I was bored the other day and drove over to my local Chevy dealer to test drive a Volt. Yes a Volt. I really did not plan on trading in my PiP Advance unless I had really fell in love with the Volt. The car is nice in many ways but kinda small. Anyway, I had the guy run some numbers for me on the 2013. The msrp is $40k. After the instant rebates and savings, that brought the car down to $30k. So after taxes, title and license fees, I was looking at around $33k OTD. If you want to factor in the fed and state incentives, that would have brought the car down to $23. Now that didn't seem too bad for a base model Volt. So I asked how much for a trade on my 2012 PiP Adv with 15k miles. After they appraised it, they told me they would give me $22k for it. They would not go any higher. That ruined it for me right there. I laughed and walked out after that insult. They say that's the going rate for the PiP. KBB shows the Pip Adv trade in around $31k, is that the norm, or are these plugin cars really getting hit that hard on trade in values?
If you want more $, usually selling it on your own will yield you the most $. You could try selling it to a couple Toyota dealers. I've sold my Z to a Nissan dealer. I didn't buy any car from them. I got more $ than what a used car dealer offered me and it was even higher than what I was advertising in Craigslist for (and getting almost no response). I had a friend sell her old Accord to a Honda dealer. IIRC, she got about 2x what the Toyota dealer she bought her new '11 Prius from would give her. (IIRC, the Honda dealer offered her $1500 vs. the Toyota dealer's $700. Her car was quite old and she really didn't want to spend the time/inconvenience of selling on her own.)
I posted this on another thread: I was calculating to see if it is worth to trade-in my PIP advanced for Volt with this $5000 price-cut and fed rebate, for its extended electric range. I found I need to pay at least 5k-6k for a trade-in... not worth for the gas saved with some boost in electric range, plus I need to trade in for GM brand and sacrifice the cargo space, 5 seats, and etc (personal preferences). With the incoming 2015 Volt, I think it's better to wait to see how the Volt 2.0 looks like, and compare it with next gen PIP with longer electric range. Volt price cut Read more: http://priuschat.com/threads/volt-price-cut.130353/page-6#ixzz2bi1IG4sY Follow us: @PriusChat on Twitter | PriusChat on Facebook
I assume the dealer knew yours was a Plug In Advance and not the base model? Thirty one thousand sounds much better than twenty two thousand. No guarantee anyone would allow the KBB number.
I wonder how that guy brought the car down to $30k. I believe it will lack the navigation, leather, etc that PIP advanced has. I would check again, like - 1 - said, if the dealer knows you have an advanced not the base model.
^^^ Holy smokes! Glad my total out of pocket (assuming I don't have overages or I get dinged at lease return for damage, wear & tear, etc.) on my '13 Leaf SV (w/2 packages) for 2 year lease, 12K miles/year is <$7700, including disposition fee, tax, title, etc. It's so low partly because of the $7500 Federal tax credit (going to Nissan), a dealer w/a good price and a Nissan VPP code (someone called in a favor for me). The residual at the end is $20,601, which I frankly think is too high. As Leafs go back to Nissan on lease, it'll be interesting to see what values look like. I might be able to pick up a used Leaf for cheap at lease end.
That is the problem with vehicles like this. You really have to want to keep it for more than the normal 5 or 6 years. I am an early adopter when it comes to a lot of things. Unfortunately there is a price to pay to have the newest technology. I also think that the common negative misconception about electric and plug in vehicles might have a negative impact on resale/trade in values. We all know that the PiP is a great vehicle and will run pretty much forever, but unfortunately we do not dictate trade in/ resale values :-p iPad ? HD
