luxury1

I have a loaded 2002 BMW 525i that I am selling for my new E class (arriving in two weeks!!!). Can I expect to get kelly blue book at the mercedes dealership?

Carnaught

In my experience with recent car trades, one should anticipate Kelley Bluebook wholesale or less. The dealers have explained KBB as a ballpark figure only but not the gospel for what you should expect to get. No matter how good your trade is, the dealer has said they "will wholesale the car out". Whether this is true or not is questionable.

tntmcj

IF YOU HAVE THE TIME I ALWAYS SUGGEST TO MY CUSTOMERS TO GET 2-3 APPRAISALS ON THEIR TRADE FROM OTHER DEALERS, MANY TIMES I HAVE SEEN KBB EITHER VERY HIGH OR IN SOME CASES LOW, IF YOU HAVE A SPORT PKG, COLD WEATHER PKG, PREM PKG CAR THATS VERY GOOD MERCHANDISE, AND DEPENDING ON THE MILEAGE, ANY BENZ DEALER WOULD KEEP THAT CAR TO RE-SELL, GOOD LUCK

DavidNJ

Here at least, with the rare exception of maybe a Turbo Porsche, BMW and MB dealers only sell used cars of their own brand.

Now many (most? all?) of them are part of chains that may include a dealer from the brand your trading. However, the dealer to dealer trade is usually at wholesale.

Wholesale is determined by recent auction prices. So, the car only has the value of an average car. That's way sunroof, CD changer, and heated seats are usually the only options on a car for inventory. They are the only ones that will hold their value.

The dealer may have more flexibility if they really want to make the deal. The auction price is only an estimate of what they will get for the car. Maybe, they can take a zero profit in their used car department.

I've had that happen trading a Honda for a Honda. At a large dealer (separate used car department) they offered $16,000 for the trade. At a smaller dealer (both departments mixed together more or less) they sold the car $200 higher however offered $17,700 for the trade.

If the car is low mileage (under 30k, only 2 years old) maybe your BMW dealer will buy it as a used car. If has never been hit, he can CPO it. And he knows the service history and such.

Still, you are talking auction level prices, but maybe a few dollars more...

Randy B

If you want to E-mail me your particulars on your BMW, and what region of the country you are in, I will give you the current auction wholesale value on your BMW. This should help you as a bottom dollar price. Only if you want, and this is free of charge.

Randy

luxury1

Done Randy, thanks for the help! By the way, love the E!!!

Barry45RPM

Here on L.I., NY the trade in bible is "Galves" book value. You can suscribe online for a day a week a month or a year. (I believe) My friend is the F&I guy at a Luxury Brand Dealership & that's his bible.

DavidNJ

All of the retail salespeople have a copy of Galves, however I don't believe any used car manager authorizing a trade use it.

It is useful for convincing a customer their car isn't worth what they think it is.

Barry45RPM

In almost all cases, the car is NOT worth what the owner thinks it is. Hell, a NEW car isn't worth what you're paying for it in terms of the "value" of the structure, components, engineering, etc. or you wouldn't be getting rit of it so soon... Your used car must be re-sold at a profit by the dealer. The longer you own a trouble free car, the more it is worth to you, and the less it is worth to a dealer to re-sell.

The sad truth is that a car is NOT an investment. Investments are ALLWAYS bought because it is thought they will go up in value & bring a profit to the purchaser. A car drops in value like a rock the moment it hits the street. An expensive car technically does the same job as a Taurus, maybe/maybe not as well...but DOES make a statement about YOU, and helps to build your image, etc., and it does make you feel good, but remember how thrilled you were when you took posession of the car you are now offering for trade... the one you secretly hope the dealer "takes off your hands" for the max amount, & lets you slide into your new ride for the minimum amount...

Nothing wrong with that, just the inevitable hard truth. If they were easy to sell, we'd all sell them ourselves at retail.

DavidNJ

Even worse than that, this price point requires financing on used car sales. Most people buying $30-40k used cars (range of a 2-3 year old E-class) don't want/have the cash to buy it outright.

One of the big advantages of leasing is taking resale out of the equation. Manufacturer's lease residuals, especially on a heavily optioned car like Barry45rpm's, will be higher than any likely resale.

David

jim256

A friend of mine is a dealer principal (US model franchise) and he considers the "ACV" (actual cash value) on trades or used purchases to be Loan Value in NADA. That's low! The salesman's commission is calculated from that low number when he's selling a new one with the trade-in, and then, the up-side, his commission is based on the sales price versus ACV on selling the trade. It's a tough business.

The worst dealers will take a car in at a low ACV, which reduces the salesman's commission, then get a "bid" from a wholesaler on the car that is higher, and the dealer raises the ACV but books that "profit" to the used car manager, and then when the salesman sells the trade, he gets less commission, again. My friend does not do that, but it's done over and over by some. There are good dealers and good employers, and there are bad.

Actually "auction" prices are best approximated by Loan Value according to my friend.

luxury1

I am trying one last attempt to sell privately by putting it on ebay. Have any of you ever bought/sold a car on ebay?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...RK%3AMEWA%3AIT

DavidNJ

I don't know about e-bay, however I sold my first S2000 on the S2000 forum classifieds. I showed it to the buyer. And then worked the deal through the dealer.

For about $500 more than I would have needed to cover the sales tax, he got the car detailed, all fluids changed, and a Honda Certified warranty.

I would advertise on cars.com, autotrader, etc.

Carnaught

I've listed two great cars on eBay and for what the market would consider as reasonable pricing. Got a lot of nibbles, but neither sold. My conclusion is that people want extraordinary bargains on eBay.

luxury1

OK, I brought the car to the dealership yesterday to be appraised (Bobby Rahal Mercedes Benz Wexford, PA). The used car manager said it was in excellent condition and was going to do research on the price but thought $22K but may be able to get $23 or $24 from a wholesaler. He said he would do some reaseach and get back to me that afternoon. A day later my service guy calls me and tells me it is only worth $21K. I told my sales guy what I was orinally verbally quoted and the reaction was basically Sorry! WTF?!?! It really makes me just want to forgo the deposit and leave them with the car. This is unacceptable for a dealership that is always touting number one in customer service.

Barry45RPM

Remember...customer service has nothing to do with the fact that they are in buisnes to buy low, mark it up & sell it for a profit...not to keep you in new cars.

Mr. Xristo

you should not exect to fetch much from a dealer for your 525 given there are new 5-Series' floating around.

your best bet would be to list it in the paper.

Davel

If your car is in excellent condition and no accidents, I would try CarMax. They were willing to give me more money for trade-ins than the dealer on two occasions...

adam2

On a new car the dealer should give you more than trade and then knock money off invoice. The value you should be looking at is the COST TO CHANGE. ie what it will cost you to get into your new car and give your old one in. FORGET what trade you will get. GO to diff dealers order exact spec and say What will it cost me to change my car and then compare values. The lowest Cost to change is you winner. Some may give you a big discount but low trade and vice versa.

Thats what I look out for