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It seems that if you play hardball with a new car dealership and want to trade in your used car the new car salesperson is stubborn in terms of what they will give you. Six months ago my friend bought the small buick suv brand new on a 48 month lease. He took his 2007 toyota corolla with 110,000 miles to car max and car max gave him a written offer of $2500 which is fair. The new buick dealer refused to offer my friend even a dollar over $500. Even after my friend said $500 is too low and had the car max appraisal in to show the new buick dealer they said to him your toyota corolla isnt worth over $500. My friend took his toyota corolla to car max 2 days later after buying his new buick. At car max he got his $2500.
Are used car trade ins a big part of the new car salespersons commission or something??
My guess is that a Buick dealership is interested in signing lease agreements, servicing Buicks, and selling new ones (in that order). Taking a trade-in has a lot of risks and it takes both time, money, and energy to get that trade-in off the lot. The car has to be evaluated, appraised, repaired, detailed, and marketed. In addition, who really goes to a Buick lot to buy an 11 year old Corolla? Chances are that they would most likely reach a deal with another dealer to get it off their lot. With $2,500 to spend, the Buick dealer has much better ROI with a purchase at an auto auction. But all this time and energy is not worth it for a car dealership. They want to goose their numbers with the manufacturer by signing lease agreements and selling new cars. My guess is that dealerships also have an incentive to work through their financing partners; they probably don't want to work with someone on the buying end of a 2007 Corolla.
Just an interest anecdote: I bought a used 2007 Lexus Rx400h for about 25% below my regional market by buying it at a Jeep dealership in Scottsdale, AZ. The car sat on the lot for about a month and my guess is that Lexus hybrid CUVs aren't popular in Arizona where it floods, has dust storms, and has plenty of unpaved roads...all of which are no-nos listed in the Lexus manual. Jeeps, on the other hand, are really popular for all the reasons the Lexus isn't. Got myself a good deal and drove the car back home to California (where the car was originally from).
It seems that if you play hardball with a new car dealership and want to trade in your used car the new car salesperson is stubborn in terms of what they will give you. Six months ago my friend bought the small buick suv brand new on a 48 month lease. He took his 2007 toyota corolla with 110,000 miles to car max and car max gave him a written offer of $2500 which is fair. The new buick dealer refused to offer my friend even a dollar over $500. Even after my friend said $500 is too low and had the car max appraisal in to show the new buick dealer they said to him your toyota corolla isnt worth over $500. My friend took his toyota corolla to car max 2 days later after buying his new buick. At car max he got his $2500.
Are used car trade ins a big part of the new car salespersons commission or something??
Curios here .Did your friend buy it or lease it?
In the end , did he pay $2000 less than if he had traded it in at the Buick dealership?
Sometimes, on a purchase, the figures are juggled around but the end result is the same.
They call it "stealing the trade". They actually make more money selling used cars. The key is to buy them cheaply.
They expect that you really want the new car now and you'll let the trade in go for a tiny price. They make the transaction easy and it allows you to dump the old car right now.
If you want to get full value for your trade, sell it yourself.
They call it "stealing the trade". They actually make more money selling used cars. The key is to buy them cheaply.
They expect that you really want the new car now and you'll let the trade in go for a tiny price. They make the transaction easy and it allows you to dump the old car right now.
If you want to get full value for your trade, sell it yourself.
Pretty much this. It's a convenience thing. I had a 2006 Prius whose paint job has been through hell and back but only had 103k miles on it - Carmax offered $2k, dealerships offered $500. I sold it myself for $4700.
There's no way a dealership is putting a $2k car on their lot - they'll just send it to auction, where they're not going to get near the market value of it either - and they're also expecting that you won't care about the lowball because you're there to get a new ride. Carmax will offer more but still under market value because they don't haggle on either end. They charge over market value on most cars they sell, because they know they have customers come to them because they don't want to negotiate. If you want to try and save money, you go to the dealership to haggle.
Frankly, $500 is pretty low even for an older car. My guess is that your friend negotiated an outright deal before introducing the trade. Some will tell you that this is the right way to negotiate, but the truth is that it's just going to get you the actual wholesale value for your car without the fluff that dealers usually add to both the trade and the car they're selling just to make you feel good about yourself. In reality all that matters is that the difference between the trade-in allowance and the new vehicle price is the same.
At any rate, the dealership offered what it was worth to them. If they felt that they could have allowed your friend more and made money on the deal they would have, but they obviously didn't. Carmax obviously did, probably because they have a different customer base.
Carmax may want old beat up Toyota to put on their lot and sell. Buick dealers do not. Their used car department is generally not a beater car type of lot. They sell the nicer higher end cars. Thus, they will take the toyota and either wholesale it out or sell it at an auction. odd are they will break even at best, but probably lose money on it. T They only offer anything to try to get you to buy or lease the Buick.
The reality is they do not want the toyota at all. your friend could negotiate a $500 reduction in the price fo his purchase or lease and keep the Toyota. The Buick dealership may well be happier about that. However they know a buyer needs to feel like they got something for their old beater and/or got a better deal on their car, it is all about perception.
you are always going to get a terrible deal on a trade in, but you will get a slightly less-terrible deal if it is a new/good enogh car they can take it an put it on their lot and possibly make a profit.
They call it "stealing the trade". They actually make more money selling used cars. The key is to buy them cheaply.
They expect that you really want the new car now and you'll let the trade in go for a tiny price. They make the transaction easy and it allows you to dump the old car right now.
If you want to get full value for your trade, sell it yourself.
THIS post should be on lighted billboards in BIG letters!!
It would save so many people much needless grief if they learned the lesson offered there. .
It seems that if you play hardball with a new car dealership and want to trade in your used car the new car salesperson is stubborn in terms of what they will give you. Six months ago my friend bought the small buick suv brand new on a 48 month lease. He took his 2007 toyota corolla with 110,000 miles to car max and car max gave him a written offer of $2500 which is fair. The new buick dealer refused to offer my friend even a dollar over $500. Even after my friend said $500 is too low and had the car max appraisal in to show the new buick dealer they said to him your toyota corolla isnt worth over $500. My friend took his toyota corolla to car max 2 days later after buying his new buick. At car max he got his $2500.
Are used car trade ins a big part of the new car salespersons commission or something??
I once went to Carmax to sell a friend's 2004 Ford f150. At the time private party was around 12500 and retail was 15000. Carmax offered 6500. We laughed and walked out.
It’s a business & they’re in business to make as much money as possible.
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