Value of these cars

[DiggerDerrik]

I recently bought a used F350 to pull my camper from the same dealer I bought my 2010 GTS FWD from new. My Kizashi currently has 110,000 miles and I can easily see getting another 80-90k out of it. No issue there. I had no intention of trading the car in and driving the diesel Ford on my 60 mile a day commute, but was curious what they'd offer. I was a bit shocked when they came back with a $3000 offer. I honestly thought it would be closer to $5k. This shows me the market does not understand what a great car Suzuki made. I'm keeping mine till it dies.

[KuroNekko]

I recently bought a used F350 to pull my camper from the same dealer I bought my 2010 GTS FWD from new. My Kizashi currently has 110,000 miles and I can easily see getting another 80-90k out of it. No issue there. I had no intention of trading the car in and driving the diesel Ford on my 60 mile a day commute, but was curious what they'd offer. I was a bit shocked when they came back with a $3000 offer. I honestly thought it would be closer to $5k. This shows me the market does not understand what a great car Suzuki made. I'm keeping mine till it dies.

I will never ever see the value in trading in a used car. It's simply a dealer's job to low-ball you so they can later sell it for thousands more to make a profit. They are simply counting on you to give in to the convenience and the allure of having a few thousand dollars knocked off of your new purchase. They know your mind is on the car you're buying so they will often offer a low price but make it sound like they're doing you a favor.

You Kizashi is easily worth about $6000. A private party will probably pay that or close to it. Dealers will often pay about half of what a private party sale would go for with used cars over 100,000 miles. I've told my story a few times here before but it exemplifies what I'm talking about:
When I bought my Kizashi, I was driving a 2005 Mazda3 S. 109,000 miles on it. The dealer wanted me to trade it in badly, but first offered me a ridiculously $2000. I refused and insisted it was way too low. They had a few people talk to me, including a manager. They then made a final offer for $3750. I still refused. I told them the minimum was $5000 because I knew I could get at least $6000 in a private party sale. They said no way and so I shut it down. It was very inconvenient as I drove over a hundred miles for the Kizashi, but I still bought the Kizashi, left it there, and then drove back in my Mazda3 as I was alone. I got the Kizashi a few weeks later when I had a ride up.
A while later, I sold my Mazda3 to a young woman on Craigslist for $6600 cash. She had actually come from Pennsylvania to Maryland for it.

If you're ever going to sell your Kizashi, seriously list it as a private sale online. While many don't know about the Kizashi, you'd be surprised how many people actually do. It's like a car gearheads have heard about but never seen or been close to. However, many of these people are actually familiar with its positive reviews. If you offer a good deal on it, I think someone will buy it and you'd still get much more than trade-in value.
I personally think that as long as a car runs and its AC works, there's someone out there who'd buy it for more than a trade-in offer.

[DiggerDerrik]

Yeah used cars are a huge profit for car dealers. No dealer who wants to stay in business will offer you Kelley Blue Book. I just thought the insult of $3000 was too comical not to share. Even if they'd offered me $5000 I probably wouldn't have pulled the trigger. I love my car and it's still my daily driver. She's paid for and has never really asked for anything other then gas. However she does need a new set of tires soon.

[Ronzuki]

I will never ever see the value in trading in a used car. It's simply a dealer's job to low-ball you so they can later sell it for thousands more to make a profit. They are simply counting on you to give in to the convenience and the allure of having a few thousand dollars knocked off of your new purchase. They know your mind is on the car you're buying so they will often offer a low price but make it sound like they're doing you a favor.

Unless, of course, you turn the tables on them and it's a real POS that's getting ready to cost you a small fortune...or worse. It is now their problem. That game works both ways.

[KuroNekko]

Unless, of course, you turn the tables on them and it's a real POS that's getting ready to cost you a small fortune...or worse. It is now their problem. That game works both ways.

I guess you could do that with a low mileage Jeep Wrangler. Those things have some of the highest resale values.

[WESHOOT2]

Our dealership doesn't insult customers; we show them ACV (Actual Cash Value) on their trades.
We make $85 for the transfer paperwork to the wholesalers (because we keep less than one out of fifty trades).

We hold $3,000 on trades we'll keep; average cost PER CAR to make it "line-ready" is $1,400.


FYI, all, profit really isn't a dirty word; anyone here work for free?

[KuroNekko]

FYI, all, profit really isn't a dirty word; anyone here work for free?

Profit isn't a bad thing but I certainly don't want people making it out of my assets. For reliable cars in high mileage, I simply think it's best to sell it privately instead of trading it in. I certainly think so for the Kizashi as it's an empirically good car with dismal resale value.

[DiggerDerrik]

I always figured most dearships made their most profit, outside of used cars, on parts and service. I worked in a parts department for a Bobcat skid steer dealer for a few years. The markup on parts were ridiculous. It was a flat percentage which if memory serves me was around 25%. What got me was the percentage didn't change as the part got more expensive. So a $5 filter cost the dealer about $3.75. A $10000 engine cost them about $7500. Plus shop rate was $165 an hour (this is 15 years ago) the mechanics made about $20 an hour. You can double that when you figure in their benefits.

[golftango]

$3K for a 110K mile, 6 year old defunct vehicle is not that bad considering...

I was offered $5K for mine which is 3 years old newer and only 32K miles.

[WESHOOT2]

At this family-owned dealership both our Service Advisors and techs are hourly, no commissioned or flat-rate shop here.

You virtually always get more by selling private (but not always); we suggest it to most folks.

The Kizashi, being an 'orphan', has no stone in the used market. Sad.