keep going...

shop-teacher > E92M3
09/22/2014 at 19:05

I've always gotten pretty close to Nada. A big chunk of the price advantage to selling private party is lost to sales tax. I don't mind selling cars privatelyprivately, I've done it before, but I really don't have that time right now.

shop-teacher > Moves-Like-Senna
09/22/2014 at 19:14

I have a confession ... I hate detailing cars. I know, herassy around here. I love the result, but I hate the process.

Moves-Like-Senna > shop-teacher
09/22/2014 at 19:33

See if you wife likes it? I personally love detailing and detail my dad and friends car.

E92M3 > shop-teacher
09/22/2014 at 20:19

In your case thats $1000 ($15000 x 7%). Most of the cars I've sold privately were less than $10k. Even losing the $1000 sales tax advantage you'll probably still come out $2-3k ahead selling yourself. I don't know how much you make but thats easily worth dealing with a few emails, texts, phone calls, and test drives to me.

mazda616 > shop-teacher
09/22/2014 at 20:36

Dealers always comically low-ball on trade-ins. Sometimes it's funny how off they are.

shop-teacher > Moves-Like-Senna
09/22/2014 at 20:41

We used to do it together, but that was before kids. Now that she's a working mother, I'm pretty sure I'd get punched in the dick if I asked her to detail the car.

shop-teacher > Steve in Manhattan
09/22/2014 at 20:46

Everybody was very nice there, but I got the sense that they weren't super motivated to do the deal, because they were going to have to dealer trade 240 miles away to get the color and options we wanted.

To be honest, I'm not that motivated of a buyer either, because even that wasn't quite what we wanted (didn't have the two tone roof, the Flex was made for a two tone).

Moves-Like-Senna > shop-teacher
09/22/2014 at 20:47

Ahahahahaha!

shop-teacher > E92M3
09/22/2014 at 21:12

I still owe money on the Malibu, so I don't have the title. I don't even know how to go about doing selling the car like that.

I'd consider selling the paid off and cheaper Mazda, but I don't think I can convince my wife to part with her beloved Zoom-zoom before we have the replacement of her choice.

shop-teacher > mazda616
09/22/2014 at 21:17

Most of them, yes. You've just gotta find the right dealer, which clearly I have not done yet.

Steve in Manhattan > shop-teacher
09/22/2014 at 21:52

You are precisely what we are to real estate agents - we have one of the best rent deals in NYC, but we would buy an apartment if the maintenance (generally a grand or more) was right and if we could get the right price and right building. And here an acceptable apartment is about $650K at minimum. Every time we look at something I tell them - we're moving if we get a deal. At this point, every apartment we're interested in gets sold before we can see it. But this is a long game.

E92M3 > shop-teacher
09/22/2014 at 22:28

That complicates things. In that case they would have to pay off the bank, for them to remove the lien so the title can be transfered. Anything left over they would pay you. If they themselves need a loan their bank would complete the payoff, and issue a new lien on the title.

shop-teacher > Steve in Manhattan
09/22/2014 at 22:35

Yep, we want what we want, and a good deal. This one was close enough to what we wanted to consider it, but it would have to be a really great deal. I think we'll just wait until the 2015's come out, then try some other dealers. We're not in any kind of rush.

BTW, $650k for an apartment is mind-blowing to me. I can't even wrap my head around it!

Steve in Manhattan > shop-teacher
09/22/2014 at 22:54

We are 1/2 block from Fairway (best grocery store) and a block from the 1, 2, 3 train - main artery. 2 blocks to Central Park, 2 short blocks to Riverside Park. We can get anything, and I mean anything, delivered. You pay more on the mortgage, but no car payment, no car ins. payment, no lawn to mow. You don't have to be home to get a package, because doorman signs. Don't have to paint the house or put on a new roof. No place to put a BBQ grill, but we can get some pretty good stuff delivered.

shop-teacher > Steve in Manhattan
09/22/2014 at 23:00

It's not the kind of life for me, but I can certainly understand it's appeal.

Steve in Manhattan > shop-teacher
09/22/2014 at 23:23

We talk all the time about moving to Long Island (a real house) or Tenafly NJ (where her best friend lives) - we could have an actual house, with a yard, and a car. I think she'd go Volvo C30, but not sure. The discussion continues ....

mazda616 > shop-teacher
09/23/2014 at 08:22

Yeah. They tried to tell my grandma that her 2004 Cadillac Deville with 60,000 miles was worth $1,500 at most. I laughed out loud before bringing up the KBB and NADA values on my phone. We ended up getting the correct trade value out of it, but it was a struggle.

shop-teacher > mazda616
09/23/2014 at 09:29

They did something similar to my father-in-law, and I know if I wasn't there, he'd have taken it. But luckily I was, and they didn't fight too much. In the case of this particular car I was getting quoted on, its not quite what I wanted anyway, and they're WAY off, so I'm just walking away from it.