kilroy

I am planning on trading my 2000 TL in for 2005. It's got 58k miles, comptech springs, and CL wheels.

Just wondering how close to the Edmunds and KBB prices did your trade come? I have always been offered quite a bit under for other cars in the past and wound up selling them myself - However, I really want to trade this time.

clewttu

go to carmax, they gave me a lttle over kbb, dealer was only about 75% of kbb

PA-TL

I always sell on my own. Two reasons:
1) You can get best $$
2) You negotiation for the new car is cleaner

Dealers will play one of two games w/trade ins...if they tell you they're giving you book value then their going to get you in financing or new car price. The other tactic will be for them to give you "auction" price, in which case your getting wholesale if you're lucky.

VTEC=happiness

My trade came in about 1/2 way between the wholesale and retail prices...luckily for me, it was a lease that held enough value for an even swap.

JoganJani

Nothing like selling it on your own. You can get top $, if time is not the issue.

Oil Fighter

If you really don't want to sell on your own, go to Carmax. My dealer wanted to give me $12,800 for my 01 CL Type S with about 47,000 miles, I thought that was an insult. Carmax gave me $15,000, which is just slightly better than KBB trade-in, and with no hassle what so ever.

terse

dealers almost always give "FAIR" pricing rather than good or excellent...the good thing about going through dealer is that...if the car that you sold ends up dying...it's not your problem anymore...the private party people will probably come knocking on your door if something happens to go wrong with the car...i would think..even if you signed some paperwork...i think best bet is to go with carmax or just take the loss and give it to dealer, but don't expect much.

batting_cleanup

I couldn't agree with you more. Carmax has treated me very fairly on two car sales. It only takes about an hour and the offer is good for 7 days and 200 miles. At least you know what they will give and don't have a dealer playing the "number shell game" with you. You also don't have seedy characters finding out where you live and possibly damaging or stealing your car during the test drive. For clarification, I don't buy cars from classified ads or ones with for sale signs on them in front of people's houses. Too many Curbstoners out there.

J RIDE 81

Never give your car to the dealer unless you can afford the loss. Always be patient and sell it privately. G'Luck!!!

ndabunka

You MUST be a car salesman. Dealer ALWAYS give POOR pricing (even for mint cars). The dealer can tell if a car is about to die. In those cases they won't even make you a fair offer (So you still can't dump it there). If you have a good solid vehicle in honest good condition you can ALWAYS do MUCH better selling it yourself. I and many of my friends over the years have sold our own individual cars. I do not know of any single instance where a buyer tried to "come back". Fact is that used cars are sold "as is" 99% of the time. This is true whether you buy it from an individual or a dealer. A bill of sale (which EVERYONE does, right) outlines the vehicle "as is". Over my last 3 cars I have sold on my own I have "earned" nearly $10K (2001 AMG dealer offers $37,500. I sold for three days later for $40,500; 1997 BMW 740iL dealer offered $12K, sold it a week later for $17,500). Unless you just WANT to give the dealer cash, sell it yourself! If you absolutely MUST sell it first (i.e. need the cash for the next one), then do take it to CarMax. They are as close to honest as it's going to get in the car industry. As with all dealers, they are in it to make money and you may well see your car for sale the next week for a couple thousand more than they paid you but at least you will be comfortable in the knowledge that the new car dealer didn't get to rape you AND make the profit on the new car as well.

narikin

Even though they wouldn't bargain on the price for the TL, the trade-in for the 2003 RSX was well above anywhere else (they already had a buyer for it). So in my case, it was definately easier AND cheaper to trade the car with the dealer. I'm sure it's a rare case. The RSX was pristine, and only a year and a half old. But I was surprised that there are exceptions to the rule...

Hybrid

Don't forget that in some states, when you trade a car, you get credit for the sales tax value on the car you're buying. (Example: New car cost $40K, trade in $20K, you pay sales tax on "only" $20K instead of the full $40K. In many states, that BIG bucks. In my state it would be over $1600. It frequently means it's not worth going the sell it yourself route, and makes the sell it to CarMax route not worth it either.) The only way to tell is to do the math and get different quotes.