If you think ur gonna make money out of the CLK55, you're going to be in for a world of hurt. MBs have terrible depreciation especially the expensive models. I've a friend who works at MB and he took in a 07 CL65 (some stupidly expensive car) because the owner wanted an SL-something and the CL took a $49,000 hit!

 

I'll be interested to see if the C63 will do the same.

Looking for a minivan type vehicle? Check out some 06 R-classes' I've seen as much as 40% depreciation on a 1-2 yr old car!

 

http://www.carmax.com/

 

You weren't patient enough and should've sold private party. I just sold my 05 today for 10% less than what I paid for it new April 2006.

 

tax credit?

tax credit for trading in a car?

explain..........

 

So, since we're talking about the resale value of RX8s, I want you guys to guesstimate how much I would get if I sell my car to a private buyer............I have 2004 winning blue RX8 fully loaded with nav-system and everything. It has about 33000 miles on it. It comes with all the options...leather seats..seat warmer....spoiler...nav-system..6 disc bose...appearance package....etc,.. and it's in excellent condition... so how much would I get to sell it to a private buyer? or how much I would get to trade in?

 

I would guess you can sell it to me for $500.00

Seriously though I would check on www.edmunds.com for the TMV of the car.

 

haha.......how about 500 plus your 8. :P j/k .....I know ....I already looked it up on KBB, Edmunds...etc,.. ... I just want to know how much these RX8 owners think it's worth. 'If' I decided to sell it, I would take my time and look for someone who really knows and likes these cars. Or some rich kid who wants a car that looks good and doesn't care about the money! haha! I would never do the trade in at a dealer!! :/

 

the buyers are going to look it up on kbb, and aren't going to be paying more than that figure.

 

I would check the FS/WTB section of the forum and see what comparable cars are going for.

 

When trading in a car they put whatever amount they give you for the car towards the next car. Ex. you sell for 14k and buy a car that's 25k, you owe 9k. You only pay tax on the 9k vs all 25k so you save money. He would have been better off selling it private getting more money for it, then putting that money down and still getting the tax credit.

As someone has already said, they go by black book value not kbb or edmunds. Don't waste your time looking at those because they're always a few thousand over what the car is truly worth. Those really only work in the dealers favor because then they can justify charging you more for the car you buy than it's actually worth. I sold cars for a few years, if you don't know what you're doing you can really get ripped off. My biggest sale was a 10k profit which I earned 2000 of. That person will be buried in that car for at least 5-6 years.

 

Quote said by me:

 

lol ^

And what a great quote it is.

 

Your math is a little off, but the idea is correct, well dependant on yoru state. There are states that charge tax on the full sale price, and others that tax the trade difference.

 

lol oops, that was supposed to be 16k

And yea, it does depend on which state you live in. I've lived in FL since I was old enough to drive so I don't know what any other state does.

 

check nada or blackbook. that's what dealers use.

 

NADA online isn't the same as what dealers use, but it's close.

 

the true true number that a dealer will use will either be NADA or what they call Manheim. Which is an online auction house almost. You put in the vin # of the car your appraising(the dealer anyway) and it gives you 10 of the closest matches in your region and gives you the $ amount your car can be bought for at a local dealer only auto-auction. This is why mercedes benz is such a tough car to trade-in or buy. I sold my mom a clk320 for 10K back of NADA Wholesale. Not retail folks... Thats right wholesale. Your car can look awesome on paper, but if it looks like they can buy your car cheaper somewhere else. Theyll use that against you.

 

Just for ***** and giggles, I asked a BMW dealer what they'd give on trade (at time, 05 8 with 19k miles) - I have a Sport 6MT.

Bottom line - 17.8

This was about 4 months ago.

I didn't buy the M3 after test driving it. Fast, but WAY overpriced (IMO).

 

Very correct! ^

 

When I appraised cars I looked at two cources, then called a few people. The two sources were Black Blook, where msot cars I was trying to stay below average after reconditioning(inspection, tires, brakes, body work, etc... ) and MMR. MMR is what youa re referring to. It's nto somethign called Mannheim, Mannheim is a town in Pennsylvania that houses one of the largest auto auctions int he world every thursday, plus a highline sale on fridays. They have a web-based software tool that compiles results from auctions around the country and puts them in nice useable GUI's. This is called Mannheim Market Report. Typically I would look for the lowest a recent similar car sold for as close to my location as possible. I would then subtract seller fees and arrive at a good number between those sources. The I would call a few local wholesalers and get actual BUY numbers on teh cars and come up with a number from that. Sometime wholesalers had a hoem for the car already, and therefore could give a strong BUY number, other tiems they couldn't and therefore you have to roll the dice, under the MMR number.

 

Dude lol its called lamens terms I didn't wanna try and sound all cool like I'm some upper eshlon guy that knows more then other people, petty shot I'd say. Plus you can't forget safety,detail and reconditioning and the dealer associated pacs that go into these vehicles before they even hit the streets.

Say If shaun came into my store and traded in his Rx-8 id already be thinking in my head ok well I've got my 500$pac that insures I get paid(I.e. this would be the owner or General Sales Manager at a car dealership). So I'd automatically shoot a minimum of 500$ back of what its worth or what I thought it was worth. Then comes in all my reasons of Shaun ive gotta make sure this things bank financable, safe and secure, and in perfect condition for the next owner of this vehicle.

So just to console everyone who loathes trading there rx-8 in. Trading in any car sucks. Be thankful you did'nt just recently purchase a jeep product or chevy product lol They lost way more money in 1 year than you lost since you bought your rx-8

 

All of this is only done when you don't plan on selling the car on your lot. Ex. when you have a Honda traded in on a Mercedes and you want to take it directly to auction right after trade. Other than that, you just look at the black book and call it a day. If you're going through all of that trouble for every car then you're just wasting your time and the customer's/salesman's time.

 

Why? All fo this is done while pencils are going back and forth. All of this should take no more then 15 minutes, save for a few calls back. MMR is superquick, and usually takes less time then looking in a book.
I guess maybe I spent a bit more time, because I was never a dedicated used car man/wholesale guy. Whenver I was appraising cars I had to be a bit more careful, because I didn't do it every day, didn't go to the auctions to buy cars and therefore was a bit more unfamiliar with the going rates then most Used Car Managers. Gently used, year old cars of the smae make as what we carried always were appriased different still. When I worked at Honda, if we were selling new '07 accords, and someoen came in with an '06 with 10k, the only book I looked in was the invoice book, and worked backwards from there. Need to be able to sell it with $2k profit for $2k back of Triple net on a new one, and assume ti takes some reconditioning.

 

Definately agree with that. Manheim is easily the most affective and accurate guide out there. Unfortunately its just not available to the general public lol.