DO NOT go to the Valdosta, Georgia Toyota stealership to buy your Prius. They are using old school disrespectful psychobabble to sell their cars. They reeled us in with a $500 down to hold the vehicle for us, and wouldn't even give us KBB for our trade. Stay away. Stay far away.
Sorry, but I don't think that's very unusual. The dealership I went to didn't offer KBB for my trade-in, either. So, I just sold my car elsewhere.
Avoid Albany, Georgia's Toyota dealership as well. They don't honor their own warranties and lie at every opportunity.
KBB and Edmunds are notoriously inaccurate, which is why those of us in the business simply don't use them, we refer to Kelly Blue Book as "KBSB" Another valid point I often bring up is that Kelly will not buy your car for that price. Your car is worth what someone is willing to pay, no more and no less. Easiest way to get a real idea of its' value is to drive it to a few dealers and ask them what they would pay you for it, tell them you are moving and want to sell it. Post some info about what car you had, I can try and get you a "real world" figure on it. FWIW, I've seen KBB hit certain Toyotas as much as 20% under what they are really worth too (Tacoma 4X4s are a good example, they can wholesale for close to KBB retail)
I've seen a lot of dealer sites have links to the black book value. All you have to do is click on the link and put in the details. Everyone knows that NO ONE uses KBB. Not even sure how they stay in business with their inaccurate appraisals. Another source of value that dealers use is Galves. I think you're jumping the gun on not giving this dealer the benefit of the doubt.
I use Galves, but truth be told, Galves is really only the bible in the NY/NJ/CT/PA area, (I'm at a Toyota store in Rockland County NY) elsewhere it's Black Book, a lot of the dealers that I see at auctions in New England use NADA and I am told KBB is used on the west coast but it is a dealer edition book. FWIW, Here's Galves versus KBB on a couple of Toyotas that I appraised recently... ZIP is 10913 and I assumed KBB "Good" 2006 Tacoma 4X4 SR5 TRD Off-Road 38k D/Cab Long Bed. Galves was $20,850, KBB was $18,525 I was at $21000 2006 Prius Pkg2 41k Silver, nice car. Galves is $11,750, KBB is $13,550. I wouldn't pay $13,550 for that car, even if I went to the auction, car's worth in the low 12s 2006 Jag XJ8 Nav, Alpine, Bluetooth, nice. KBB was $21,900, I greatly overpaid for it at auction and paid $21,400, Galves is $19,550, it's a $20-20,500 car.
Interesting to see the negative comments about KBB here. When shopping around, I got offers for my trade-in based on KBB in all 5 dealerships, they actually went quite above KBB value competing for the sale. The sales people would always come with the KBB print-out in hands before starting negotiating. I guess it depends where you live...
I guess you published this before reading my previous post... I got offers above KBB for good condition for my trade-in in all 5 dealers in my area, ranging from $200 to 1K! ... And my trade-in really fits well the kbb good condition category...
I think it depends on what part of the country you reside. I traded my Cadillac DeVille last Monday for $125 less than the excellent catagory trade value in KBB. on a new 2010 V.
As a used car manager I personally don't like KBB, it tends to be wrong more often than it's right and causes us aggravation. If KBB values were accurate, then it'd make our job a whole lot easier. Heck, we almost lost a sale once because KBB said $10500 on the customer's car, it was worth $12k and they thought we were up to something! :frusty: We don't use KBB printouts where I work, and I am the used car manager. It's quite possible that your car was one that is worth as much as or more than KBB.com values. if you walk into a Toyota store with a nice 4X4 Tacoma and insist on KBB trade-in values, you can sure as heck bet that you will cheerfully receive that figure, which is, right now, thousands under actual market value for nice Tacomas. I'll pay a $1,000 finder's fee for every clean, reasonable mile 4X4 SR5 or better 03+ Tacoma that I can buy for KBB Good trade-in and that's not the only example. No one guide is ever going to be dead accurate, some are more accurate than others (Black Book, Galves) as they report on actual wholesale transactions and update weekly. On the other hand, Galves.com is $199 a year, kbb.com is free. Kelly also doesn't take an awful lot of subjective factors into consideration, such as color. A Desert Sand Prius will show the same figures on KBB as a Black one, but in the market that Black one is worth a bunch more. Get into Luxury cars and the spread can get even bigger, on a $25,000 car color can make as much as a $2,000 swing in the car's value. It also doesn't take into account previous bodywork, which can slaughter the value of a trade-in, no matter how well it was repaired. Any item is worth only what someone is willing to pay for it. The simplest and easiest way to get an idea of what your trade is really worth is simple, take it to a few used car lots who sell cars like the one that you are driving. Tell them that you want to sell your car and ask what they will pay you for your car.
I see... thanks for the info. My trade-in is a 07 Honda CR-V. I really baby my cars, so its interior is really nice and clean and the car is very well maintained (have all the maintenance records, bla bla bla bla…), but a hit-and-run in Chicago made its condition good, not excellent by definition. The dealer that offered me 1K over KBB good condition price admitted at some point that they went so aggressive against the competition because used CR-Vs, from 2007 and on don’t last long in the used car lots. They really sell very well. The dealer, which I’m currently buying from, could not cover the 1K but they came close at $800 above KBB and they said the same… CR-Vs are really easy to sell…
I've dealt with 7 Toyota dealers, all with trying to get a good price for my used car and a decent price for my Prius, to a tea, all of them were the worst experience I've ever had to deal with in buying a car, lies, totally undervaluing my used car, attitude, and downright feeling of dealing with slime was what I was left with. Toyota dealers will be Toyota's downfall.
As you know, getting hung up on what your trade-in is worth is beside the point. All that matters in the end is what it will cost you in $ plus your trade in to buy the car you want (and don't forget taxes if you decide to sell your trade-in). Any dealer will give you KBB if you insist --- and adjust the selling price of the new car accordingly. You might have actually gotten a better deal elsewhere in the end. Any dealer worth his/her salt will listen for your hot buttons and structure the deal to appeal to you - it's all the same to them in the end, and there's nothing wrong with them for doing so, they want to make a sale. It will almost always take some patience on the part of the buyer, compare several dealers and be prepared to make them wait. The odds of walking into one dealer and getting the best deal possible then and there are almost nil.
I'm not defending any dealerships here, but were all 7 dealers around the same value for your trade? Since you mentioned that all the dealers undervalued your trade in, is it possible that you feel the vehicle is worth more than what it really is? Again, I'm not defending any of the dealers you went to. I don't even know that info. But I have heard it numerous times from friends that Dealer A would only give them x amount for their car. I tell them they should have taken it because I think the car is worth less.
CR-Vs are also tough to find in the wholesale market and when nice ones show up they bring very strong money. I took a guess that it was an EX with 30k in a good color, for the heck of it I have a guy who would pay upper 18s for that SUV right now, KBB had it, using my ZIP of 10913 KBB has it at $17800 so that makes sense. Again, like anything else, it's the market. What I have seen is that some of these online sites update monthly or even quarterly. Right now, that's way too infrequently to stay on top of the market.
