With all the special deals out of Detroit, Ive been looking at buying a new truck. Before my CTS, Ive owned a truck for over 20 years and after having to retire because of chronic back pain I said to myself...."screw it...Im goin luxury performance". The CTS is a great car.....step on the gas hooked up to that 3.6 and it'll put you in the seat.....but Im having trouble, because of my back, just getting in and out of it. Anyway, I decided to go back to a mid-sized truck/SUV hybrid and decided on a Explorer Sport Trac or a 06 Dodge Dakota 4 door TRX4 Off Road....No Sport Trac's available so the Dodge it was.....Here's where it gets interesting....now my CTS stickered for $37720...I bought it last April for $26700....it had 8600 miles on it and was a dealer loaner in fantastic condition. You know what they wanted to give me on a trade?.......$17500 to $19000 TOPS.....on a $37720 sticker 2 year old luxury pak with 17000 miles on it (with all options except the sport pak and GPS).....I almost fell off the chairs at the dealerships.....I still owe $20500 on the thing for cryin out loud....I finally hit a dealership that's still got a promotion for employee price plus rebates....the ONLY one around....no other dealer can see how he's doing it....but he is....They started off at $18000 and I fought hard to get $20800 on a trade. I took the deal only because of the EP and a $3000 rebate but I was amazed, to say the least, at the depreciation on my CTS.....The deals, employee pricing and rebates on new cars and trucks over the last year or 2 have literally killed the trade-in market.....so anyone lookin to trade in soon....get ready to be floored by the prices that will be coming at you....I'll miss my CTS but my back won't....I'll also miss all the great info that this forum has given me over the last 7 months....thanks and peace.....Schmit
Beware future trade-in'ers
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Understand that the first dealer was giving you an offer. Of course he's going to to try to lowball you; that's how they make their money. They're not going to come out with their final price first time around.
Before you ever step foot in a dealership you have to do your homework. Negotiations are all about information, and if you go in blind you are going to lose. There's plenty of sites on the internet that will ballpark your trade-in value (e.g. GM's own site) or you can go to the library and look up the redbook value. Better yet, if you can get access to wholesale auction prices in your area, you'll know almost to the penny what it's worth. You should never even think about visiting a dealer until you've at least done some basic research.
Before you ever step foot in a dealership you have to do your homework. Negotiations are all about information, and if you go in blind you are going to lose. There's plenty of sites on the internet that will ballpark your trade-in value (e.g. GM's own site) or you can go to the library and look up the redbook value. Better yet, if you can get access to wholesale auction prices in your area, you'll know almost to the penny what it's worth. You should never even think about visiting a dealer until you've at least done some basic research.
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