Anybody work at a Acura Dealer in sales?

I am looking to trade in another late model Acura I have, it's in great condition but the only blemish is some retard uninsured driver rear ended me and it shows on the carfax report. If I trade this Acura in, will the value depreciate? I live in CA, so you cannot sue for diminish value.

KBB trade in shows roughly ~$13,000 but I'm not sure if they will give me that much with the accident on the carfax report. Looking to get a 2009 TSX or 2008 RDX.

 

I worked in Acura sales a LONG time ago (1990), but IMO, a dealer will use any excuse to lower your trade value. Unfortunately, a rear-end accident and a car-fax report hands them an excuse on a silver platter. So yes, I think they'll make an attempt to lower the value knowing that.

But I don't think that should chage your strategy any - figure out what's fair for yours, what you want for theirs, and go in and get your deal. Just be prepared for that to come up. Proving it was repaired professionally might help. You can also increase your leverage by going after an 08 TSX that they want to clear out.

 

I would try to make the trip to the dealership on a very busy day. Go for a Saturday around lunch time. If the dealership is busy, they may skip the carfax check on your car. The Carfax only hurts you if they check it.

 

when I was shopping for my car I had a trade. One of the questions asked was has your car ever been in a accident. I said no-which was true. When I bought the car I had to sign a paper verifying no accidents.

 

Wrong, going on a busy Saturday to argue over a trade in value while trying to purchase a car might end up bad. Besides a CarFax/AutoCheck report takes 5 minutes to pull and it won't be nothing for the dealership to adjust the trade in value accordingly. The dealership have done this thousands of time so its routine for them. Most of them have someone that deals with trade in specifically and it won't matter if you go when its busy or slow. And with CarFax/AutoCheck reports, there is nothing to decipher so all they do is a quick run down of the report

 

I just traded my 04 TSX at a Subaru dealer, I had several minor accidents that must have shown up on carfax, including on rear-ender.

The only question they asked me was if it was a clean title (no salvage, no theft)... nothing about accidents.

They gave me KBB trade-in value, even with a non-functioning a/c. It's a slow time for dealerships and they are willing to make deals - I'm sure they'll work with you on the trade if they think it can get a new car off their lot.

 

my experience is that many dealers do not reference Carfax when evaluating a trade. It is just too expensive to do it every time. However a good used vehicle manager will spot the repair in a heartbeat. They do not need a Carfax

a perfect job (used car manager will still probably notice) will not effect your value
a good repair will effect it slightly
an OK repair will dramatically damage your value.

The good news is that will the current demand for 4 cyl vehicles, you should be able to pull close to KBB average condition, depending on mileage. Remember that once you hit 100,000 miles the KBB website seems not to work right, and it subtracts the mileage wrong - values are all over the place.

Never negotiate more for your trade. Negotiate the difference in the price between your trade and the new vehicle and have the negotiated reduction of price reduced from the price of the new vehicle - not added to the trade.
This saves sales tax and even plate fees in many states. All of the money comes from the same pot. Once the used vehicle manager puts a number on the car, that is how much he will allow for it. After that any changes in numbers come from the new car department.
Always negotiate the out the door price, not the pre tax number or payment. A few bucks in payment will sound cheap compared to a few hundred bucks on price. Dealers also will have varying doc fees, and this is in the out the door price.

 

No such thing as a perfect body repair. Someone with a trained eye will see repair work regardless how good the work. Reason is that painting done at the factory will always look/feel different than painting done at a body shop. I used to work at a CarMax and the buyers there were practically detectives with it. They know where to run their hands on the car to check for paint work. And most dealerships use AutoCheck. CarFax is more for the consumers like us.

 

Right, that is why I said the manager will still notice. Usually a finger around the edges of a door/hood/trunk lid feels the tape line. fresh bolts, gaps. I have seen some very good work that a pro can find in a second.

We don't use anything unless it's on a VERY high end car or something is just not right. It's just not needed.

 

Actually, a unlimited carfax account cost $20 a month.

Anyway, I'll try and sell it myself. If I don't sell it in a month or so, I'll take it down to the dealership and see what they offer.

 

Actually, a accident will only show up on a carfax report if the cops came and made a report, at least from my experience with carfax. That is why I don't rely on carfax too much for accuracy.

 

Police doesn't enter accident info. The info gets entered into the CarFax data pool either by insurance claims or if your VIN gets entered by the body shop. So I've heard

 

+1000 this is VERY true. I can spot paintwork within seconds if I'm checking out a car no matter how good it looks.

My mom was looking at an ES330 last week. I took one walk around it, and politely interrupted the salesman and told him the entire left side of the car had been repainted, thank you, bye. He insisted I was wrong because the car was "certified" and checked out by "master Lexus mechanics" and questioned my judgement. I ripped into him and rattled off a list of about 10 things that prove i'm right and compared them all to the other side of the car which was 100% factory. He backed down and we left.

running your fingers down the panels and between the panel gaps can tell you instantly. Color mismatch, sand-marks, overspray are secondary indicators for me.

 

Sold car to another private party, pretty much got the trade in price, which I was pretty happy with.

 

Aside from the paint, was there anything else that gave it away? My car got keyed, and I am having 1/2 the body panels repainted, but it doesn't affect the frame or body of the car really, does it? No wrecks (knock on wood) but I will have major repaint work...

Was the paint the only reason that you walked away from the Lexus?