kertong

Hey folks,

Just wanted to see what you guys thought a fair trade-in value on my car was.

2004 Z06 with 53k miles, 2 owners (1 including me), no accidents, excellent condition aside from a small pockmark on the windshield.

I had a dealer offer me $21,500 today, and wouldnt budge on the price. I left pretty pissed off - I felt insulted. Is this normal? Am I out of line expecting to expect $26,000 on the car?

TM-Z06

Dealer is in it to make money....meaning, give you $21K for it, and sell it for $31K. If you want top dollar for it, sell it yourself.......with an asking price of $29K

whtgt02vert

i have an 03 and they offered me 20k for mine similar miles. The dealers can get these cars ar auction for about the same price. bastards dont wanna help us out. they have you trade in for 21 and then turn around and sell it for 28-30k

CYA-Vett

Believe it or not, that price is not that far off. I just checked the auction prices, which is probably what they checked, and is the REAL value of the car, not the inflated prices you see here. I bet you could get more for it privately but then you lose the tax benefits of buying your new car. Unless you can get 25K privately trade it in.
The closest I could find to your car was a 2004 black Z06 with 37K on the clock, it went for $24,500. You need under 20k miles to get the big bucks for it. There was one with 12k miles that went for $28,500.

NeoZ06

no way the car is worth low $20k's...

sell it privately... dont trade it in!

Vinca1

Was that a cash offer, or as a trade in on a more valuable car?

kertong

Thanks, guys. It was on a trade in, yeah - not a cash offer.

I'll take you guys' advice and sell it private party. I didn't want to have to deal with the tire kickers and joyriders, but no way in hell I'm letting a stealership take her for $21k!

furiousox

damn if i were ready for getting a c5z i'd be PMing you to buy it from you lol.

a bit off topic but when i was selling my old Evo 9 a while ago carmax gave me 19,000 for trade in. it was an 06 with 30k miles on it.

i ended up selling it for 24,500.

CYA-Vett

Unfortunately we ourselves are to blame, we all want Vette's in perfect condition with low miles. A little scratch or normal miles is not what we want.

Vinca1

After the tire shop wrecked my car and settled with me, I watched C5 Z06 prices in the western states for about 3 months. Week in week out, I saw the same cars offered for the same ridiculously high prices. I didn't see that many sell. I did see a 2003 sell for about 23k, and a 2002 for about 21k. I think 25k is about what you could expect to get for yours, but you'll probably have to fix the windshield first unless you find someone that's so hot to have it that they have lost their senses. That's about a thou. What about your tires? A dealer knows that a car with half worn out tires is going to be hard to sell. There goes another thou. What's sales tax in CA?.... about 8 per cent? That's another 2 thousand you'll lose by selling it privately.

A dealer also has to build in a safety factor for repairs that you are not disclosing. I know your car is in good shape, but he doesn't. He has to assume that you may want to dump it because it's going to have to have the head gaskets replaced.

I don't think you'll get any a dealer to give you much more than that unless he's making a killing on the car you are buying.

Cjunkie

I just checked as well. RETAILING an 04 C5Z with 17k for example and trading a 04 C5Z with 53k are two COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ANIMALS. Retail on yours should be mid 20's anyways so they are close to on the money. BTW thank the DEMS for keeping the gas prices high to help with the value of your car.

Daytona-flyer

Back in Feb. I traded in my '04 w/12,000 miles for a new '08. They gave me $30,000 for the trade plus 8k off the sticker for the new car.

Cjunkie

plus the 'sportscar' market is over in about 28 days and wont resume until spring. it really is a limited window.

Cjunkie

so why are we 'bastards'......should we pay more than what we can buy the car for elsewhere? remember one thing YOU the customer set the prices, we the dealers dont make the market. just thinking, should the dealer give this guy 30k for his trade when you can buy a NEW vette for 39k?

Daytona-flyer

Ha Ha Ha, you don't know?

L8ApexZ06

We took an '02 in on trade with 111k miles (it's the car I ended up buying, FWIW) toward an '08.

The owner told us that the car had a bad clutch, bald tires, and a few other minor issues.

We offered him $12,500. He took the deal and bought the new one (allowing me to buy the car with a slow leak in the clutch slave cylinder, rather than a bad clutch) and was happy about it.

Miles make a monstrous difference to any 'Vette buyer. Something like mine, which was driven 35 miles each way as a DD, doesn't look as attractive as one with 25k (which was probably driven hard during its occasional weekends).

Daytona-flyer

Perhaps I should explain. When I bought the '04 Z06, the salesman told me that if I didn't put many miles on the car, he would give me $35k if I brought it back for a trade-in within a year. When I came back for the 2008, nine months later, he claimed he knew nothing about this.

In addition, when they delivered the car to my house with the bill of sale, the price was $6,000 more than we agreed on. I told them to leave. It was then that they remembered the price given to me.


Eric

Vinca1

My 02 Z06 with 90k came from a dealer in Vegas who sold it to me at the auction for 16k. I'm pretty sure he thought it had a blown head gasket. As it turned out, it had a radiator cap that would lose antifreeze when the coolant boiled while the car was moving. It never seemed to lose any when the car was parked, which I found unusual. Nevertheless, a 5 buck radiator cap fixed the problem.

BTW, Mike, if you want to use my lift to change your clutch slave, you are welcome to. How are your synchros? Do they need replacing as well? I will be replacing the synchros in two of these transmissions. By then, I should know how.

butchvette

lets say your car is worth 25k & dealer gives you 20k....5k diff

negotiate to lower your new purchase atleast 5k....win win situation

Jameel

So have you decided to go for the NSX?! Is that why you're selling the Z06?