Stiggs

Called dealer today to find out what my Mom's 1998 E320 is worth for a trade in towards a new E class. Dealer gave me a quote of $14K. This quote is from kelly Blue book. Car has around 74K miles on it. Normal wear and tear. No problems as of yet! This seemed a little low to me, so I did some investigating on the net...Edmunds.com, NADA..etc.
They all averaged around $16K. This dealer seems to have found the lowest quote...has anyone experienced this?? What have you done? Possible to get the dealer up to $16K?

gstigler

I hate to burst your bubble but $14k is generous in my neck of the woods. Once they get the car they have to count on putting at least $1500 into it to clean it up and market it. With those miles the dealer will be lucky to retail the car for $17k, they will also have floor plan expense.

By trading it in you are save $1000+ in sales tax depending on where you live. Make sure that you incorporate this into your equation.

There's no better dose of reality than putting an ad in the paper or on autotrader.com for the car so give it a shot.

Good luck and enjoy the new E.

clkal

dealerships always play the number's game. If they raise your trade-in value up to $16K, they will raise the car that you are buying up $2K. So whatever they quote you on the trade is pretty final.