hey guys...I am trading in my 2007 chevy cobalt ss/sc. It has about 88,xxx miles on it, black, and otherwise stock. The body is in great condition, with the exception of a very small ding on the driver side door and small surface scratch about 4 inches long on the same door. The only other things that arent in great condition is the front lip, and im missing the piece of trim around the sunroof button, and steering wheel is a little worn on the top.

Carfax has 3 accidents reported on the vehicle (although I only remember there ever being 2 but thats not something that will matter now.

Dealer is offering $3,000 trade in without having seen it yet, but was confident that it will not go lower than that.

What do you all think? I did an estimate on kbb.com and they have it at about $4500-4800... but thats without my accident history factored in of course.

Thank you for the help!!

 

I think all Cobalt values are **** now which sucks. Lol i dont think I'd let my car go that cheap, but then again it shows accident reports so it sounds about right

 

Try to sell privately?

 

Sounds about right to me. I traded my car in last week and got $3k for it. Granted it was just an LS, but it was 2 years newer, 14k less miles, and a spotless Carfax history. Not to mention no dents or dings on the body.

When using KKB you have to make sure you are looking at the right value. There is a big difference between private party sale, and dealer trade in. Some people look at the value you should expect to buy from a dealer, and that just aint gonna happen.

 

Accident history is a killer to value and the cars not worth anything as is

 

think of it this way. they need to put time and money into getting it ready to sell. they are gonna fully detail it, polish out that scratch, likely leave the ding, and get the missing parts. plus they will need to fully inspect and repair anything that needs attention. they are basicly gonna put a grand into it. so $4k invested, likely tag it at $5500 and sell it for $5k. thinking about it like that, $3k isnt that far off.

would be better off fixing the few things yourself, get it detailed and sell it privately.

 

You're going to get hosed by the dealer one way or the other. Just expect it.

If they give a good trade-in, they'll mark up the new car.

 

yea you all make very good points...my thoughts with trying to sell it privately is if I'm only going to get 4k-5k selling it privately it may just be easier to trade it in for the down payment on the new truck......definintely something ill have to think about

The car is honestly in such great condition, i changed the oil every 3k miles and everything and nothing mechanically wrong.

The killer is the accident history which 2 actual accidents weren't my fault (both hit from behinds)...and the third "accident" i now remembered was when a little old lady side swiped my parked car ...... oh well

 

When I test drove an SS (two months before I bought it) they gave me a price with the trade in and without the trade in. They were completely open about the fact that the trade in value was a sham.

 

They will probably not drop a dime in it and send it straight to the auction.
Trade in for anything is horrible because they make more selling used cars then new ones and people don't want to go through the hassle of selling it themselves. That's why mine will probably go to the scrapyard whenever I'm done with it, which will hopefully be a long time from now. Don't forget you do save a little tax money when trading it in verses selling it.

 

The accident is what did it, just dress it up yourself and sell private, dealerships aren't a charity

 

Sell privately and take that extra money and negotiate a better price for the new ride. Dealers don't want to go back and forth nearly as much when your not in the drivers seat so to speak. Saw this many times when I worked as a tech for Chevrolet and Subaru. Walk in there with the cash and start there. Jmo

 

it is a sham, there is one way of getting around it so they can't fudge numbers around to make you happy with trade in price and still get hosed. you need to ask what the difference is that you must pay for the new vehicle. find out what the new vehicle is worth and calculate yourself if its an honest deal or a ripoff

 

They won't offer you a penny more than they think they could get for that exact same car at the dealer auctions.

If you're trading it in at a franchise dealer then chances are that auction is exactly where it's heading.

 

Agreed, most dealers wouldn't want to keep an 8 year old car on their lots...but the value is still on the low side even with the 3 accidents on the record. I think you could pull $4k privately (in the GTA, it would pull $5k in the spring time).

Stock is always a good thing too.

 

Agreed. Most of the people that go in there have no clue. They think, "wow, I'm getting that much for my trade-in? That's awesome!" while they're getting it hard on the backside. Of course, they're also buying cars with like 8 year loans now so I can't say I'm surprised that it's so obvious yet they still get away with it.

Aside: whenever I have gone to a stealership I've told them don't bother giving me the price in terms of monthly payments. I deal in absolute terms only or I walk. I can math.

 

That same car would probably pull 6-7k out in my area. They seem to command alot higher price where I am at. I looked at a bunch of clapped out and rodded on cars before finding a clean example.

 

Wow that's pretty nuts, I didn't think the used car market was any hotter than the GTA.
FWIW, I paid $6200CAD (+tax) for my 06 IRL last April when it had 75k miles / 120k kms, bone stock, and that was a good deal.

 

Yup.

I am pretty sure our region fetches the highest prices for automobiles vs anywhere in this nation.

There's a large used car dealer in this area that buys almost all their cars for dirt cheap from the east coast, trucks them over, paints the under carriage black and sells them for top dollar.

Why are they so much cheaper on the east coast you ask? It's because auto's rust like crazy over there and everyone there knows it.

Here in this area it's not uncommon to see a car that's 30 years old with no rust.

It's sad what they're doing to people.

 

Most of them in our area right now are in the 7-9k price range lol I like to look for the heck, of it. I agree with you and that's why every vehicle I have purchased I have travelled to other areas and states to get.

My 07 I just picked up for 6300 with 43k on it down in ca and I prob could resell it up here for 8 at least. It is ridiculous in the PNW wa.

Also lately with the junk they are now laying down on the road I am beginning to think that we are getting no better them the Midwest for rusting out cars. I don't know how many times I put a car up on my lift and find it rusting and a bugger to work on since everything is getting corroded.

 

Sounds low for the miles on it.

 

If anyone does a carfax on it you most likely wont get much more selling it privately