Trade in Value- got an offer

[Andy Chase]

I came close to buying an F-150 Supercrew this weekend from 2 different dealers. Walked out of the first one when they only offered me $3000 for my trac (152K miles on it, one dent on bumper, no mechanical prolems, 2 owner, clean title). Said they were a smaller dealer so couldn't give me more for it. (Auto trader says $3300-4300 for trade in), I'm hoping to get $3500 minimum for it). So I walked out. Went to the 2nd dealership, they had a decent SuperCrew for $7888 (reduced from 9888). When talking about trade in value, I mentioned it should be worth $4000-4500, the salesman thought that sounded about right). Came back after his boss checked it over and offered me $2500. I told him I walked out from a dealer that offered $3000 for it. He asked what I needed to get out of my trade in to buy at the time. I told him bare min $3500. He said that wasn't going to happen, they have to run it through the shop, that costs $5-600, and pay for cleaning it, polishing it and detailing. (so it costs them $400-500 to wash and polish a car, should be a write off anyhow) He asked if we'd accept $2800. I told him know, I need to get at least $3500. He also told me that the minium the finance was $5K, so that would explain the lowball offer, I told them that I can get my own financing, but he said they couldn't offer more so I walked out.



I did autotraders guaranteed trade in value and got a certificate for $3935. A dealer about 40 miles away has one in my price range that would accept this (assuming I typed in the info truthfully) so I might have to drive up there.



So I guess I was just curious if this is just typical used car salesman stuff, or is that about what I should expect for them to offer me?

 

[Richard L]

Andy,

Just a bit of advise. Most dealers will never/rarely offer more the wholesale value for your trade-in and condition has more to do with the price they offer. If you have a dent in the bumper, that will typically cost about $1200 to $1500 to repair and they are going to deduct that from the average wholesale price of that vehicle in your area. They also look at what level of clean up, and detailing is necessary for them to get top dollar when they sell your vehicle.



The other thing to consider is that most states allow you to deduct the trade-in value of your vehicle from the taxes you pay on the new vehicle you are purchasing....that can be a significant amount of money, and often is not worth quibbling over a few hundred dollars. Even if you can sell the vehicle on your own for $3500 you will have to pay taxes on the full price of the new vehicle you are purchasing, as well as the advertisements and other expenses related to selling your old vehicle...I have found that often these are not worth the small differnece in money...and often time you can come out ahead just taking a few hundred less than you thought you should get.



I'm not suggesting that you give your old Sport Trac away nor am I advocating that Trade-ins are always the best deal. Just do the math on the taxes saved vs selling the vehicle yourself, and you may find that the $3000 offer works out very close to your $3500 minimum asking price with a lot less hassle.



...Rich

 

[Andy Chase]

In MN we can deduct the trade in value so the taxes would be less, so that would make it about $3200. I should be able to get closer to $4K for the truck however for trade in. Privately selling would be $5200-6000.

 

[Richard L]

Andy,

A quick check on Edmunds.com shows the following values for your vehicle in "Average" condition"



Trade-in $1,452

Private Party Sale $1,921

Dealer Retail $2,711



Since you have body damage to the bumber you probably cannot rate your vehicle's condition any higher than average.



Other options like leather seats, etc may add up to $1000 more but that's about it. Most people make the big mistake of assuming their vehicle is in better condition than the true condition as the dealer sees it.



Even if you doubled the value of the Private Party sale for other options...you would still be hard pressed to get more than $4000. Of course that may still be better than the $3000 the first dealer offered, but still pretty far from the $5200-$6000 you claim? Where did you get those private party sale prices?



I suspect that your vehicle may be worth about $4000 to the dealer, but it is not worth paying more than $3000 for it. Since the second dealer even offered you less, I would think the first dealer was probably giving you about as much as you are going to get, and getting more in a private sale would take a lot of time and advertising costs to you...especially with a dent in the bumper. You may see it as a minor issure, but many people will not buy vehicles with obvious body damage....In their eyes, if you would not pay to have it fixed...it's probably more expensive to repair than it's worth. If you hope to get top dollar for your Sport Trac you will need to get the dent in the bumper repaired.



...Rich

 

[Wes Davis]

It seems you are valuing your ST pretty high for a 2001 with 152,000 miles. If you were in the market for a used ST would you buy your truck for what your asking? I sure wouldn't.







/

 

[Dave Einhaus]

Dealers who offer higher trade in often add it on to the price of what you are purchasing. The paperwork makes it hard to find this but they play games.

 

[Andy Chase]

We looked on Craigslist locally and there are 2001 ST's for $5500 with 150K miles on them, $6500 with 135K.



I put a link to the KBB site for trade in value. I got the numbers wrong for privately selling it, I didn't pay too much attention the first time I did it because I wasn't going to do that. It should be in the good range, the dent isn't that large on the bumper, and is more on the treading on top of the bumper so I wouldn't say it is major damage. Tires are only a year old so there is plenty of tread on them.

 

[Richard L]

Andy,

Asking price on Craigslist is certainly not realistic. Most people always want more than what the vehicle is really worth just to allow for some negotiation.



If you go to several car appraisial sites like Edmunds.com or kbb.com etc you will get much more realistic values for your vehicle in your area. They are actually pretty accurate as long as you honestly judge your vehicles true condition. Any vehicle with body damage will rarely valued at more than average...most will probably value at Fair condition.



If everything is in great condition on your Sport Trac, it may be worth it to get the bumper fixed before the sale. A $1200 dent in the bumper cover will appear to the prospective buyer as a $2500 repair bill and will want to deduct that from the price of the vehicle.



When I got ready to trade in my 2003 Sport Trac on my new 2008 Mercedes, I had a dent in the rear bumper cover. I had it fixed and paid my deductable ($250) and then had the truck detailed for about $120. The dealer initiall offered $10,500 but I said it was worth at least $11,000 and he agreed not to quibble about $500, I got $11,000 trade in for the truck while most websites were quoting $10,000-$12,000 in excellent condition with 33K miles. I also got several thousand off the price of my new Mercedes so it was a very good deal on both sides.



My truck needed no reconditioning or detailing and was immediately put on the lot for sale, and sold in less than a week. My salesman said they sold it in about 3 days.



My expense of paying my $250 deductable to get the bumper fixed and $120 for detailing got me $1000 more for the vehicle than I expected to get.



My point is that most people don't want to buy vehicles that have dents, dings, scratches or body damage at anywhere near the listed prices.



...Rich

 

[EddieS'04]

I have always had good luck selling instead of trading.

One reason it made the dealer paper work easier for me.

The other. Most of the time I came out on top. Then there were those times I broke even,Mainly because of taxes paid.



I say it is your choice. Are you good at personaly selling and bartering your own car. Do you live in an area. That a trac will intrest a common private buyer. Or more comfortaable trading and being done with it.



Cars I have sold privately were wanted type cars in my area. Last trade I had was a '78 dodge van in '88 for the t-bird. My thoughts were a 3/4ton van would sit in my yard forever...LOL

 

[Phil Frady]

If you have a Carmax in your area, they will usually give you more then every other dealer for your vehicle, their commercial states it. My mom does that with her cars, then has someone driver to a dealer to buy a new car.

 

[Richard L]

Andy,

One more bit of information about vehicles you see for sale on CraigsList, or in the local Thrifty Nickel, Weekly Trader newspapers, etc. There is a big difference in asking price and selling price...or even not selling. The prices those owners ask, do not constitute a sale, just what the owners think their truck is worth....very misleading. Unless you actually go to see these vehicles and test drive them, you can't use their asking price to assume that people are going to buy the vehicle for that price.



It's very common for people to claim the vehicle is immaculate but when you go to see it, it will have little dent's dings, etc and the seller will tell you he will knock off a few hundred for the flaws and mechanical issues. They are hoping they will get some dummy to come buy who does not know the true value of the vehicle and give them at or close to their asking price.



That's why you will get more accurate pricing info from places like Edmunds.com, or KBB.com...those are not based on inflateded asking prices, they are based on actual selling prices....what people are willing to pay and have paid.



If your truck is in Excellent condition except for the dent in the bumper, get the dent fixed and be sure the truck is completely detailed and ready to sell. You are also being hurt by the 150K+ miles on your vehicle.

 

[Andy Chase]

I found an 05 F-150 that was in good shape in my budget and they first offered me $4500 trade in value for the trac. I got them to go up to $4700. That was more than I thought I'd get on trade in and probalby about $500-1000 less than what I might have been able to sell it for so I'm very happy with the deal I got. I'll post pictures of my new truck on Saturday when I pick it up.