I just got a notice in the mail from my local dealership that honda is conducting a trade in for used cars like mine for new ones. They say i MAY qualify.

sounds like a sham to get me into the dealership and fork over extra cash. what do you guys think? Did any of you get this?

 

I have gotten those in the mail before. They're B.S. marketing ploy to trade in your car for a new one.

 

Exactly - just a way to sell you something new and get a pretty new-ish car to sell as a CPO. Of course they'll offer you a much discounted price compared to what they'll eventually sell it for.

 

I figured it was some sort of ploy. I was just curious how these things work. I was considering maybe trading my car for a newer model or maybe even going for a hybrid. I was wondering if I would be the responsible for anything out of pocket,is there any sort of surprise fees.you know, that sort of thing.

 

I had one of these that turned out really weirdly. Got an email on a Monday - generic blah, blah car in demand, value up, blah, blah, no price quote (even though there was a blank where they were supposed to put a price). Got a letter on Tuesday same as the email.

Got bored on Thursday, went in to see what was up, got offered like $10,000 to trade in my 2010 that I still owed ~$14,000 on at the time. Obviously left. Hadn't taken the letter or email with me, so I decided since it was so ridiculous (the letter said we will get you into a new car at same or lower monthly payment, and indicated that the car was worth a lot) that I would take the letter and email along with a KBB printout that valued the car ~$16,000.

Sales manager met me at the door, thought I was mad about it or something, passed me off to a salesman with a "let's get this whole thing straightened out." He also misspoke and said "I haven't had a good sales day, so your car could be worth a couple thousand more today because of that" (pretty sure he meant to say couple hundred). Sales guy acted like $11,000 was a great offer. I showed him the KBB, he said he couldn't offer me that much because it would cost him $1,000 to get it CPO, and then it would be selling higher than new. I said something to the effect of "then don't send me letters that indicate that's how much you're going to pay, I'm only here because of the letter." I think he got up to about $12,500 before I left, but my monthly payment would have shot way up because I'd still be paying at least $1,500 on my 2010.

That guy called me on the way home and offered $14,000, said I couldn't refuse it. I did refuse.

Next day in the mail, I get the same letter, only it has a filled in amount of like $15,800 guaranteed trade-in value. I thought that was crazy that they'd rushed that to get it in the mail at the end of the day after I left.

Turns out they had mailed it on Wednesday. Before I even went in to the place.

 

yah, a lot of dealers do this crap to keep their inventory and cashflow moving.

it's pretty dumb imho and i just toss those ads in the garbage. i will decide when i want to sell my cars.

 

Thank you for the great responses. I found tsefardayah response the most informative. I decided to hold off on the appraisal and ended up canceling the appointment for now.

 

yah, let's be smart.

 

I got one from the closest dealer (bought the car from the second or third-closest dealer). It referred to my car as a Base Fit when it's a Sport.

I was insulted so I'll be going back to the selling dealer for service. I mean, if they wouldn't reward me by offering to sell me a car at a reasonable price when I was shopping, why should I visit their service department?