What’s it worth?

DKF · Oct 14, 2024

Here’s a good one…I was browsing around used cars for sale in my area. It occurred to me that I’ve had my truck for 3 years now. It’s darn near perfect in every way other than 245K miles on the odometer. So as I’m browsing some internet bots pick up my trail. I get a call from my local AutoNation…really nice lady, hey, come on down and we’ll give you an appraisal on your truck. The other day just for spits and giggles I took it over there. They keep me waiting 40 minutes before coming out to tell me, well, we’re prepared to offer you $500 for your truck sir.

I say, “hey, thanks, can I get the keys back?” As they hand them back they say - How about $1000?. Again I say thanks a lot and head out the door to my truck. I get in, start it, and 2 people come running out- - “roll your window down - listen, we’ll give you $1500 for it right now.” I said - “Well, that’s about 3/4 of the way to the cost of my wheels and tires I bought last year.” Then I drove away.

It’s pretty much what I had anticipated but I still had to say to myself…”You gotta be frickin kiddin me…!!!”

Sarah93003 · Oct 14, 2024

Wow! That is borderline insulting to offer that!

swshawaii · Oct 14, 2024

Unless desparate or really pressed for time, it's beyond me why anyone would sell a used vehicle to a dealer or auto broker. SMH

DKF · Oct 15, 2024

Sarah93003 said:
Nothing borderline about it Sarah. Insulting and ignorant. Dealerships today, especially in the area we moved to recently are just blatant scumbags. My wife just bought a new car and the process was excruciating. Communication and listening to the customer are relics of the past now.

Gary Glass · Oct 15, 2024

That looks like a great little truck... people like that really piss me off! They must think we are just plain stupid...I wouldn't have sold it to them for$10,000...

DKF · Oct 15, 2024

Thx Gary, it is a great little truck. They would have figured that out if they’d actually looked at it -which they probably barely did in the 40 minutes I spent waiting for them. I only went because I had time to kill but man, that was torture and I regretted it the minute I handed them my keys. I may still try and sell it on my own -but after recent car shopping experiences may just keep her after all. I literally don’t see any vehicles that “grab me” anymore. They’re all just “okay”. SUV’s especially are all clones of one another. And the newer small trucks, well, they don’t show me much. My brother recently bought a new Ranger and I think my truck is a smoother ride….

dvdswan · Oct 15, 2024

Everyone seems to forget that dealers are in the business to make money...

That's why trade-in values are so low, either they will have money to fix some items necessary for the sale of the vehicle or not take a loss when they put it through the auction.

Most people when they trade in a vehicle, they trade it in because there is something wrong with the vehicle.

Doug Kaye · Oct 15, 2024

We got a similar offer on my wife's 2006 Acura MDX, 180k miles and in perfect condition - $500.
Then while shopping new Honda CRVs for my wife, one dealer had an online trade-in estimate. It took the VIN number for my 2004 with 180k, and offered me $3000 sight unseen. I thought that was odd..
I get 2-3 offers a year where people just walk up and ask me, are you thinking of selling your truck ?
A small pickup like ours will sell easily I think.
I've also heard that Carmax will pay more than normal dealer insult-level offers.

Doug Kaye · Oct 15, 2024

ps we had the usual horrible experience at one of the Honda dealers and walked out on them, as they pawed desperately at our pocketbooks asking 'what can we do to get you out of here in this new car today !' bah.

Schomp Honda here in Denver offered a fair price without negotiation, buying the car took less than two hours and was not a bad experience. So there are a very few dealers that are reasonable..

DKF · Oct 16, 2024

Robert’s Automotive in Modesto, Ca. Best Used Car Lot in the US. Price is on the window, no salespeople. Wanna drive it? They take a copy of your license and give you the keys. You go by yourself or with a S.O. Check it out as long as you want. No b.s. LoJack add on crap. Good prices. Late model cars for the most part. If you want to buy it you have to go into their office and find someone. Meanwhile, free popcorn and sodas in their waiting area. I got really spoiled by them when I lived there. I moved across the country and now it’s nothing but shady scumbags so far. (Other than the private party I bought my ST from.)

Dmiranda1269 · Oct 16, 2024

DKF said:
Robert’s Automotive in Modesto, Ca. Best Used Car Lot in the US. Price is on the window, no salespeople. Wanna drive it? They take a copy of your license and give you the keys. You go by yourself or with a S.O. Check it out as long as you want. No b.s. LoJack add on crap. Good prices. Late model cars for the most part. If you want to buy it you have to go into their office and find someone. Meanwhile, free popcorn and sodas in their waiting area. I got really spoiled by them when I lived there. I moved across the country and now it’s nothing but shady scumbags so far. (Other than the private party I bought my ST from.)

I haven't heard of LoJack in a very very long time, is that still a thing

Dmiranda1269 · Oct 16, 2024

Most people think a 20 year old vehicle with over 200000 miles is still worth something to a dealership? They want you not the vehicle. They are not putting that old used up vehicle on their lot

DKF · Oct 16, 2024

Dmiranda1269 said:
I haven't heard of LoJack in a very very long time, is that still a thing

It is in the south. My wife was ready to buy a Murano a week ago. I told them give us the price out the door. At the bottom was: $500 for LoJack. I said, no LoJack, take it off. Not to mention we were paying cash for the vehicle so they didn’t need to “track it” for possible repo. They say, no, all our cars come with it. We don’t take it off.
Ok, well, we don’t buy then, have a nice day.
They came back a couple more times that day, even sending me a video on why LoJack is a good thing. Just unbelievable. Had to finally ghost them and not reply.
A week later, they came back with a text and said we’ll take it off if we can do a deal.
Of course by then it was too late as any particle of trust I may have had in them was gone.
So far, car lots in the south do not believe it you when you say “Give me your bottom line price and I’ll pay cash so I can get the hell outta here asap.”
We’ve lived here over 4 years now and bought several vehicles and none of the experiences has been anything but a grueling ordeal.
And their “salespeople” aren’t. I was in sales for over 40 years.

Larry Michael · Oct 16, 2024

Once I used AAA AutoSource to buy my 2002 ST there was no going back to a dealer for a new vehicle purchase. They found exactly what I was looking for and brought it to their office for me to check out. No hassle, great price. I handed them a check and drove away 30 minutes later.

swshawaii · Oct 16, 2024

dvdswan said:
Everyone seems to forget that dealers are in the business to make money...

That's why trade-in values are so low, either they will have money to fix some items necessary for the sale of the vehicle or not take a loss when they put it through the auction.

Most people when they trade in a vehicle, they trade it in because there is something wrong with the vehicle.

Scary part is auto dealerships make 50% of their gross profits from parts and service. Have no idea what the profit margin is on OEM parts, but it has to be higher than "keystone" markups of 50% or more. Dealer service department hourly labor rates vary between $150 to $200+ per hour depending on location.

Dmiranda1269 · Oct 16, 2024

DKF said:
It is in the south. My wife was ready to buy a Murano a week ago. I told them give us the price out the door. At the bottom was: $500 for LoJack. I said, no LoJack, take it off. Not to mention we were paying cash for the vehicle so they didn’t need to “track it” for possible repo. They say, no, all our cars come with it. We don’t take it off.
Ok, well, we don’t buy then, have a nice day.
They came back a couple more times that day, even sending me a video on why LoJack is a good thing. Just unbelievable. Had to finally ghost them and not reply.
A week later, they came back with a text and said we’ll take it off if we can do a deal.
Of course by then it was too late as any particle of trust I may have had in them was gone.
So far, car lots in the south do not believe it you when you say “Give me your bottom line price and I’ll pay cash so I can get the hell outta here asap.”
We’ve lived here over 4 years now and bought several vehicles and none of the experiences has been anything but a grueling ordeal.
And their “salespeople” aren’t. I was in sales for over 40 years.

I have 3 vehicles and a motorcycle, and live in Massachusetts, every one of them have GPS trackers in them, so yes it is a good idea incase any of them disappear

dvdswan · Oct 16, 2024

swshawaii said:
Scary part is auto dealerships make 50% of their gross profits from parts and service. Have no idea what the profit margin is on OEM parts, but it has to be higher than "keystone" markups of 50% or more. Dealer service department hourly labor rates vary between $150 to $200+ per hour depending on location.

Think about it though. Buy a vehicle for $500, put 2500-3000 into it (if that), and sell for 10k. They just made an easy 6k after paying salesperson 500 to 1k in commission.

Dmiranda1269 · Oct 16, 2024

swshawaii said:
Scary part is auto dealerships make 50% of their gross profits from parts and service. Have no idea what the profit margin is on OEM parts, but it has to be higher than "keystone" markups of 50% or more. Dealer service department hourly labor rates vary between $150 to $200+ per hour depending on location.

Anyone who goes to a dealer to have anything fixed is absolutely nuts! Unless it's warranty work

swshawaii · Oct 16, 2024

dvdswan said:
Think about it though. Buy a vehicle for $500, put 2500-3000 into it (if that), and sell for 10k. They just made an easy 6k after paying salesperson 500 to 1k in commission.

Agree 100%. Especially when the parts and labor they use on the trade in is at dealer cost.

cadman777 · Oct 17, 2024

Dmiranda1269 said:
Most people think a 20 year old vehicle with over 200000 miles is still worth something to a dealership? They want you not the vehicle. They are not putting that old used up vehicle on their lot

The thing about 20 year old vehicles today is that some of them are still in very good condition.
The problem is that the aftermarket maintenance and repair parts are either Chinese cr*p or they aren't available.
Plus, the past few years have turned-about in price gouging for globalist engineering purposes.
Most people don't know history, so they can't see how the USA is being destroyed just like every other nation in modern history.
And it's being done from inside the nation by businessmen and public officials and their bureaucracies.
Part unavailability, quality and gouging are new phenomena, b/c back in the 70's, 80's and early 90's we could get parts for all the main auto maker's vehicles. I remember back in the late 80's that parts cost about 1/2 of labor on most maintenance and repair jobs.
Then in the late 90's through early 2000's the parts and labor costs balanced out.
Now, unless the shops are charging 100 or 200 bux/hour for labor, parts are at least 4x more expensive than labor.
That's how the globalists are choking Americans to death.
Today we're being forced into the throw-away society where corporate investor profits drive everything.
Whatever it takes to make a profit and control the market is what's causing all the problems.
Greed instead of quality of living.

What’s it worth?

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