Poor trade-in value?

Se7enLC · **Posted:** Wed Oct 17, 2012 8:54 pm

I'm about to buy a new car and trade in my 2005 Liberty Renegade. Dealer gave me the "generous" offer of $3500.

Looking at KBB, it's a raw deal, but is that normal/expected for modified vehicles?

(Jeep has 97k miles, it's 3" lifted, 245/75R16 tires, manual transmission, off-road package, trailer hitch+wiring, heated leather seats, overhead console.)

Dealer basically said that they don't really want it - lifted vehicles are hard to resell and the modifications end up taking away from the value of the vehicle.

I'm hesitant to private-party sell it because it's old and definitely could use some work. MA has very strict lemon laws - if the jeep ends up failing inspection or needing anything, I'm on the hook for it - no such thing as "as-is, take it to a mechanic before buying it".

Anyone have similar experiences with a lowball trade-in?

lfhoward · **Posted:** Wed Oct 17, 2012 8:59 pm

Wow, that is lowballing it. When my 2000 XJ Cherokee with 128K miles on it got totaled, the insurance company paid out $6000. Granted, it wasn't lifted, but it was older than yours and had more miles on it. I'd take your KJ to a different dealer who will work with you to negotiate a fair trade in price.

99_XC600 · **Posted:** Wed Oct 17, 2012 9:13 pm

Take it to CarMax and have them give you an independent appraisal. If it's higher, you can use it as negotiation tool or if all else fails you can sell it to them if the dealer in unwilling to deal.

Se7enLC · **Posted:** Wed Oct 17, 2012 9:31 pm

99_XC600 wrote:

Take it to CarMax and have them give you an independent appraisal. If it's higher, you can use it as negotiation tool or if all else fails you can sell it to them if the dealer in unwilling to deal.

Oh, good idea! I didn't know CarMax purchased vehicles. Too bad CarMax is so far away from me, I don't know if I have the time to get to one.

I don't think it's a matter of negotiation, they really just don't even want it. I imagine another dealership might offer more, but it would be in exchange for a higher price for the car I'm buying, of course.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Wed Oct 17, 2012 9:43 pm

Modifying vehicles can and will drastically lower resale value to a dealer.Mods never increase value.

If you can return it to stock you will most likely get almost double for it as trade in.Getting it appraised will do nothing either as they don't have to offer you anything for it.Sorry but how it goes.Around here there paying top dollar for lower mileage stock KJ's in the '05-'06 model years,modified they won't give you anything.

Dje Ryu · **Posted:** Wed Oct 17, 2012 9:55 pm

My '05 Limited got totaled in June. 3" lift, Detours' Backbone, RL Step Skink sliders, missing 2 fenders, missing rear sway-bar, grenaded front differential, LOTS of off-road scratches, etc... Ins Co still gave me almost $8800. And it sold for $2400 in the salvage auction! They are definitely giving you a VERY low offer.

At The Helm · **Posted:** Thu Oct 18, 2012 12:14 pm

Sadly though if the dealership does take it, they will probably mark up the price on retail because its lifted and bigger tires. I always see that in autotrader and windshield stickers on lots- (Lifted!, Custom lift!, off road machine!, one off custom vehicle, etc etc).

Se7enLC · **Posted:** Thu Oct 18, 2012 12:21 pm

Atthehelm wrote:

Sadly though if the dealership does take it, they will probably mark up the price on retail because its lifted and bigger tires. I always see that in autotrader and windshield stickers on lots- (Lifted!, Custom lift!, off road machine!, one off custom vehicle, etc etc).

From what I got from the salesperson, I don't think my jeep would be cleaned up and put out on the lot - I think it would be carted off to the auction for some other dealer to deal with. :cry:

I should specify that the dealership is not a Jeep dealership, so their interest in custom Jeeps is much lower.

kingjeep · **Posted:** Thu Oct 18, 2012 12:26 pm

i use to specialize in selling cars on eBay all over the world dealers are liable for as. not independent sellers disclose what you know any thing that brakes after they take it is their problem they broke it.

as far as taking it to actin i have done that too. cars go to action for many reasons it can be the dealer dose not want cars older then a year or it wont sell to their clientele do to brand model or even color. if you can find a used car lot that sells older cars or modified cars; there are dealers that specialize with jeeps. you can even try to work out a consignment deal with a small used car lot i worked for a dealer who charged 10% or $1000 winch ever is grater. when i started selling cars for pepole on my own i charge 10% up to $1000 then 3% after that but i did not rep cars i could not sell for less then
$2000 it was not worth my time and i charged a nonrefundable deposit to cover my coast.

kjstinga · **Posted:** Thu Oct 18, 2012 12:47 pm

As you can see it is very dependent on what has been done or happened to the vehicle and whether the dealership plans to resell or auction it. Our stock, low milage, 04 Limited was hit and repaired by the insurance company; now it is worthless because no dealership will resell it with an accident showing on the carfax. I would have wished they totaled it. At this point the only choice I have is private sale or hope it gets in a really good accident. :shock:

kingjeep · **Posted:** Thu Oct 18, 2012 1:07 pm

kjstinga wrote:

As you can see it is very dependent on what has been done or happened to the vehicle and whether the dealership plans to resell or auction it. Our stock, low milage, 04 Limited was hit and repaired by the insurance company; now it is worthless because no dealership will resell it with an accident showing on the carfax. I would have wished they totaled it. At this point the only choice I have is private sale or hope it gets in a really good accident. :shock:

i almost for got some web sights for selling your car offer warranty you can add onto the car. also if its not worth selling another option you can consider is keep it as an extra car for trail or transporting things you would not want in your new car. even taking to places like the air prot so your new car is not sitting in a parking lot where it can be hit or vandalized while your away thats what i did with my old jeep till i found a buyer.

LibertyGuy · **Posted:** Sat Oct 20, 2012 10:29 am

I went to the dealer back on 7/2/12 to trade in my 2005 Liberty Renegade with 100,000 miles, no mods except the 245/70/16 tires which aren't noticeable. The Jeep dealership was giving me $5,000 for the trade in. I was going to get the new 2012 Grand Cherokee Altitude but I backed out. The trade in manager literally walked around the car and opened all 4 doors, peaked inside, all took about 30 seconds and came up with the price. According to Blue Book, I can get about $7K off the street for it.

XJMA · **Posted:** Sat Oct 20, 2012 6:46 pm

Dude, sell it private party. Especially in boston some rich kid will scoop it up!! The lemon law does not apply to private party sales!! Private party is an as-is sale, period. Private sale dude.

Also consider the amount that 3500 takes off of sales tax...if you can't get more for it private party, then give it to the scumbag stealership. chances are you'll get more though.

Tokyojoe · **Posted:** Sun Oct 21, 2012 1:22 pm

I saw a used older KJ model (`02-04) on a used car lot going for $10.5K. It was a stock Reni.

With all of my armor, lift, steel bumpers, and other mods, I know my trade-in will not be good. I will just sell myself.

With that.....see For Sale area.

Se7enLC · **Posted:** Mon Oct 22, 2012 1:03 am

XJMA wrote:

Dude, sell it private party. Especially in boston some rich kid will scoop it up!! The lemon law does not apply to private party sales!! Private party is an as-is sale, period. Private sale dude.

Also consider the amount that 3500 takes off of sales tax...if you can't get more for it private party, then give it to the scumbag stealership. chances are you'll get more though.

Lemon Law DOES apply to all private party sales in MA:

http://www.mass.gov/ocabr/consumer/auto ... sales.html

And "As-Is" and "Buyer Responsible" does not exist unless the sale price is below some amount (I want to say it's something like $700)

(Yes, you can take a chance that everything will go fine, but at the moment, my Jeep will NOT pass inspection, which is a big part of why I am getting rid of it. If you sell it, then it doesn't pass inspection, now you not only need to take it back or refund, now you need to wait for the new title to come back before you can even go to get it registered again, so it could be weeks/months stuck with a car that not only cannot be driven, but also cannot be sold. Not a risk I can swallow)

Ms5490renegade · **Posted:** Mon Oct 22, 2012 1:50 am

Welcome to jeep liberty life. My jeep got me 5500 at 6 years old in I'm sure much worse shape than yours. Try another dealer

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3

Se7enLC · **Posted:** Mon Oct 22, 2012 10:00 am

Ms5490renegade wrote:

Welcome to jeep liberty life. My jeep got me 5500 at 6 years old in I'm sure much worse shape than yours. Try another dealer

Yep! Well, it's actually more of a departure from the Jeep Liberty life. I'm sad to see it go - for any price! But I can't keep dropping money into it without even knowing if it will fix the problems.

I'm realizing now that it's not really possible to compare trade-in values on cars at all, for a few reasons:
1). If you're trading into a Jeep dealer, you'll probably get a lot more - because they will be able to turn around and sell your Jeep themselves, so they have a higher profit margin.

2). If you are trading in at a used car lot or a lot that sells both new and used, same deal - they will be able to use the car themselves, which gives them more flexibility in how much the offer, because they will be able to get more money for it.

3). If they *don't* sell used cars, all the trade-ins get wholesaled and carted away to auction. The auction company needs to make money, and the dealers that buy them from auction want to make money, too, so each additional middleman is more money you don't get. Random-Numbers-Example: If a car is worth $6k, wholesale isn't going to give you more than $4k because they need to turn around and sell it for $5k so that some other dealership can sell it for $6k.

4). "Trade-In" is a magical mystery value that gets rolled into a car purchase. Sale price on a car has a lot of wiggle room in it, and dealers can use that to give you warm fuzzies when you are buying a car. Real Life Example: One dealership gave me a quote of 30700 for my new car and a trade-in offer of 3500. Another dealer could only give me an offer of 31300, but a trade-in of 4000. Works out to about the same thing end-result, though ($100 difference). But the FEELING that you are getting more for your trade-in is enough to sway some people into accepting an offer. And even though the out out-the-door price ends up being the same, you feel like you have to buy from that dealer because they are giving you the best deal for the trade-in.

End result - I took an offer and I should be picking up my new car and turning in my Liberty later today. Both

and

Cherrie 274 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 22, 2012 10:12 am

I was offered sight on seen more than asking price for my KK in 09($16,500).That offer was to purchase a new vehicle.And private resale is high in my area.

Tokyojoe · **Posted:** Mon Oct 22, 2012 10:56 pm

Jeeps are dime a dozen but highly prized here in Colorado. Location location location.....plays a role also. Th value won't be there in New York City or LA, compared to Hooterville, Mayberry, or Vail.

Boomerang · **Joined:** Tue Jul 26, 2011 7:46 pm **Posts:** 184

Might be worth noting them lowballing it and telling you they "don't really want it anyways" is also their sales tactic to make you feel like they are doing you a huge favor by even taking it as a trade in. Ask around at other dealers what they will take for it and even use that as leverage when you finally want to trade it.

I did detail work or about 3 years for a Ford Dealership and saw this happen a lot. They will buy it for 3k and try and resell it for 11k.

Hell, they'll even give you a BS line about how the car they are selling you should sell for the full asking price because they "gave you such a SCREAMING deal on your tadre in" LOL, they love to squeeze the word Screaming into anything they can.

Poor trade-in value?

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