Trade in rort?

[axe]

Hi all,

What sort of price difference should I expect on a trade in at a dealer when buying a new car.

The offer is looking to be really low for what the trade is especially when looking at used cars and gumtree prices. What costs does the dealer need to recoup on the car and is it better to try and sell it privately?

Cheers

[Dalonian]

It really depends on the car, some times you can be surprised though. I was offered $10 000 for my 2007 BF mkII XT with 100000 km on it in 2012. I took it because I wasn't confident I would be able to sell it for that privately when I knew it needed a windscreen and was a few weeks away from being out of rego.

[furiousgibbon]

you will always be able to get better money selling privately. Trade in is a convenience thing. A lot of people can't be bothered or aren't confident to sell their car privately. Worst case you should expect at least 10% more than a good trade in offer in a private sale. Best case probably 30% more.

Basically, if you have the time and effort, sell privately.

[axe]

We're talking somewhere around 11k for a 2010 XR6T with 115k on the clock. On various websites private sellers are asking 19-20k for similar vehicles and dealers are asking over 20k.

Just seems like a fairly big price difference. There's probably about $12-1300 of repair work to get it ready for sale (paint scratches and a minor dent). I know a dealer needs to make money on it but a ~8k difference seems pretty big.

[Ross 1]

There is also the consideration as to whether they are going to try and sell it in their yard or not. If it is not a car they are going to sell they can only get the wholesale price back when they move it on. If they are going to sell they need to factor in work needed, profit and keeping monies aside for potential warranty claims. As already said, if you have the time sell it privately and then take the cash in to get a better deal. Money talks.

[JAJH]

The trade in price is irrelevant, it's the change over figure you need to focus on. Eg: you want $10k for your car, the dealer wants 20k, so the change over is 10k. You need to decide what changeover figure you are comfortable with. But consider this, you only get one bite at the cherry, the dealer gets two...he will make money on your car and on the one he is selling.

[axe]

What is the best place to advertise a car these days?

[Rodp]

I agree on changeover above (except when the dealer seems to low ball on your trade price and won't budge on the sticker price - 2014 XR8 with 10k on the clock priced as new) as that's the position I appear to be in at the moment.

As an example, while he didn't break it down, a dealer explain to me while I was trying to trade my car that an advertised vehicle on carsales going for 41k, with a few taps on his calculator, he would have to purchase at 28k for him to put it on his yard.

Depending on your vehicle, you could probably sell it for more privately. I can't do my job without a car and I work wonky hours and I also appreciate the convenience. I also claim my car on tax so it's not as big a deal for me if I get a little lower trade in value if I can also knock a few thou off the price of the vehicle I'm looking to buy.

If the dealer you're looking to buy from is flexible on the price of the vehicle you want to buy, workout what your comfortable as a changeover price and negotiate on that.

[98TLS]

A lot to depends on what price the dealer paid for the car your looking at,if he stole it (figure of speech) he has plenty of room to move ie can lower his profit on that car as to give you more for your trade in vehicle.No idea if things are still the same these days but back when i was selling Toyota/Ford the sales year went in 1/4s...best time to buy a new car was approaching the end of a quarter specially if sales figures were down ie ive seen new Toyotas sold at a loss just to have another "unit" out the door and fact was Toyota made up the difference anyway in a form of rebate.Selling privately has to be better gain.

[98TLS]

Originally Posted by axe

We're talking somewhere around 11k for a 2010 XR6T with 115k on the clock. On various websites private sellers are asking 19-20k for similar vehicles and dealers are asking over 20k.

Just seems like a fairly big price difference. There's probably about $12-1300 of repair work to get it ready for sale (paint scratches and a minor dent). I know a dealer needs to make money on it but a ~8k difference seems pretty big.

Tis indeed big,back in the day 4k was considered a good profit on a second hand car,you had around 12% to play with in a new car in saying that big franchised dealers have lots of overheads ie big premises/lots of staff etc,fwiw the service and parts dept used to pretty much keep the place afloat.

[mechanic]

If you can make more by a private sale, do that.
Couple of points, how long are you prepared to wait to sell it privately?
What do you do when the buyer starts to haggle and there's nobody else waiting to buy your car?
Don't know if it's just me but the used car market looks awfully tough at the moment.

[4vxc]

Problem is it's going to be tough selling that car in Gosford, I know from experience. Forget Gumtree, only good for real cheapies.
Put it on Carsales and wait, park it somewhere highly visible and cross your fingers, keep it immaculate all the time it will sell eventually.
What are you getting next?

[Vesper Martini]

Originally Posted by axe

We're talking somewhere around 11k for a 2010 XR6T with 115k on the clock. On various websites private sellers are asking 19-20k for similar vehicles and dealers are asking over 20k.

The Dealer will also consider, will the car sell? they don't want something on the lot for 12 months, and eventually slashing the price to get rid of it.

Those Private sellers asking Dealer prices not selling either...

saying that the cars worth about 20K on the lot, I would have thought they could offer you 15K

[MercurySilver]

Like JAJH says it all comes down to change over price
Its all we focused on when trading in the ba xr8 ute for the g6et
We were happy with it after haggling too and fro so took the deal.
Youve been given a rough ball park figure from a dealer so now haggle haggle

[axe]

Originally Posted by 4vxc

Problem is it's going to be tough selling that car in Gosford, I know from experience. Forget Gumtree, only good for real cheapies.
Put it on Carsales and wait, park it somewhere highly visible and cross your fingers, keep it immaculate all the time it will sell eventually.
What are you getting next?

Sprint, so as you can imagine not much wiggle room re: price etc. Can't exactly walk away and go somewhere else.

[buggo]

I had an '09 XR6T which I sold to a dealer in Sydney almost a year ago for $17.5k. Similar to yours I imagine with about 105k km, auto, needed a bumper respray. I had it on Carsales for $19.5k hoping to get rid of it quick, a few guys came to look but no luck. Had a call off a dealer, offered the price over the phone and it was theirs that weekend. They had it up a week later for $27k with stripes and GT wheels, was gone 2 weeks later.

Point is, I'm sure there's a dealer out there that will give you more than $11k.

[adrianb]

I'm not convinced on the above approach to only worry about changeover - this is a common dealer tactic to deviate the conversation from trade-in value and new car price. Instead of thinking about the price of your old car & new car, just think about this number in the middle.

To my mind, you want to negotiate the best trade-in value for your car and also the best price for your new car independently. Once you've got a best-offer on both of those by shopping around and some haggling then focus on improving your position.

The dealer will want to make money on the new car sale and the sale of your trade-in (whether they sell it themselves or sell it as wholesale) - they won't take a profit below what they're after on either of them.

If you can sell your old car privately then you'll be very likely to come out ahead financially but at the expense of convenience and having to do things like RWC yourself.

[Smoke Pursuit]

11k seems low but some cars bear more risk then others. If your car is badly presented they will low ball it.

Don't forget they have to add GST and Stamp duty when they sell it, plus offer a stat warranty and RWC.

[4vxc]

Originally Posted by axe

Sprint, so as you can imagine not much wiggle room re: price etc. Can't exactly walk away and go somewhere else.

Could always try BradGarlick at Top Ryde if the 2 locals aren't doing the deal you want. I've found them pretty decent
Nice choice by the way

[LeadFoot81]

My most recent experience with trade in vs private sale:

Was offered 18K trade in for my wifes 2013 Focus Titanium (by two separate dealers) to go towards a new purchase. One dealer said he couldn't go any higher as he'd struggle to make a few thousand on the sale.

Did a search for what similar examples were going for at dealerships (which was around 24K)

Advertised our Focus for 23K with roadie, sold it within 3 days for 21K (needed it gone asap)

So we pocketed the few thousand the dealer would've struggled to make.

[Morexbs]

For what it's worth I tried selling my FG XR50 privately on Car Sales.I dropped the price by $1000 a week until it got to less than what I could have got in an auction and I didn't get one phone call.
I walked into a large dealer specialising in late model,price range cars and asked for a buy price and he paid me more than what I had the car advertised for.
There are plenty of XRs on the market and they only sell quickly if they're super cheap or if they have lots of extras.
With your car,the dealer will win one way or another.If he loses money on your trade in,there should still be plenty of fat in the car you buy.

[Giant Cranium]

Originally Posted by axe

Sprint, so as you can imagine not much wiggle room re: price etc. Can't exactly walk away and go somewhere else.

What are they inferring the sprint for. If it's 60 it may be a good changeover. If it's 70 they are having a great double dip

[axe]

Originally Posted by Giant Cranium

What are they inferring the sprint for. If it's 60 it may be a good changeover. If it's 70 they are having a great double dip

A little more then 60k (not by much) but a price i'm happy with given what i've heard some dealers are asking. I'd like to trade the old one in to avoid the hassle of selling privately but want a fair price for it.

[Giant Cranium]

Push them for a 45 to 46k change over

[2011G6E]

Many years back before the internet you'd go into a car yard, check out a car, ask about a trade in on what you had...and see the salesman prowling around, checking the kilometers, sucking his teeth, shaking his head, pretending to dry heave when he looked under the bonnet, and then he'd pull out of his pocket the little red or blue book...Glass's Guide. You'd shudder...knowing what came next as he read the book and the three little columns...Excellent condition, average condition, poor condition. Of course it was completely up to this amazing expert of auto knowledge to decide which "condition" your car was in.

Of course not one of these three figures bore any vague relation to the actual price on the windscreen of the cars in the yard. Must have been a second book for that .

For instance, back about 1985 we owned a five year old Commodore 4 (stop laughing you mongrels) and we were looking at trading it on an XB GT sedan (green and silver trim). They wanted $7500 for the GT, and sitting beside it on the lot was a Commodore 4 wagon, in about the same condition as ours, ie: excellent and with low kilometers.
Anticipating a great trade in with a couple of grand change over, we were faced with the little book and being told "$1600 is as good as I can do", being in "average" condition. I later heard that among most used car salesman not even cars fresh off the showroom floor met the requirements for "excellent" status...
When questioned as to why they had a car exactly the same as ours for $6500, he tapped the little book and said "That's all they're worth mate"...


Not exactly a "rort", but something that has gone on for decades....

[Jess1992]

Originally Posted by axe

What is the best place to advertise a car these days?

Not sure if serious, but Internet

[axe]

Originally Posted by Jess1992

Not sure if serious, but Internet

Was more asking which particular website was worthwhile.

[Jess1992]

Originally Posted by axe

Was more asking which particular website was worthwhile.

Fair enough I have used car sales and been able to sell 2 cars on that so you might have some luck there. It's about $60 an add from memory. Good luck

[FalconXV]

As a former salesman, I can tell you we used rubbery figures to inflate the price of your car to make you feel warm and fuzzy, by skimming some off the margin.

Worst place I worked (for a few days) was Aus Fleet Sales. Their whole business model is based on deception. Call you up- " great news we just traded a model your car for [ add 50% to price], then you get screwed down and intimidated into buying a waaay overinflated new car. The dodgy gimmicks are a good indicator of the company's integrity. Now they're trying to change their name to AusCar but don't be fooled it's a gilded ****.

The manager at Gosford is a piece of work. Tell all your friends and family to avoid this horrid place.

[BENT_8]

This is a difficult scenario as your hands are tied and they know it.

The car you want is in limited supply so they can ask what they want, there is little room to move if any.
Then there is the delivery date, sure you can advertise privately but what if it sells before your Sprint is ready, can you do without a car.
What if it doesnt sell before the delivery date, can you do the deal without selling the old one first.

If it were me i'd find another yard and get a buy price from them, if its a good car and being a T it should be desirable, colour will add more if its the right one as it draws attention to the yard.
If the price is right, take it if you can, failing that, show the dealer you're buying the Sprint from how much someone else offered and use it as leveredge for a better trade price. Tell them you'd rather they profit from it then an independant but you're not willing to get bent over for giving them the priveledge.

I'd be looking for $14k as it is realistically woth $19K drive away, they look to make a $5k buffer for overheads, warranty and sale sweeteners.