I need you guys' help again! So now that I have a daily driver, I'm closer to being able to get rid of my Fit and get another car without a loan payment. But I still owe $13,790 on it. Based on Kelly Blue Book, private party value is $10,615. Based on opinions from you folks, how close to the loan amount could I sell it for? The Suggested Retail for it is $13,315. Here's the low down. 2008 NHBP Base model A/T


The good:
Complete dealer maintenence records (all but 2 oil changes were done at dealer, plus allignment too).
Seibon Carbon fiber spoiler
K&N air filter
No damage to interior at all
OEM Rear cargo mat
4 new tires
set of OEM Honda Civic center caps for steel wheels + OEM stock hubcaps
Automatic transmission

The bad:
Someone backed into me and ran. Hatch has been repainted in the spot that was backed into.
3 Dings on the passenger door from a shopping cart
Slight scuff on driver door
Rock chips on hood.

That's it. I'm hoping to sell as close to the loan amount as possible. How close do you guys think I can get?

 

I really don't know, but I'll tell you, I purchased an 08 base fit with AT (Red) last week in Pittsburgh from a private seller for 12,600 (15,900 miles, all service records, some minor parking dings, at at one point the front bumper had been replaced due to a mistake with reverse and forward). I was happy to get it at that price. I think the only nonstandard thing on it was remote door locking. This was a motivated seller - they were leaving the country the next week and this was 200 or 300 hundred below private book I think. I din't haggle and neither did they. Maybe if I had been hard nosed I could have got the price down a bit, but it was the right car, in the right place at the right time.

Honestly - I wouldn't have paid much more under the circumstances (my mechanic looked it over and gave me the OK).

 

You left out the most important detail, how many miles does it have?

 

ya, mileage..
and that hatch was spot painted? not the whole panel?

 

sell it for about $1000 less than you owe.

 

The problem is, something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Obvious, I know, but sometimes people get wrapped up in their cars (and houses) and make the mistake in believing that what they value is what everyone else values. When it comes to a used car people are looking for well maintained low mileage, and everything else is fluff. The new tires are a good selling point, the "Seibon Carbon fiber spoiler", the "set of OEM Honda Civic center caps for steel wheels + OEM stock hubcaps" are not, particularly. That is, people might be glad to get them, but most are unlikely to be wiling to pay a premium for them.

I am a standard car buyer, I think, and your likely market for a Fit - mid 50's looking for reliability and cargo space combined with good mileage.

 

Sorry, forgot to add mileage. Though I did. 43,000. I only mentioned the hubcaps and junk to show that it's mostly OEM (besides spoiler) which to the every day buyer is a plus.

And we painted the whole panel. If I can get pics I will. Can't even tell it was ever hit. I worked for a rental car company at the time and I had the body shop guy we used do it. They do fleet cars so they have to be to OEM standards.

 

43K miles is decent, I bet you could start off at $13,000 asking since used car prices are still higher in general. Try to get no less than $12,000 for it if they haggle you down, but it is important to sell it before the 2010s hit the lot because it will depreciate even more at that point.

How come you are selling it anyways?

"So now that I have a daily driver, I'm closer to being able to get rid of my Fit and get another car without a loan payment."

Does this mean that you got a different car already as a daily driver and you want to sell your Fit for ANOTHER car?

 

I don't want a car payment. I'd rather drive get a cheap used car and save my $400 a month. When I bought my Fit, I wasn't paying rent, utilities and living by myself. Now I am, and that $400 could go to much better uses. So I already bought a beater to drive to work (50 mile round trip daily) and then get another used car (in the $2000 - $3000 range) in the event the daily breaks down. Car payment is $272 month (refinanced and added a year, was $350) and insurance is $150 for the Fit. Two beaters, no payment and state liability insurance would be a savings of $350 a month.

 

To me, that doesn't make much financial sense, but to each his own.

If I were you, I would keep the Fit, saving you the $1,000-$3,000 that it would cost you to pay off the rest of the loan after you find a buyer.

Second, I would sell the first beater, getting you I will guess $2,000.

Third, save yourself the money from buying ANOTHER beater, say $2,000.

So that's basically like $5-8K off your current loan, maybe more depending on how much your first beater can sell for and how much you have in savings for that second beater. Not to mention all of the gas, repair, maintenance, and insurance costs that you will be saving by keeping the Fit.

 

That would be good, if I could afford the car payment. I'm taxed out, just trying to save from getting a repo and then bad credit on top of it.