Derisory trade-in offers

blastman

Certain dealers take the p1ss big time.

Mate of mine is thinking of changing his car. He has an 03 Laguna, great condition, no bangs or scratches, average mileage. It cost about 30K when he bought it new.

He went into a certain non-Renault dealer the other day and was looking at buying a new car from them which had a sticker price of 46K. He asked what they would give him for his car as a trade-in.

He was offered 10K!

Anyone had a more insulting offer than that?

Jip

I was offered almost almost 2 grand less for my Bravo in a Fiat dealer than what I was being offered by non-Fiat dealer. Even at that, my car later went on sale in a different garage altogther for most that €1,500 more than I got it for. Doubt he got that much for it though.

JohnBoy

they seem to be worth nothing in the trade alright, my dad was trading in his 01, and eventually fought his way to seven for it, they said they could buy 02's in the trade for between five and seven.

Downtime

Slightly off topic but nonetheless shows how they take the piss.

G/F bought a car from a certain garage. It was second hand and seemed all right at first. She bought it for €6450. After a week problems started - wouldn't start, engine revving for no reason etc etc. Brought it back, and they sent it for repairs worth €700, again more problems, they fixed them again and then while driving the brakes locked. The guy in the garage said we'll fix that and I said yes you will by a full refund. Anyway she got money back plus some compensation after 4 months hassle. Car is on sale in garage for €7650 a week later.

bmoferrall

I explored trading my car for a skyline at Ken Lawford's in Nov. 2003. I bought my car for a little over 50K in November 2002 (a few months old at that stage). He rang around a few Alfa dealers and was quoted <20K from one!! It took me a while to get this out of him; he was initially too embarassed to tell me what the offer was. Worse still, the offer was from the dealer from whom I had bought the car a year earlier.
If anyone can beat that I'll be surprised!

unkel

blastman wrote:

He was offered 10K!

Anyone had a more insulting offer than that?

That's desperate considering he could have bought the €46k Renault for not much more than €40k cash

Tell him to sell his car privately for maybe €12k, so his net spend would be €28k rather than the €36k Renault are looking for

prospect

bmoferrall wrote:

I explored trading my car for a skyline at Ken Lawford's in Nov. 2003. I bought my car for a little over 50K in November 2002 (a few months old at that stage). He rang around a few Alfa dealers and was quoted <20K from one!! It took me a while to get this out of him; he was initially too embarassed to tell me what the offer was. Worse still, the offer was from the dealer from whom I had bought the car a year earlier.
If anyone can beat that I'll be surprised!

I know Ken Lawford personally, and/[edited]

Mike.

unkel

bmoferrall wrote:

I explored trading my car for a skyline at Ken Lawford's in Nov. 2003. I bought my car for a little over 50K in November 2002 (a few months old at that stage). He rang around a few Alfa dealers and was quoted <20K from one!!

A 60% depreciation on a (virtually) new car in it's first year :eek:

Can't say I've ever heard of figures that high

el tel

It must be a huge disappointment when this happens - I know of a dude who bought a Itchypu$$y Charisma for €17k, two years later was offered €4300
as a trade in.

But I have a limited amount of sympathy for people who go out and buy certain* brand new cars which everyone with any sense knows have rubbish residual values and will be worth peanuts after a very short while.

*Obscure Asian junk, Renault, Citröen, Peugot, Fiat, Alfa...

lomb

while u people enjoy ur lagunas loosing 10grand a year il enjoy my sl320 when i get it or an 840i loosing 1000 a year lol, 50 times better car, ah unkel u must be laughing for the last few years driving ur v8 7series

ionapaul

My mother changed her car earlier this year, wanted to trade in her '99 Seat Arosa in good condition for a new Toyota Yaris. She was offered €500-€800 by a range of dealers. I found out the book value was over €3,600! I eventually bought it myself, but she was told by the Seat dealer that if she had traded it in for a new Seat, he would have given her €3,000. Selling it myself at the moment and have an offer of €2,800 on the table, a tad higher than the €600 one dealer offered!

blastman

unkel wrote:

That's desperate considering he could have bought the €46k Renault for not much more than €40k cash

Tell him to sell his car privately for maybe €12k, so his net spend would be €28k rather than the €36k Renault are looking for

I should say it wasn't a Renault he was looking at buying, so it wasn't a Renault dealer.

He was offered 17-18K in a couple of other places he looked.

prospect

bmoferrall wrote:

a little over 50K in November 2002 (a few months old at that stage).

What kinda Alfa was it that cost that kind of money second hand!

murphaph

The only time a dealer will give you a good trade in is when you're trading in a worthless piece of sh!t that would be virtually unsaleable otherwise. Any half decent motor will get more private sale. It's just a hassle but a worthwhile one. Dealers can spot mugs a mile away.

528i

Theres a certain level of cretinous snobbery with these must have '05 platers., it doesn't matter if its a fiat/alfa or some half arsed offering from korea once it's new (and attractively financed) so they can have the revised grille model and keep one step ahead of the 'so-last-year' jones next door. only to go menthol when they find its worth the equivalent of a used tampon come trade in the next year.

bmoferrall

prospect wrote:

I know Ken Lawford personally, and/[edited]

Possibly. However, he initially said the offer was so low he wouldn't insult me by revealing it. Only after insisting did he tell me.
Having said that, when I put it to the Alfa salesman he flat out denied it so, who knows. Two salesmen lying at one...surely not

bmoferrall

528i wrote:

Theres a certain level of cretinous snobbery with these must have '05 platers.

I can assure you I don't fall into that category. I bought the car in November '02 and was given the option of leaving it with the dealer until january to get '03 plates. Sorry, no interest...just want to drive the feckin' thing.
In retrospect, yes I was stupid, but sometimes your heart rules your head...I'm only a young lad anyway...still learning about the big bad world :rolleyes:

ps: I'll beat this depreciation lark by keeping my car for another 5-10 years anyway.

mike65

Careful with the use of names guys! We don't want to see Dev in court on a libel suit.

Mike.

S2000

I had a 1995 Mitsi FTO GS, went to a dealer 2 years ago and was offered...... 1,800 on a trade in! It was mint condition!

Sold it privately for nearly 7...and the new owner thought that was a good price!

Blut

A friend of mine was selling his basespec, 02 Laguna earlier this year. Went from offers of 8,000e for it to offers of 12,500e just by spending two days shopping around about 15 different garages. Pretty good going for a 3 year old Laguna that originally only cost 21k or so iirc.

ando

I never buy new, never. Its financial suicide. Anyway, for the money you'd spend on a brand new motor that is slow as a snail, you could get a 2 or 3yr old motor with a lot more oomph and lose less per year on depreciation

ubu

prospect wrote:

What kinda Alfa was it that cost that kind of money second hand!

156 GTA isn't it?

John R

ando wrote:

I never buy new, never. Its financial suicide. Anyway, for the money you'd spend on a brand new motor that is slow as a snail, you could get a 2 or 3yr old motor with a lot more oomph and lose less per year on depreciation

I suppose it's lucky for the likes of you and me that there are so many suicidal mugs out there throwing away their hard-earned on owning a brand new motor for a few hundred days.

ismynametoolong

Guys whats the problem Alfa , Renault what do you expect . The Irish motor market is way way over supplied with up to 6 new chineese makes due to be offered from 07 and i can tell you these will blow the opposition away with their pricing and the quality will be up to the mark too.With ever increasing stringent legislation Cars will soon become like white goods and residuals will be a thing of the past .unfortunately we live is a society driven by greed and keeping up with thee jones and people no longer look at the car but the plate 05 D etc so i dont blame the garage for poor residuals just have a look at their second hand stocks .

Lawdie

Jip wrote:

I was offered almost almost 2 grand less for my Bravo in a Fiat dealer than what I was being offered by non-Fiat dealer. Even at that, my car later went on sale in a different garage altogther for most that €1,500 more than I got it for. Doubt he got that much for it though.

Fiat dealers operate open book pricing, most other dealers use the new vehicle discount to boost the part exchange value.

Regarding the Laguna, its no secret the cars a "pup", the older model was superior in many ways including electrics! There hard to shift second hand.

On the subject of other oddballs "skylines" thats what they are "oddballs", theres no great market for these vehicles. There are some specialist dealers out there who have contacts. Otherwise the salesperson rings around a few traders and gets a trade price to offer. This is common, joe public sees a retail sticker on a forecourt and assumes the vehicle will fetch this price for the dealer. He then applies this retail price to his trade in and expects the same or small difference offer.

No sticking up for the dealer, but its already been stated, look at the forecourts of used vehicles. Theres cost in stocking, depreciation, re-work, servicing, warranty work, sales commissions, government tax, misc. overheads, etc. and yes profit. Heres a real shocker for everyone, garages make a profit, yes just like the companies (unless your company is a charity/foundation of course) where were employed. Our companies are making profits off other people, either directly or indirectly and to stay in business they make lots of profits. They just don't sell cars to do it!


There is always the exceptions, generally garages try to get the margins and offer trade or slightly better prices for part exchanges. You can shop, negotiate or sell privately. Glasnost.

unkel

blastman wrote:

I should say it wasn't a Renault he was looking at buying, so it wasn't a Renault dealer

Sorry, my mistake. You clearly said it wasn't a Renault dealer in your first post

blastman wrote:

He was offered 17-18K in a couple of other places he looked.

Presuming against the list + extras for cars around the €45k-€50k mark? If so that seems generous enough

unkel

Lawdie wrote:

Glasnost

Hardly. Well at least not until those secret little trade books are available to the public online and updated regularly

bazz26

unkel wrote:

Hardly. Well at least not until those secret little trade books are available to the public online and updated regularly

Cannot see it happening anytime soon as the motoring trade tend to move the goal posts regularly with regards their valuation of second hand cars.

In their favour of course.

iregk

Give you a laugh, was looking at a bigger car so went to nissan on the belgard road. Asked about trade in and this was there offer for a 00 306 GTI, perfect condition 10cd changer and mini disk head unit with only 30k miles. €3,000....

I bust my ass laughing at him and he then tried to convice me thats all I'd get for it!!!!

prospect

unkel wrote:

Hardly. Well at least not until those secret little trade books are available to the public online and updated regularly

Some of us MAY have access to that very book.

PM 'somebody' if you would like the official valuation.

kluivert

Hey i got one for you guys.

Gf buys a 01 1L Corsa by a Opel Dealer for €6000 back in June 04.

A year later she wants to buy a bigger car so she goes for a 1.2 03 Astra that the same dealer has.

She asks for the value on her Corsa for the trade in, reply: €6000.

She takes it as thats what she paid for it. And... we left the dealer laughing in her new car.

I think they make it up.....

I know that alot of people are buying the cars in England and importing them here. Getting a better car (Spec wise) and takign advantage of the currency difference.