gpsiir

Just idily considering giving up my '04/auto/navi for an '06/man/navi, the blue book trade in is 16635, the private party selling price is 19800, difference of over $3000. So, if I sell the car, for 19800, is all I owe to the government is the state sales tax for my area? (At 4.9% sales tax for my area, I'd make over 2 grand selling verses trade-in....hmm.) This is correct?

Dirk Diggs

You'll get tax savings for trading it in.

Example:

Selling price (OTD): $20,000
Trade-in (ACV) : $10,000

Price you get taxed on : $10,000 (multiply by whatever your tax rate is)

It may be easier that way...but someone may buy yours right away...or they may not.

Dealerships go by black book (which gets updated every two weeks) because it reflects what the current market is. KBB is a good guide, but it may be substantially different. If KBB says a given vehicle is $20,000 on trade-in, but similar vehicles in similar condition with similar mileage are selling for $18,000 at dealer auctions, then your dealership won't be able to touch KBB's numbers.

Please note: ACV on a vehicle is different than what a dealership's "allowance" on a trade is. Allowance refers to the ACV plus whatever markup/profit they are taking out of their retail vehicle.

If you sell privately and have to pay tax (I am not sure if you do or not), you will have to pay sales tax again when you buy your new vehicle. This may be a major reason why so many people trade-in their vehicles.

Diggs

sccpu3d

In California, you don't get that bonus. I tried that, but the salesman inputted the trade in directly to the computer, but it wouldn't budge the tax.

fuckleberry

ouch ! that's a heck of a depreciation
What's the mileage ?

gpsiir

About 48000, I *love* to drive this car (hey, let's face it, there are very few cars that are this fun to drive ). If I had got the manny on this car, I wouldn't even consider trading it in. Interesting point, the nav system only adds about $500 towards trade-in (I knew that would be the case), and a manual verses auto doesn't seem to affect trade-in at all.

gpsiir

Hmm, if I understand you then my quick numbers say:
Sell my car ~19000
Minus tax 931 owed to state
Leaves 18069 towards 29000 new car with 4.9% sales tax of 1421 making a total of $12352 out of my pocket

Trade my car ~16000 towards 29000 leaves 13000 + 4.9% tax on 13000, for a total of $13637 out of my pocket.

So, I save over $1000 by selling the car myself verses trade in? I suspect that if I were in an 8% tax area, the tax benefit would be better.....

sccpu3d

Well, im in a 8% tax area, and my dealer didnt give me the trade in benefit, soOoOooo....... make sure your dealer gives the tax reduction benefit before deciding to trade the car in.

XPLORx4

I just got an appraisal for my 04 AT/no NAV from my local Acura dealers at $17,500. My TSX has 51,200 miles on it. I still owe the bank about 10,500 so I'd have about a $7K downpayment on an 06 MT/NAV that they're willing to let go at $1K under MSRP. I just need to find a color other than carbon grey!

My car is in really good condition, except for a few paint chips on the hood.

One disadvantage of selling your car is that the potential buyers would not benefit from the warranty. If that same buyer went to the dealer to buy your car, they might pay a few hundred dollars more, but they'd get it as an Acura certified pre-owned car with a bumper-to-bumper 12-month/12K mile warranty and a 100,000-mile powertrain warranty.

Sometimes buying a certified pre-owned is a deal on a car with reasonably low miles, such as yours (and mine).

See how much your local dealers are willing to offer you on your trade-in before making your decision.

Yui

Wow, that's a pretty low offer on the trade-in, is he making up for it by giving you a good deal on the 06? Here are my numbers:

$28964.69-TSX
$19341.74-Trade
$11175.94-Total Out The Door

And I'm trading in an 04 MSM TSX Auto/no navi with 36k miles. I can't believe 12k miles adds that much depreciation? Or is it because you're past the warranty coverage?

bradykp

am i the only one who's confused as to why the seller would have to pay sales tax in colorado? the purchaser of the vehicle would pay the tax, not the seller. my girlfriend just sold her 93 camry for 2000. she got a 2000 check for it....no sales tax owed to PA. the buyer however, does have to pay the tax, when they go register the vehicle.

TinkyWinky

You're welcome to flame me if you wish but ..... $11175.94 is a hell of a lot of money to spend for the purpose of getting essentially the same automobile. Why not put that money towards a new/used 2-door coupe/roadster with MT? Isn't that what you really want?

Just my :twocents:

bradykp

definitely losing a lot of $$$ upgrading to the same car with a bump in HP and a few features (even though the features are AWESOME)!

i guess he gets the piece of mind of a car with warranty as well, but i'd ride out his car longer.

Caldor1

This is my first post, but since I just did this...

I live in CO, when you sell a car, the buyer pays the sales tax, not the seller. The buyer will pay the sales tax at the county dmv office when they go to register the car. The seller does not need to worry about it at all.

Colorado is pretty sneaky though, you are taxed based on where you live though, so if you buy a car, new or used, you pay based on your home address. So while much of CO is 4.5%, when I go to buy a new car, I get to pay 8.75% because of local sales taxes. So thats where they get you.

Yui

Sorry, it's actually an even 11,000 OTD, that 175.94 shouldn't be on there. But, in any case, I'm losing money trading it in for anything, period. So I'll make an attempt at rationalizing it.

Why trade in in the first place? Partly because I'm coming up on a few maintenance items that I don't really want to have to deal with, such as getting a new set of tires and the 40k maintenance. Also, with the quartz interior, I'm seeing brown staining in the pleather, such as the seats and the center armrest, that I'm not sure how to remove. The Zaino leather cleaner/conditioner didn't really work for it. Partly also because I've just had random stupid stuff happen to my car that gets under my skin when I think about it, like the time a tomato fell out of a lunch sack and decomposed itself to the carpet under the passenger seat. Or when I spilled spaghetti sauce all over the front passenger footwell. I've mostly cleaned it up and if I didn't tell you you'd never guess, but the fact remains that I know it's there, and it irks me. This is partly why I'd feel bad about selling it private party, whereas I know the dealer will go through every inch and clean it thoroughly so it can be recertified. Maybe I'm being petty or OCD, but that's just how I am about some things.

As far as the performance of the car, I've been very satisfied with my car, but I feel that I would be even more satisfied if I had navigation and manual and a power passenger seat. It's kind of embarassing to give people rides and they're thinking "ooo fancy luxury car" but then find out there's no power passenger seat =) Not only does the 06 have some more power, but since I'll be getting a manual even more power will be transferred to the wheels, so that's kind of a double plus in the power segment there. Lastly, on the color, washing and waxing an MSM just isn't as fulfilling as washing and waxing an NHB.

As far as, why trade in now instead of a few years down the road when the 08 comes out, I've had the car since April 2003, and it's really getting close to the 3 years of ownership, at 36k miles so far. However, since the car is listed as an 2004 model, that means I got about 9 extra months worth of depreciation. So while the value of the car should be closer to 50% of its original 27k purchase price, I'm getting a trade-in offer of much more than that from the dealer, ~70%. You could say it's 70/50 = 140% of its real trade-in value. The longer I wait to trade it in, the less I'll be able to take advantage of that April 2003 purchase date, and eventually it becomes a moot point. Also, remember that a large chunk of that cost is going to the upgrade to Navigation as well, which I didn't have on my 04. And since I just turned 25, my insurance payments dropped by about $100 a month. So in a sense it'll only be another $100 a month to pay for the 06.

Why another TSX? At one time, I was tempted to try and work a G35 Coupe into my budget but after looking at my monthly budget, it's just not going to happen. Besides, I need a daily driver that can also move people if needed. I'll be working with the youth at my church so I can foresee giving kids rides, so 4 doors is practically a must. And after nearly 3 years of ownership, this is still the nicest 4 door out there in my opinion (in the sub Ashton-Marton Rapide segment =P). In fact, even after about 2 years of ownership, I was told my car still smelled like new up, until the spaghetti incident, and the interior still looks brand new, cause I've taken good care of it.

So, to summarize for the very patient and literate huckleberry: NHB>MSM, ebony interior doesn't turn brown like my quartz, manual, fogs, navigation, bluetooth, power passenger seat, XM, slightly better power, shiny dials for the radio, pretty good deal on the trade-in, decent deal on the 06, only place for food is the trunk.

bradykp

with the trunk tray of course!

Yui

Yeah, I had them throw that in, and wheel locks. And I'll consider financing through them if they give me a good rate and offer to throw in the leather bra and rubber floor mats. RockBlocker apparently doesn't have their clear bra solution out for the 06 TSX's yet, so I'll need something to tide me over. Is there any precautions I should take or things I need to be aware of when financing through a dealer? I'm a bit paranoid/suspicious of the stories I've heard: pre-approval -> oh-you're-so-not-approved-bring-the-car-back-in-and-agree-to-a-higher-rate-or-we'll-call-the-cops-on-you".

bradykp

if i were you, i would get a copy of your credit report with your FICO, show that to them, and ask what rate they can give you with the score. then, research through your own bank, and you'll probably find a better rate. i'm not a seasoned vet in this practice though, but unless the dealers are running incentives (which on the 2006 TSX isn't the case) i've never seen a dealer beat my bank, although it is a credit union to be fair.