Talk about taking one up the pooper...

I got an appraisal on my 1998 Explorer from the dealer today to see what they would give me for a trade. Before I tell you what they offered, let me tell you what some web-sites priced it at.

Cars.com = $8,525 (Average)
Edmunds.com = $6,239 (Average)
Kelley Blue Book = $8,115 (Fair)
N.A.D.A. = $9,250 (Average)

It has 109,300 miles on it. Looks good. Still shiny and interior is clean.

My dealer offered me $2,500 for it. I had it up for sale earlier for $7,500 and still no bites. If the dealer gave me $5,000 I would have probably taken it. Now, I'm stuck selling it myself. Guess I over-valued my ride, but doesn't everyone? I'm now thinking of posting it for $5,500. For some reason '98 Explorer's aren't selling.

At auctions the following ones were selling in my area, as indicated below:

89,000 Miles = $4,900
99,000 Miles = $6,400
75,000 Miles = $7,700

With 109,300 miles, do you think $5,500 is a fair price to both me and the buyer?

 

Sounds fair to me. Don't listen to your dealer, they just wanted to offer you SOMETHING but didn't actual want the hassle of selling a high mileage car. My 2000 Ranger is valued around $8000 with only 48K miles and they offered me $2000. It's still for sale too.

 

I personally would never buy a car with that many miles on it. Even if it's mechanically and cosmetically perfect, it's not going to be that way for much longer. Most people have a couple horror stories about cars in "perfect" condition going south in a hurry. If you hold out long enough, you can find somebody to buy virtually anything at almost any price. It's a question of how bad you want the money I think.

 

5500 doesn't seem to out of line i assume the dealer was allowing 2500 off the cash price and not the MSRP

 

Send me an eMail to: F o r d @ B e g i n Y o u r . c o m

I'll make some good suggestions that can help you get more $!

-Scott

 

Used car and truck prices are at an all time low it seems. When I sold my 97 F150, I checked pricing from NADA, Edmonds, and Kelley and there prices were all higher than real world prices.

 

I feel your pain. I traded an 03 F150 XLT 5.4 4x2 regular cab long bed in on my new 04 F150 Screw Lariat. The first dealer wanted to give me $11k on my 03, a truck I'd paid $24k for in April. I shopped around and found one that gave me $17.5k for it with no haggling. Yes I took a loss, but I need a 4x4 for this winter due to a job change. I sure am glad I shopped around. But truly, I'd have kept the 4x2 rather than take such a humiliating loss on my 03. The salesman pointed out that, with the new truck sales programs, rebates, low interest and even zero interest, the used vehicles are valued lower.

 

Vehicles over 100,000 miles are hard to sell, hard to finance and impossible to sell an extended warranty on. As a result the dealer will sell that vehicle off to a wholesaler and it'll end up on one of the little corner used car lots. So your dealer gets a cut, the wholesaler gets a cut and the dealer who ends up selling it gets a cut.

Also used cars aren't terribly attractive right now. Consider the following:

A friend of mine had a 1997 Chevy Astro with 140,000 miles on it. He decided he needed to trade up to a newer Astro before something major went. He could buy a used 2003 Astro with about 30,000 miles on it for $17,000 or buy a new 2003 Astro with all of 15 miles on it for $21,000. Figuring the cost of his 1997 vehicle over the years he had it and dividing it out by the years comes to about $3605 per year to drive it (not counting oil changes, gas etc, just major repairs outside of ordinary maintenance and the cost of the vehicle). 30,000 miles was about 1.5 years worth of driving to him. Which means the used vehicle needed to be $5407.50 cheaper than the new vehicle for it to be a better deal. As you can see it just doesn't happen.

And it doesn't happen because of cash rebates or lower financing that is significantly decreasing the cost of buying a new car.

As a result dealers are under serious pricing pressure on used vehicles, no matter what the year and mileage. Because the used deals have to compete with the new deals. I'd venture to guess that this isn't going to change anytime soon either.

 

Very disheartening. I have a 1994 F150 with 124K on it. I want to try to sell it for $6-7,000, or trade in for at least $4,000. Doesn't sound promising.

 

Well, I am getting my F-150 for D plan, so they couldn't even really hide the money somewhere else.

I called my mechanic last night, who I've known forever. He's a friend of my parents, and he told me that he would buy it off me for $3,800. He said he'd drive it for a while and then try to sell when the market is a little better. He said if he made a lot more money on the sale, he'd give it to me. He had a hell of a time selling his '99 Explorer. Eventually got $7,000. But it took months and he sent it to a friend in North Carolina to sell.

Then I have another friend who said he'd give me $4,000. Said he normally wouldn't buy a vehicle with over 100,000 miles on it, but he knows I'm the only owner and also knows the whole history of it.

So I have a couple of back-up options at the moment. When I make up a price, I keep thinking to myself, "Would I buy it for that?" And the answer is, "No. I would never buy a vehicle w/ over 100,000 miles on it." So the key is not overvaluing your car.

 

E-mail has been sent.

 

Sold! Got nowhere near KBB's supposed value. But more than the $2,500 the dealer offered me. My best friend wanted it so he can get rid of his girly Rav 4. He gave me $4,300 for it to take it off the block.

But the good part is, that I can still drive it until my truck comes in. Then the day my truck is here, he can take posession. Plus I'm happy that there will be no B.S. in making the transaction. And I know she's going to a good home and I can see her every now and then.

So I got $1,800 more than the dealer offered and $500 more than my mechanic offered. I can deal with that in these tough used car selling times.

 

After reading this thread, I did some market research around the area. I finally put the signs on my '94 F150 for $5995. I had barely walked back up my driveway when two cars stopped and looked, and the third stopped and got out. He probably won't buy, but that was promising. KBB on the truck put it around $6100, not taking into account the camper shell. We'll see after I put on the corner this weekend.
Realistically, I wouldn't buy my truck for over 6K, so I'm not gonna try to sell it for over 6K.

 

Trucks also seem to be different from all other types of vehicles. Lots of people will buy older trucks for farming and hauling. It's always been my understanding that trucks usually resell pretty good.