I’ve got the financing lined up for the 350Z, so now I have to answer the eternal question: sell my 2000 Honda Insight myself, or trade it in?
Blue book:
Buying from a dealer: 12800 (excellent condition)
Selling to a dealer: 9300 (good condition)
Buying from a private party: 10800
Selling to a private party: 10800
I’m thinking trade it in if the difference is actually $1,500; I am so not a salesman, and I can’t stand interacting with the general public. Personal experiences? Recommendations? Am I crazy?
Sure, trade it in. Go in asking about a lower car, see what they’ll offer you in trade. Then watch that amount go up when you become interested in the Z. Hold out for 10,500. Leave if you don’t get it.
It seems to depend on how old the car is. If the car is more than 5 years old, the trade in value usually isn’t half what you could sell it for. I am about to sell a car myself. I could have traded it in, but my reward would have been pretty low, so I am just going to sell it. I need to fix it up first, which will cost me some money, but I should still get almost twice as much as I would have gotten for trade.
Never… EVER EVER EVER trade in. That you’re even considering it suggests you’re not an experienced car buyer.
I’d recommend you talk to a friend who’s worked at a car dealership, bought a lot of cars himself, or worked in sales. There are so many pitfalls in buying a car, and most of them you don’t notice. If you know them, you can use these tricks to beat the price down, beat the dealer at his game.
Some general tips:
Don’t trade in, sell the car yourself. It’s worth the effort, though you may have trouble selling your Insight. If you do decide to trade in, shop it around.
Don’t do financing through the dealer. Arrange it with a bank (shop around) and go to the dealer ready to demand an incentive for buying with “cash up front”.
Never buy on the first day. Too much emotion, too much pressure. Be EXCITED, yes, but remember to walk away. And do this at every dealership - hook them by making them think you’re an easy mark. It goes without saying, shop around at various dealers. Just remember to walk away and be non-commital. Don’t talk about the price as a problem when you walk out, they’ll figure out it’s a negotiating tactic. Only talk price when you come back or on the phone when they call you.
Don’t call them. They’ll call you - and how! Feel free to act non-commital on the phone, but allow yourself to be persuaded to come again.
If they ever show you their invoice price and say that’s what they get the car for, they’re lying. Dealers have performance bonuses and incentives that drop the price several thousand below invoice, especially on higher-end models.
Remember, options have their own markup, so the dealership would rather give you $5k in freebies than $4k in discount off sticker price.
Best idea is to leave the decision in the hands of a friend you trust. Someone you know is serious and intense, not likely to get caught up in the excitement or to accept a deal just because it sounds good. Contrary to stereotype, I think women make excellent negotiators - as long as they have the confidence and experience. They know how to tease and say no, how to mention get bitchy and demanding - and salesmen hate dealing with confident women. If you’ve got a hard-as-nails mom or girl friend, bring her along.
Keep in mind that you have the psychological edge. Salesmen play hardball because they’re covering up their own weakness - they have quotas, performance ratings, customer happiness ratings, etc. With that in mind, go for the salesman who looks unhappy and is desperate for a sale.
Find out problems with the vehicles. I know that 350Zs have developed a bit of a reputation for their transmissions, but that may be just the online crowd that abuses them - do research.
Oh, and good luck :)
PS
When getting a 350Z, make sure you get at a limited-slip differential (AKA “PosiTrac”). I think you need at least the “Enthusiast” model for that.
PPS
Get a quote, on paper, every time you think you have a price you’re relatively satisfied with. Then just run around with it to the other dealers, challenging them to beat it. A good car purchase takes at least 2 weeks from the moment you have the money and start shopping around. Be patient, stay strong, and try and find a reliable friend to help you!
What Jakub said. Every extra penny you get on the trade is a penny they won’t go down on the 350Z.
If you decide you don’t want to deal with selling, then at least negotiate the final price on the Z first, then say, "you know, as I think about it, I think I do want to trade…
Assuming you got a reasonable deal on the Z (within $500 or less of invoice), their offer on your old car will likely be way lower than Blue Book on the trade. But at least you’ll really know what you’re getting for it.
Remember, options have their own markup, so the dealership would rather give you $5k in freebies than $4k in discount off sticker price.
I don’t understand this point. You’re saying you could get $5k of option discounts before you would get $4k off the sticker?
So the idea is to get a car that’s loaded with, say, $10k in options, and see if you can get $5k off that price? As opposed to picking a stock car /w no options and trying to get them to knock $4k off the price?
Heh, my brother sells used cars for a living, but I’ll be damned if I am any good at it. I probably need to do it more often to get better, but fat chance. Maybe when I have a mid-life crisis I can start.
No, what I mean is that the dealership will try and say “well, we can’t give you $1000 off the price, but you can have this $1000 Leather Package”. It seems equivalent on paper, but in reality, the leather package probably doesn’t cost the dealer more than $600.
You can also use this to your advantage, if you’re happy with the price but would like some freebies.
A car-obsessive friend of mine suggesting getting a firm offer price before even admitting I want to trade one in, so ok.
I’m not doing the finacning with the dealer; I lined up 5.5% through Etrade. Would be better, but I have 25k in credit card debt (had to pay for college somehow!)
I’m getting the Performance model, so I’m okay on the traction control and skid control.
That car-obsessive friend of mine and his seriously amazing car negotiating wife are going with me to these places. I’ve got like 10 local dealerships on the hook to call me back, so we’ll see.
But the trade-in - I so would hate to put up with the bullshit selling this thing. Maybe there’s online buyer services I can dump it on? I totally don’t want to deal with haggling or anything; it’ll be fucking horrible enough on buying the new one. $1000 totally isn’t enough for me to put up with a month of the general public calling me about it.
We just bought a new 4Runner over the holidays. When we were debating whether to trade-in or sell my wife’s old 4Runner the dealer guaranteed us a trade-in value of $10,400 for a week. That meant we could buy the car that night and we could take a week to sell the old car and if we were unable to sell it for more than 10.4k, we could bring it back in with a guaranteed 10,400 for the trade-in. I thought it was a pretty nice option.
You can put a car up on Ebay (I think it’s ebaymotors.com). I’ve never done it, but I know it’s out there, if you’re interested in checking it out. Could save you the hassle of haggling. Anyone ever done this? I have an old motorcycle I still need to sell and was thinking of doing that.
You can put a car up on Ebay (I think it’s ebaymotors.com). I’ve never done it, but I know it’s out there, if you’re interested in checking it out. Could save you the hassle of haggling. Anyone ever done this? I have an old motorcycle I still need to sell and was thinking of doing that.
Yeah, my brother-in-law did this, although it may have bee with autotrader and not ebay. Guy drove down a few days later, looked it over, paid, and took it home. Pretty easy transaction.
I also had a guy who worked for me sell his car on Ebay. Guy drove from Michigan to Virginia and towed the car back.
I’d do Ebay, but the possibility of having to sell it for some stupidly low amount due to a freak occurence is just too appalling. Selling it to the general public online would be just as bad as the classifieds; does anyone know of something like a car buying company online? You’d think there’d be a market for that.
Ah, it’s not a problem. I have $1500 a month left over after my 401k, all bills and expenses, etc, so it won’t make much difference as to when I pay the cards off. Viva la single!
Oh, and I was bored, so I emailed all but 2 or 3 of the dealerships in WA & OR asking for price quotes on the exact model I want. This should be amusing…
does anyone know of something like a car buying company online? You’d think there’d be a market for that.
In that case why not trade it in? Any car buying company is going to buy lower than they are going to sell it for to ensure profit, same as the dealer. You are only going to make money by cutting the middleman out, whether it be the dealer or some kind of online car buyer.
I’d do Ebay, but the possibility of having to sell it for some stupidly low amount due to a freak occurence is just too appalling.
Why not set the reserve for the bare minimum you would consider- say $200-300 above the trade-in from the dealership. That way you’re guaranteed not to get screwed.
You want to get it detailed before you show it. It’ll cost about ~$100 to get a good machine shine with a buffer, but it’s worth it. Some of the scratches go away, because the combination of buffer and wax actually heats up the finish enough to fill in the scratch.
My brother does this for his used car business. He says it works pretty good. It costs like ~$50 per car, for each listing or something. I’m not sure of the exact amount, but it’s more than selling computer parts or regular junk. I’m not sure how long the listing lasts.
Ah, it’s not a problem. I have $1500 a month left over after my 401k, all bills and expenses, etc, so it won’t make much difference as to when I pay the cards off.[/quote]
What’s the interest rate difference between the car loan and the credit card debt? I’d guess it’s got to be at least 10% if not closer to 15%. Over the course of a year isn’t that ~$2500? I’d figure it out, but my wife is already complaining that I need to get to bed…
I know delayed gratification sucks, but paying down credit card debt is the best investment you can make. It never occured to me until a friend in the finance game put it those terms, you can eek out 5% in a 401k, but paying off credit card debt is effectively a ~15% (or whatever your APR is) immediate return. Money you don’t have to spend is as good as money to earn.
Oh, lord no. The car interest is 5.5%, and the credit cards are half 8%, half 9%, so it’s not that big of a difference.
I’m paying $480 a month on my current car (no, I’m not upside down on that loan), and I guess I could refinance it again rather than by a new one; that’d bring the payment down to $390, for another 18 months. This is compared to the payment on the new car loan at $540 or so.
I owe $23k in credit card debt. At $1900 left over a month (refinance the old car) it’ll be 12.1 months until they’re paid off. At $1750 left over a month (buy the new car), it’ll be 13.1 months until they’re paid off; total extra interest charges of ~1800 or so over the next 12 months.
Of course, you can apply this kind of reasoning to anything you buy at all - the real cost of that movie? $10 plus 7% compounded annually - you could have just invested it in an index fund! After ten years, that movie actually cost you $20!
If my APR was higher I’d starve myself to pay them off as quickly as possible, but it’s not. Trust me, I’ve been carrying these awful things forward since college graduation, and I know the tricks; I think I’ve got a year or two of no interest on 'em so far from all the balance transfers.
