What’s it worth?

[DKF]

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]

Wow! That is borderline insulting to offer that!

 

[swshawaii]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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..