Has anyone received an insulting trade in offer from a deal? What was your solution?
I tried to sell a used car to a deal it was only 3 years old with 15,000 miles on it. I went to the dealer asking my minimum amount (the money I owed the bank). They refused even that, so I sold it on eBay and ended up well above my minimum asking price.
I guess I should thank the dealer.
I Don’t Get It. You Purchased A New Car Or Just Tried Selling Them Your’s?
Trade-in usually means exchanging your car for another and paying the difference. It is not unusual for people to owe more than a car’s worth. Selling outright is often more lucrative than trading.
Some dealers ask how much you would like for your trade-in and then adjust the sale price to that. Most dealers can’t make money buying cars at retail from individuals.
I don’t see anything out of the ordinary here.
The solution is to get a price on a vehicle purchase first. Then talk about a trade-in to see what it’s really worth. Or compare bottom lines with trade-in and don’t worry whether the trade-in is too low. Buy where the bottom line is best deal.
Fill in the blanks for starters. Type of car, how much did the dealer offer, did the eBay sale pay off the bank, etc.
The fact the dealer does not offer you enough to pay off the car does not mean anything underhanded is going on.
You’re comparing apples to oranges. By selling it yourself you have no overhead to cover except for your eBay fee.
The dealer has a ton of expenses to cover including and not limited to; detailing expenses, building lease/utilities, advertising costs, sales commissions on a future sale, and interest on floor plan money if your car does not sell PDQ. There’s a 100 other expenses also and hopefully you get the point here.
Most of the Dealerships are broke and the banks won’t lend them any more money to buy new cars let alone used cars…They are in business to SELL cars, not buy them. Consider yourself very lucky you found a buyer, ANY buyer, in this market. 2/3 of the cars listed on e_Bay do not sell…
That final result makes sense. Dealers are all about making money. They know that often a car sale is a to part deal. They buy the used and sell the new one. For them they don't car how the money is mixed up but they want X amount of money in their pocket at the end of the deal.
If they can't make any money on buying your used car and reselling it, then they are not going to offer you much for it. Of course you will never know exactly what they are really offering you for your used car since they will try and mix it up with the rest of the deal.
My suggestion on that kind of transaction is to make your deal for the new car first and finalize it in writing, then talk about the trade in. Let them play with the numbers all they like, but look at the final number for just the new car purchase and the new car purchase with trade. Then chose which one you like or move on to a different dealer.
Hint, don’t give them the key to your car until you have made a deal, in writing, approved by their supervisor etc. on the new car and now you are negating the second part.
How about the whole story. What kind of car was it? How much was the car worth? How much did you owe on it? If you were upside down on the car then you’re luckily the dealer even made an offer on it, given the economy these days. But generally used cars where the dealerships make their money. The gross profit on a used car is generally much higher than that of a new car. Why did you want a new car in the first place? A 3 year old car with 15,000 miles is hardly at the end of it’s life. I’m glad things worked out for you though.
Dealers know all about people who get a price on a car THEN tell the Dealer they have a trade and want the price they were quoted before they announced they had a trade.Don’t be suprised when the Dealer does not agree to use the pre-trade price after you tell them you want to put a trade into the deal. Would you do business like that? I say no, and I am no fan of Dealer sales techniques but they have seen that one for eons.
When you trade in a car at a dealer, there are two transactions: 1) you are buying a car from a dealer and 2) the dealer is buying a car from you. He wants to receive top dollar for his car and wants to pay the least amount possible for your car. Often, the dealer doesn’t even want the trade-in. Twice, I have had dealers sell me the car I wanted for less money than they would take for a trade-in. In both cases, they told me to be sure to take my old car home with me. In one case, I sold the car (a 1965 Rambler in 1973) for $250). In rhw other case, I tried to trade my 1978 Cutlass 4-4-2(just a trim package–don’t get excited) for a 1993 Oldmobile in December of 1995. The dealer was asking $14,900 for his car and would trade for $14,500. He sold me the car with no trade for $14,200. I still have the 4-4-2. A collector thought he wanted it, so I offered to give it to him. His wife made him bring it back. You did the right thing–sell your car outright.
Carmax has offered to buy your car even if you don’t buy one of theirs. That may be what was going on here. Aside from that, jckatz, car dealers are resellers. If they gave you an amount for the car that was higher than or equal to what they could sell it for, what is the point? The average mark-up on a retail item is about 40%. The next time you try to sell or trade a car in to a dealership, don’t get offended just because they are trying to make money.
Trade-ins are a convenience to you that you pay for. If you don’t have a car that they want on their lot, they will low ball you. These days, I doubt that they want any car on their lot.
We took a beating on a trade-in about a year ago, $9000, when we got a new car. We got less than KBB and NADA trade-in value which was about $11,000. We shopped at two different dealers and got the same offer for our trade but finally a third place offered $500 more than the others, $9500.
Thats all that they could get for our trade at the auction. If they would have put our trade on their lot and if we later found it there, they would have to do some explaining so I anticipate that they really did send it to the auction. If we caught them with our trade on their lot, they would have lost us as a customer forever. We have had buyers of our trades call us to ask questions three times, a good time to ask where they bought the car.
I’d like to know what mysterious make of car this is and how much the dealer offered for it along with how much was given by this alleged eBay buyer; the latter of whom may have overpaid for a vehicle due to that “got it on eBay so I got a deal!” mindset that exists.
Being an eBay buyer/seller for over 10 years I’ve never ceased to be amazed at what some people on there will pay for some items although eBay is in the process of tanking.
Since I’m into antique Harleys, someone on eBay recently bid 2600 dollars+ for a 1947 knucklehead oil tank. Nice item, but not that rare at all. Shave about 2300 dollars, or more, off of that final price and it would then be in the fair category.
Heck, I’ve got 3 of them in my basement and that doesn’t include the 1936 knucklehead oil tank I have stashed away in the attic. The latter is worth far more than 2600.
Sell the oil tanks and buy a new car! 
I paid $13,000 for a new Thunderbird in 1986 and just 1 year later the Ford dealer offered me $8000 trade-in value on a $14,000 Mustang. I told them that if a Ford was going to depreciate that much in 1 year, I’d never buy another one. I ended up getting the Mustang for $3,000 and the T-bird.
Dealers know all about people who get a price on a car THEN tell the Dealer they have a trade and want the price they were quoted before they announced they had a trade.
The good ones will. I’ve done it several times. I negotiate the deal BEFORE I tell them the trade. If the dealer doesn’t take the deal…I walk…and I have…Other dealers have without any problems.
If you do not like their offer, then politely leave.
No, those tanks and a ton of extra parts that are stashed back is a retirement slush fund if I ever need it.
Cars depreciate and those old Harley parts don’t.
Back in the 80s there used to be an old man who owned a cycle shop with a mountain of old Harley parts in the back. (a pile about 15 feet deep and about 75 feet long.
I used to spend my Saturdays digging through there and buying stuff on the cheap.
All of those 5 to 20 dollar parts I bought back then and stashed back will bring 500 to 1500 dollars now; if I wanted to sell them. Which I don’t.
Heck, he sold me half a dozen 40s era fuel tank dashboards (called Cat Eyes) for 25 bucks. They bring 500 each now; or more.
I’ve never understood why people feel insulted over car offers. It’s not like you built it with your own hands. Someone makes an offer, you either find it acceptable or you reject it. I might get ticked off if you continue to waste my time with low ball offers but I’m not going to take it personally. I’m really curious to hear from someone who feels this way and can they explain what they find insulting about it?
BTW- your mother wears army boots
OK, I don’t understand. You accepted a trade-in offer, why would you care what the dealer did with the car afterward? If they sold it on their lot, or auctioned it off, or cut the top off and used it for a flower planter, who cares?
If I trade in a car (and I have not in many years) all I care is they don’t try to give it back to me. I certainly would not go by the dealer lot to see if they kept it or not. Why would I?
Good strategy.