I'm looking to trade in my 2007 Acura TL/Navi. It is in near perfect condition with only 21,500 miles on it. The stealership originally offerred me 19K for it so I walked out, now they are up to 21K which would mean I would break even on a trade. However I believe they are still low balling me. I did an Edmunds.com search and they said I should be somewhere in the area of 24K for a teade in. Does that sound reasonable or what? What source do they use to determine how much they "want" to give you?

 

i believe they use something called the black book

 

Is there any way for the general public to get their hands on it? I just would like to know what's the max I can get. B/c at this point I'm really thinking about just letting my car buy the car from me for 21K. I'd rather see her get it for that amount then those crooks!

 

You can get access to the Black Book but it is a pay service online. Also (and not that I am one to defend dealers) but you have to look at it from their point of view, as the economy is in the dumps right now and very little is moving. I've seen the values of both new and used cars drop like rocks in a very short amount of time! Case in point an '07 TL-S in great shape at a local dealer of mine was $27,000+ a mere few weeks ago. Today I saw it and it is at $25,000+. So...using that example as a basis, if they are offering you $21K and they turn around and can only sell it for $25,000 (not including another trade-in they may have to hassle with), that's not that much profit in the dealer world.

You're better selling it outright, trying another dealership or taking the $21K. Why are you selling it? You'd be better off holding onto it for a while longer.

 

Also, keep in mind the car market is not doing well right now. Trade in prices will be lower because the dealer will want to clear more on the resell...

 

what the dealer does is they take pictures of your vehicle and post it to a site called black book where they get real time bids from other dealers/auction houses, and based on those bids, they determine the trade value.

did it to my camry and offered $1500

 

Unless you want to pay, the most you can do is try to haggle them and tell them KBB & others claim your car is worth more; or meet them halfway?

Either way, I'm a bit shocked to hear a '07 TL Type-S with that many miles was offered by the dealer for $19K. Makes me hope it becomes cheap for me to buy mine in 2 years. Then again, they'll probably take your's and charge $25K for the next guy. Classic did that on my old 3, but that's a different story & car.

 

The Black Book is not the end all be all... what they do is they sign on to the anheim dealer auction site and look up the recent prices that your exact car with options sold for and so they will try to get it from you less then they can get it for at the auction and at most they will offer what they can buy it at the auction. Trust me I know this.

The Black book in a way bases their prices off this as well, but its not up to the minute such as the auction sites where dealers have access to last weeks pricing. Think about it.. would they buy the car from you for more then they can buy it from? Simple as that. My friend who has a dealer liscence gives me his user info so I know what the prices are when I was shopping for a used car so I know if I'm getting a good deal or not and I know what the trade in prices are so I won't let them bullshit me.

You're best bet is to find someone on craigslist who has access to this. There's guys who will purchase a car at these "dealer only" acutions for you for a fee of $250 to $500. Basically you will pose to him as if you're in the market for the same car you are trading in and he will let you know what's the cheapest you can get the car for, and there you go, you got your trade in value. If you are getting more than that from the dealer, just be careful because the dealer has to make money somewhere else so look over the terms carefully of your next purchase... LoL.

 

I have good rapport with my local Lexus dealer and I was able to purchase an 06 GS300 AWD directly from my Dealer by offering him $700 more than the auction price and I was happy since I was purchasing it from a dealer. Picked up a 06 GS300 AWD w/Navi and Mark Levinsion, fully loaded with every lexus option for 31,400 plus the 700 I had to give him. It only had 19k on the odometer. At that time, my friend wasn't in the business and I could've gotten someone else for cheaper but to me I paid a bit more for dealer glory.

 

Car prices are collapsing faster than House price. there are so much incentive on new cars that there is little reason for buying used unless it is dirt cheap.
A car sitting in dealer lot for even a week can lose value couple of thousands.
So waiting to get better trade in value is not an option as there is some minimum floor on new car price but there is no floor on used car prices.
Frankly leasing may be better option as there is there is some floor on the price.

 

This is spot on... only anheim= Manheim. You should see if your friend can take you there. It's an amazing experience for a car enthusiast!

 

they will just give the lowest blue book value. I gave my highly tuned G35 sedan to the lexus dealership when I got rid of the car. I will never do that again. I got hosed on that deal, but I was just to busy to try to sell my car myself

 

well, i have the best story. i work at a honda dealership close to nashville and we took a 07 tl base w/ navi in on trade. i paid 24000 which was what we paid for at the time. i thought it was a steal. but now car prices have dropped dramatically and it might be worth 22000. so shoot for that. dealerships right now will give away cars. trust me!!! im not making sh!t right now!!! if your looking buy a car for no profit see me!!!

andre @ reddell honda

 

Black book is more accurate since it is published monthly and can give a more accurate amount for what your trade in is worth. KBB is only published yearly and so the market value isnt as much up to date. Either book they will give you TRADE-IN value and not retail, do not every think you will get retail for your trade. If you do its what is called over allow in the car business, in which they give you more for your trade-in value on your trade, but just make up the difference by charging you more close to retail price for your new car.

I worked in the car business for 10 years selling cars.

 

I work for a dealer and apprais cars..

GALVES is the book ALL dealers (well at least in NJ NY) use.

If a customer really bitches and wants more I will look to see what the car is currenty SOLD for at auction.

Galves comes out every 2 weeks and changes, When the new TL was released all 3rd gen TL's went down 20% in 2 weeks!

 

Galve prices on TL's
2008 $22,800-$24,250 with 14k miles
ADD $900 for nav
type-s $25,500-$26,950 with 14K miles

2007 $20,700-$22,100 with 27K miles
ADD $900 for nav
Type-S $22,900-$24,250 with 27K miles

2006 $17,400- $18,750 with 39K miles
ADD $800 for nav

Then if it has over those mile you subtract $100 for every 1000 miles over that
we NEVER add money if the miles are under

 

those prices are from january 9th till 22nd GALVES
All car dealers go buy GALVES at the auctions everybody is holding Galves like its there bible!

 

i worked in houston and they use the black book

 

Its calles BLACK BOOK that sounds fishy if a salesman was like well lemme see my balck book price?
are the black book prices on par with Galves that I listed?

 

How about a 2004 TL with 57k miles?

 

Yes stonedCL the prices are about the same. From my experience I think maybe just one of my customers has ever mentioned the 'black book'. 99% will usually bring up the KBB, and everyone wants retail value on their trade and not trade-in value.