I put a down payment down back in January for a Storm Silver Sport AT at MSRP. A week and a half before the release I opted for A Milano Red instead. I called and changed the order at which time the dealer said that it will arrive 4/20 the same time as the Storm Silver. Well it didn’t. Yesterday he called and said it doesn’t look like it will be here until May 18th. Today he calls and says that the computers were messed up and it has arrived. I scheduled a 9:00am appointment tomorrow to finalize everything.

I will be doing a trade with my 2003 Civic 2 Door LX (minor upgrades include aftermarket alarm, tint, and aftermarket fog lights) in great condition. Initially he had told me I can definitely get $10,000 for it. At the time I did not want to do the back and fourth thing just yet and told him we will figure out the trade value when the car arrives. I have researched the Edmunds true market value (stock) which is $10,500. Kelly Blue Book and Nada are around the same. Dealers are selling the car for $12,500 and $13,500 after Honda Certification. I want at least $11250 for it.

I figured I may be able to milk the delay in my Fits arrival for some extras. I need the cargo cover and the carpet floor mats. I want the windows tinted, a cargo net, free oil changes, and possibly the inside switch garnish pieces. I have checked online and know their prices. I would like to get some things thrown in for free and will only pay online prices for the others.

Last week, after the delay, I went to another dealer who just got the same car I want: Milano Red Sport AT. I did the run around with this dealer for two hours figuring at least I will know where I stand at other dealers. After getting them to drop the extras off and getting the Fit for MSRP we moved on to the trade. After a back and fourth with the used car sales manager I was able to get him to agree to $10500. Which is still not enough. I walked because I still have my deposit at the first dealer.

Tomorrow morning I will be going to that first dealer to finalize everything. I have two dealers with the same car. How much should I accept for the trade? What extras should or can I get thrown in? Has anyone else done a similar trade? How much power do I have (with two dealers in the same area)?

 

go to kbb.com to see the trade in value for you car.

 

You should sell the car for the highest bid on your own. It is a honda it will sell. You are putting yourself in a situation most people dont like. Many people dont care. If you sell your car on your own you will get top doller and somone will get a better deal on a nice honda. Now as it stands you and who ever buys your car has a better chance of doing less on the deal.

 

if certified civics like yours is only selling about 12.5-13.5 (asking price, they will sell for less).

how can you expect 11250 for your non-certified trade-in??

10500 is a fair number.

ask yourself, would you buy a private party civic for 11250? or a certified one for 12500 (where you know you can haggle a bit more to get some additional discount)? not to mention able to get finance, trade in, and warranty if you wanted to.

as far as leverage against those 2 dealers, you can try to get them to bid against each other and score a few extra hundred dollars, but other then that, i doubt either of them is going to sell a fit at msrp (which they shouldnt have too much problem selling at this point), and step up another 750 on your trade in.

 

The reason it is a better deal to trade rather than sell on my own is because we have a Trade in credit here in Ohio. I only pay taxes on the difference saving roughly $800-$1200.

I think it is totally fair for them to give me more because they are already making profit on the Fit. Why should I give them more profit on the trade? Bottom line if they sell to someone else for MSRP without a trade they make the profit only on the new car. If they sell to me with the trade they make money off of the new car and the trade (even if they give me $11250).

Wuth the truest sense of Capital America you guys are bowwing to The Man without a fight. Why should I even care about their profit? Why should I accept a low amount knowing that they work $1000 - $1500 profit into the trade? It is people who accept these low amounts without at least a fight that screw it up for the rest of us.

I may accept the $10500 for the trade so long as I feel comfortable with the rest of the deal. At the end if I am happy then the deal was good.

 

if you know what the profit margins are on the Fit, let's say for argument sake is $1000 (I know how much btw)

if you go to the dealer, and basically stir up this whole mess about your trade, throwing in free stuff, etc.. and you DO succeed in getting a good deal and the "stick it to the man" and he makes nothing on the trade and these extras, what does that mean?

it means that he is now stuck with a car he has to do MORE work on getting to sell, taking a risk that he can might end up breaking even or losing money on your car (because he can't tell what he needs overall to certify it) and he makes almost no money on the parts (online stores are cheap because they have no overhead..)..

he can skip all this "pain and suffering" and get the same profit ($1000) if a buyer walks in the door and just buys the car at MSRP, with no trade..

if he had the choice.. which one do you think he will pick?

the car is hot right now, and they can sell.. you have almost no leverage in this deal anyways.. i doubt they will bid against each other on a Fit..

-joe

 

why should you give profit on the trade?? because they do work on it, smog it, safety it, pay the sales person, advertise it, put it on a lot, all this to make a profit, not to just break even.

and lay off the conspiracy theory, there is no THE MAN. the only person sticking it to someone is you.