No free rides on trades
 

I just mentioned that I went to the dealer this morning to hand over the title on my traded 2001 TL. I saw my old car in the lot cleaned up for sale as "certified". They gave me 16,000.00 on the trade. Just checked out the dealers' used inventory and they are asking for 21,999.00. How does it go in real estate where one party gets the price the other gets the terms?. Looks like the dealer will make up for the sale of the new TL at invoice on the used car sale.

Let's face it, most dealers are slime. Triple A's magazine, Car & Driver, had an article this month that said car dealers took over the lead in consumer complaints (used to be the home improvement field).

It's always best to sell your car privately. I didn't want to deal with strangers so I ended up trading it in and I know I got ripped off, but it was a trade-off in convenience.

Asking $21,999 does not mean they expect to get it. Somebody will come in and offer them $18,000 or something, and leave thinking they got a bargain. Everything has to be seriously marked up because everybody demands a serious discount. Plus, if you bought the new car at invoice, we're you expecting a bargain (no profit) price on the trade as well? How long would dealers stay in business with no profit, or even at a few hundred dollars per transaction? Furniture dealers make more money on sofas than people think car dealers should make on cars.

Congrats on the new car!

TimC,

Your post speaks to the profit dealers get out of their used car business.

For new cars, the manufacturer sets the cost to the dealer (and the manufacturer is the stonger party).

For used cars, the dealer set the price they are willing to give their new car buyers (here the dealer is often the stronger party).

When I bought my TL last month, the dealer offered me $3,500 for my Volvo. I passed on his kind offer, placed an ad on Autotrader.com for $10 and got $8,000 for the car a week later.

Agreed, I was offered $12k, $14k, and $15k for my S4. Sold it myself 4 days later for $20k.

-Travis

Re: No free rides on trades
 

That's why I recommend negotiating the new car deal first, and after you've settled on that - mention that you changed your mind and are trading in your old vehicle.

If you didn't neotiate the TL deal first, you didn't get "invoice" on your new TL. You just got even less for your trade-in than you thought.

When you have a trade-in, you have two totally independant business deals to negotiate. Dealerships only make them look like one deal.

why are you complaining? if you had used the net you would have seen the spread on your value vs their sale price. we gotta use all the tools available to buy car otherwise these things will happen.

:werd:

I feel much the same way. In addition, I work 12-hour days and simply didn't have the time to devote to selling the car. I don't think I got ripped off (much), though.

Re: No free rides on trades
 

As others have pointed out, the sticker price on that used car means nothing. But you really shouldn't feel bad, because $16K on 2001 TL is a very good trade-in value. I don't know how many miles you had, but I had a 2000 TL with 30,000 miles that I traded in 14 months ago for $14,500. That was the best I could do anywhere and my car at that time was the same age as your 2001 is now.

Re: Re: No free rides on trades
 

I'm wondering if that's closer to what TimC actually got, too.

I didn't do a trade this time, but I did for my RL. They went straight from the KBB. My car was also pretty nasty and needed a detail, plus they have to advertise it any everything.

You can't expect dealers to be a NFP biz. Of that money they'll discount it 10-20%, so like a previous poster said they may get 18K. So $2K and out of that they have to pay the expenses of inspection, detailing, advertising etc.