I tried to trade a '07 Sport (AT) w/less than 2000 miles and got an offer worse than even the 'good condition' Kelly BB value. What are you that have traded in a FIT for your new one, getting?

 

I would try selling it privately. Dealers rarely give you what the car is worth. If they do, they will make it up somewhere else.

I was lucky Mine was totaled and I got what the Fits in the area were selling for. More than KBB.

 

Dealers will low-ball you on trade-in value.

 

Like said above, sell it yourself. You will have much more of a chance getting what you want for it.

 

Trading in and selling privately are about equal in the end. It all depends on what your needs are. Trade-in means a smaller taxable amount (so less tax to pay)

 

Throw it on craigslist, i sold my 08 sport in a week....

 

craigslist, autotrader, or carmax

 

Have you tried Carmax? Carmax sometimes give you very good trade in, it all depends on if the car is in demand. With cars like Fit the demand is high so they are welling to pay more for it. I took my old 2004 civic Value package there and they actually offer me excellent condition KBB trade in value. I ending up selling it for 2K more by myself but their offer was surprisingly good. IT all depends on how much they can buy the car for at auction and how much demand they are. Do yourself a favor and take it to Carmax, I bet their offer would surprise you.

 

I have talked with dealers about trade-ins on older Fits. The key is what you did with your Fit. If its been lowered or modified in such a way for the used car manager or appraiser can detect it, or if your car has been wrecked, your Fit will get low dollar for two reasons.
First, he may have to spend considerable money to eliminate those 'improvements' you made, or rework damaged parts, or just accept he'll not get a good sale price on your 'wrecked' car.
And why are you selling it with only 2000 miles? Did you try selling it on Autotrader? If so what was the potential buyer's reactions. Honestly, what is your Fit's condition? Options?
A Fit in good original condition will wholesale about $14 to 15k. He's got to sell it at least a thousand under an 09 Sport AT which lists at $17408, say $14999.. What did KBB say? And what did the dealer offer?

 

I'm curious as heck as how an '07 has only 2k on the odometer, unless it was owned by an old lady who drove it only on Sundays. Assuming that the car is immaculate, in original condition (i.e., no over the top mods) and has never been wrecked/flooded/etc., I see no reason why you can't retail it for top dollar via sites like Autotrader. The market for used Fits is white hot at the moment given the dearth of used and new ones in the pipeline. So, unless you've turned it into a monster truck or it's been melted down in a fire, you should have no problems.

 

Another thing to keep in mind is the tax advantage of trading in over selling it.

For example lets say your trade in value is $13,000 and the new car is $16,000. When you buy the new car your only paying tax on $3000. If you sell it outright you might make a bit more money but you need to make sure its enough to offset of the cost of now paying tax on the full $16,000. If you got offered 13k trade in your better off doing that then selling it privately for 14k.

Granted this is assuming your not rolling over debt into a new loan.

 

Note: this is not true in all states. California, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maryland, and Michigan allow no deductions for auto trade-ins when calculating sales tax. (And Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon have no sales tax on autos.)

 

never knew that but that does make sense.

I know that's how it works here in IL.

 

The car is perfect (no mods,damage). It has 2k miles as I just did not drive it much. It is not my only car. The dealer offered 14k. KBB is 15.5k for excellent condition.

I would save tax on the trade in here, but that value sucks.

 

Here in Maryland you pay no tax on the trade-in portion of a new car deal.

Since I KNOW your post is wrong about Maryland, I assume it contains other material errors. Too bad, cause it sounds so knowledgeable.

 

In Missouri, if your bill of sale is notarized, then you pay sales taxes on the difference of the two sale prices regardless of if the transaction occurred at a dealership or not.

 

So the dealer offered on trade nearly 90% of the original MSRP for a 2 yr old car? Idk but that sounds like a pretty sweet deal. Last I heard, Honda is planning to sell 80,000 Fits annually, and all major automakers have shifted production to favor more economical cars. So, it's really just a matter of time before supply catches up w/ demand.

As a general rule of thumb, even if your vehicle is by all accounts in excellent condition, dealers will typically offer a price closer to good or fair, which aligns better with Manheim auction averages.

Fortunately not all dealers are created equal, so you could shop your trade to get the best overall deal. I shopped my suv for 2 months before someone stepped up and hit my target. The spread between best and worst offer was $3K, and I ended up getting $1K+ more than KBB trade value for excellent condition.

 

Not on most cars since the demand is not like a Fit. I traded my 2008 with under 5K and with the tax savings I lost less than I will make up when selling the car. In 2011 there ain't gonna be anyone wanting the older models. Resale will drop significantly. Happens whenever a popular car is completely redesigned from the ground up. Always superior, always worth more in terms of resale. In other words: pay me now or pay me later. I chose "pay me now"

 

No need to get huffy; the state law changed a few months ago. Thanks for the update.

What happened was Maryland added the deduction provision, but also raised the tax rate from 5% to 6%.

 

What are you talking about? That's a great offer! KBB is unrealistic in most cases, as there is no "excellent condition" car to a dealer, no matter what they will always have to detail it, safety and smog it, and advertise it. Remember dealerships are FOR profit, so if they want to sell your car and make money on it, they will want to put it on the lot for at LEAST 16-17k just to break even after their expenses and paying the salespeople/finance/sales manager.

KBB is actually kind of useless for the average consumer when buying/trading cars. It's all just based on a math equation and no real market conditions are taken into account. The best thing to do is go and look at RETAIL prices online for similar cars, and go 10-20% below that for reatail on what you ask the dealer. It's reasonable, and in most cases they will agree. Especially if they are selling you the new car at MSRP. With the fit, you're in a good place because its a car people actually want, and can no longer get (GD3).