eastwestboy Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 I testdrove a 2005 Forrester X and I liked it and I am really eager to get one. It was the dealership in Oakville, canada. I asked for a trade in value for my 98 legacy manual shift. The lady said it’s in the range of $1000 to $2500. Now that’s the lowball of the century, where am I? Asylum for the insanes. Took me a while to recover. Not even for $5000 I would talk about a deal. Or am I insane. That’s all even less in US$. For a very well maintained legacy. I guess I know their sequel. They would after some time generously give $3000 or 3200. I know I should just go to the next dealer, there are many around Toronto, but for now this has just put me off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KStretch55 Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 Stick to your guns! Make them come to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferret Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 Since I don't know your car or mileage, I did a Kelly Blue book lookup. It also only listed the US. I did a 98 Legacy AWD 5sp. with 80K miles for Buffalo in Excellent/Showroom condition. Tradein value $4400 US. In good Condition dropped to $3900 US. Mileage over 100K, the value drops quickly. Now it depends if the car is worth more than that to you, or if you want to layout that much money for a newer vehicle. I would get at least 1 more dealer to offer a trade, just to see if they are in the ballpark. Also 05's are discounted now, so they should be able to give you a better overall price. If you talked Invoice vs Wholesale tradein, He may have not been to far off the mark. In any case, Good luck shopping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KStretch55 Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 Just remember, you already have a car that you like, so you're out nothing if they don't come to your terms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outback_97 Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 Buy the new one, sell the old one yourself. For much more than they will ever give you. Just be prepared to deal with buyers, it's a pain but worth it IMO. Tradein is where they make most of their money anyway. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slegacy96 Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 Selling it yourself is the best move anyway. Dealer only wanted to give me $4000 for my Legacy GT, sold it for $7000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwestboy Posted June 25, 2005 Author Share Posted June 25, 2005 Thanks for the replies. The legacy has 170000km, around 110000 miles. Selling it privately is probably the way to go, although not so easy for me because I m out in the rural. But still, a dealer like that scares off not just me. I don’t hope it but from the stories I hear about dealers I expect this dealer is not the only one who tries to steal a trade in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gravelRX Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 It's a shell game. They can give you what you want for the car if you push it, but the price of the new car doesn't go down very much from sticker. Buying a new car involves homework. The more research you do the better off you are in the long run. My advice is never buy a new car. Always opt for a one year old, low, low mileage car. Someone has already eaten the initial off the lot depreciation. .02 Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyfish9 Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 Thanks for the replies. The legacy has 170000km, around 110000 miles. Selling it privately is probably the way to go, although not so easy for me because I m out in the rural. But still, a dealer like that scares off not just me. I don’t hope it but from the stories I hear about dealers I expect this dealer is not the only one who tries to steal a trade in. A car with 110,000 miles on is worth virtually nothing as a trade in. The dealer will simply send the car to auction, and will likely just break even on the deal. I doubt you'll do significantly better with another dealer. Bargain down the price of the car you want to buy, and sell the Legacy yourself. Use the Kelly Blue Book as a guide, understanding that the private party sale price is less than the retail sale price, and less than 1% of used cars are actually in "excellent" condition. We all tend to attach values to our cars that are simply not realistic in the marketplace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seahag1978 Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 ^^^ what he said... a used car is just that... used.. but I'll add this... no matter how lighty used it seems. My 6 mo. old 5,000 mi. perfect condition Hyundai fetched a dismal amount toward my trade... it was the same overall value from every dealer, not just one trying to make a killing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyfish9 Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 ^^^ what he said... a used car is just that... used.. but I'll add this... no matter how lighty used it seems. My 6 mo. old 5,000 mi. perfect condition Hyundai fetched a dismal amount toward my trade... it was the same overall value from every dealer, not just one trying to make a killing... Just curious....What model Hyundai, and why did you trade in with only 5K on it? You must have known up front you were going to take a beating. Was the Hundai that bad? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FindingForester Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 "Trade-in" values apparently are always low. About six months ago our 98 Forester was rear-ended by an idiot paying more attention to her cell phone than to the fact that the lane she was driving in had a car in front of her doing about 20 mph less than she was going. The car was totaled. When we were haggling with the insurance adjuster over the value, I contacted the salesman at a dealer where we were considering buying a replacement from. He looked up the KBB value, which turned out to be the same figure as what I'd gotten online, around $9400 IIRC. He added that would be for a car in pristine condition, and most cars would sell for somewhat less. Then he said,"as a trade-in, we would've given you four thousand." Man, I nearly dropped the phone when I heard that. Essentially, when you trade in you're sacrificing a great deal of value in exchange for the convenience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwatt Posted June 29, 2005 Share Posted June 29, 2005 ^^^ what he said... a used car is just that... used.. but I'll add this... no matter how lighty used it seems. My 6 mo. old 5,000 mi. perfect condition Hyundai fetched a dismal amount toward my trade... it was the same overall value from every dealer, not just one trying to make a killing... Hyundai and Kia still tend to have some of the worst resale values in the industry. The general consensus used to be that they were "throw-away" cars. Even though their products and repair records have substantially improved recently, first impressions are lasting impressions. It is their previous history of poor build quality, poor quality of materials used, and poor crash-worthiness on older models that continues to drag down resale values. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setright Posted June 29, 2005 Share Posted June 29, 2005 Replying to one post above this: Yes, the dealer's do seem be stealing the trade-ins, but they in business to make money, after all. Can't fault that. Over here, even a used car sold by a dealer must be covered by a 6 month full warranty. The following 18 months there is still cover, but it's up to the customer to prove the fault was there at purchase time. It's the law, and since it was introduced two years ago, trade-in value has dropped to the floor. The dealers have to cover their rear-ends. Of course, being a cynic, I don't believe that anything in the used car business has actually changed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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