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I bought a used car from a local Dodge dealership but didn't trade in my old car which I put on Autotrader.
Autotrader has a button marked "get an instant cash offer"
Being a skeptical sort, I figured probably a bait and switch so I clicked it to prove my suspicions. Entered all my vehicle's details, mileage and condition and got an offer of $9484 a few seconds later from the same dealership I bought the used car from. $9484 was exactly at the bottom of the Kelly Blue Book range of trade-in value for the car. About ten minutes later got a call from a sales manager confirming that I wanted to sell my car. He said bring it over let him check it out and if the condition was the same as I entered they'd buy it. I asked if I should ask for the salesman who handled the other used car purchase and he said sure. I called the other salesman the next morning before going over and stressed that I didn't want to waste my time if they were going to try to get it for less than the offer. He said sometimes they pay less when the car isn't as described and sometimes they "pay more". I bet. I told him I'd be over in an hour or so but hoped this wasn't going to be a runaround. He called me a few minutes later and said after talking to the sales manager that the offer was probably going to be around $7000 because of the mileage. This is the same mileage I entered and they had when they made the offer of $9484. I asked about the KBB trade-in value. He said that number isn't real because of all kinds of other factors. My opinion of car dealers was reaffirmed and a new suspicion about KBB was born. Sold the car on Craigslist the same morning for $9500.
You have to understand the person you sold it on Craigslist is buying it to use. The dealership has to resell it and aren't in the business to break even. So if you sold it for $9500 there is no way a dealer would have bought it from you for that same price.
Well, not really a scam. It's bait and fish tactic.
You didn't seriously believe you WILL get that number based on online quote, did you?
Entire country is based on this. Go buy any bag of chips. It's air ballooned lie. So is everything else.
Dealers don't go by what KBB says. At one time they used NADA but I'm not even sure they still go by that, I think now they have a way of seeing what auction prices are trending, and it's always changing.
You have to understand the person you sold it on Craigslist is buying it to use. The dealership has to resell it and aren't in the business to break even. So if you sold it for $9500 there is no way a dealer would have bought it from you for that same price.
Except the dealer sent me an offer to buy for $9484 never intending to do it. Outright deception and probably routinely practiced.
I did use the autotrader instant offer once. Was $900 more than the Carmax offer and a quick and easy process despite still having a lien on the vehicle. In person offer was actually a little higher than the online quoted one.
Do you really believe a dealer, any dealer, is going to pay you as much for your vehicle as what you are able to get on the open market as a private sale?
I have also used the instant offer button to see what I would be offered. It was a somewhat fair offer, but it was still $900 less than Carmax, which in turn was probably about $2000 less than I could have gotten by selling private party.
I've found that unless the car you are selling is 1-5 years old, dealers will not give a very competitive offer on older vehicles, and it's always much better to sell private party.
I remember one car I sold, Carmax offered me $9k because the car had been in an accident. (It had been in an accident with the previous owner before me, and 25k miles had been put on the car since then, it was professionally repaired by the dealership, etc.) They offered me $9k, KBB with my mileage had it at $18k, and I sold it private party with full disclosure of the accident and Autocheck report for $16k.
Do you really believe a dealer, any dealer, is going to pay you as much for your vehicle as what you are able to get on the open market as a private sale?
Dealers are not in business for their health.
Nope. I know a trade-in or sale to a dealer will always be substantially less than a private sale. That's not what this thread is about. It's about getting a written Instant Cash Offer for $9484 (KBB's lowest trade-in value for the vehicle) and then being told the actual offer would probably be over $2400 less. I suspected a scam right up front which is one reason I tried it.
Nope. I know a trade-in or sale to a dealer will always be substantially less than a private sale. That's not what this thread is about. It's about getting a written Instant Cash Offer for $9484 (KBB's lowest trade-in value for the vehicle) and then being told the actual offer would probably be over $2400 less. I suspected a scam right up front which is one reason I tried it.
What dealers look at when offering on used is low KBB and what the used car manager knows/thinks he can buy it for at auction. They will sometimes call a wholesaler they sell to and ask if they want to pick it up for a quick turn $500 profit to the dealer. Routinely they offer 10%-20% behind wholesale book which is below low book to guarantee a healthy profit.
It is very,very hard to get mid/high book trade in deal from any dealer and in all my 20 or more deals I've only been able to match or beat mid/high book twice and both of those took 8 hours PLUS of time (grind) at the dealership to get it done and that was on vehicles that were popular and brought high resale $$$.
KBB is pretty much the only "book" they use anymore but they use current auction pricing more than any book and offer less than that because they still have to run it through the shop/detail before selling it.
Those auction prices are ridiculously low on most vehicles, most people would fall over in shock if they knew how much dealers paid...
As has been stated before, those pretty show rooms, free donuts/coffee and come-on gift cards/contests have to be paid for somehow.
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