I'm new here so I'm just saying hi. I'm seriously considering trading in my 2001 prelude for an rx-8 this summer. Anyone have any suggestions or anything on doing a trade in? I looked my car up in the blue book and they say the dealer should give me about 15k. Do dealers usually give blue book value or should I expect more/less? Thanks. btw, I'm in the DFW area in Texas.

- John

 

Hey.

 

dealers will give you whatever they think they'll get at auction, my car was 4000 in the blue book they offered 2000 we settled on 2600

 

I can only relate my trade in saga but expect to get hosed if you don’t stick to your guns. Trade-in is an area where the dealer can make big bucks so go in with a game plan. If blue book for Trade-in is 15K allow about $300 leeway or walk out the door. The dealer will say the car must be “wholesaled” and is only worth 12k to him (not your problem). The main factors to also keep in mind are do you owe any money on the car? If the dealer will be paying off your note he should get some slack. What kind of deal are you getting on the RX-8? In buying other cars I have gotten trade-in offers 3k OVER book so the dealer can show the sale price of the car being higher than invoice, never liked dealing with people like that.
In my case I had a 2001 PT Cruiser worth about $7,600. The price of the RX-8 was “fair” so I stuck close to blue book on the PT in order to make the deal. The dealership offered me $5,000 saying that they could only get that amount for it wholesale. I walked out the door, got in my truck and pulled out. Running out the door was a sale manager saying he could do $7,400 so I got it. Another strange thing was they had me sign a paper saying that the PT was worth $5,000 but they were still giving me $7,400 off the RX-8. Funny thing is the PT was in great shape and they sold it off the lot two weeks later. Bottom line you have to be a stubborn a-hole when buying a car under $60,000, don’t trade in the Honda for anything less than $14,800

 

Prelude is a good seller. Sell it privately and go buy an 8.

 

(in my best Monique voice) Heyyyy!:D

 

thanks for the reply expo1. I was also looking at selling it privately. I need to look around the area and see what other people are getting for their preludes. It's in great condition with only 13k miles on it.

 

hi john and good luck

 

13,000 miles on a 2001! I am going to put that many miles on my 8 in 7 months. $15,000 is a bargain; a dealer will sell that on the lot for $17,000. Look around the local papers for what Prelude’s go for. Also go to some local Honda lot to see what they are asking for cars like yours. I know selling a car privately can be a drag, try Ebay motors? Here is a link to 2001 Preludes people are asking more than 15K for cars with more miles than yours.
E Bay Motors

 

Without a doubt the best advice is to sell it private party. It might take longer and is not a easy as trading in, but you will be much better off in the long run.

 

just searched through the dallas morning news classifieds and people are selling my car for $20k with almost 50k miles on them. I really don't want to go through the hastle of selling privately. Wonder if i can get a dealer close to that price. After all, I'm trading my car in for one of theirs...

 

not a chance in hell...dealers can be real ***'s when it comes to trade ins and all that fun stuff...like said before, they'll give you what it would go for at auction, not what you want for it or what KBB would say it's worth...dealers suck...

 

Ditto

 

Try going to a different dealer, and just ask them to buy your car outright. If it is in that good of shape maybe you can get what you want without the hassel. It is always better, IMHO, to buy a car without a trade. It makes it much less complicated and you know what you are really paying for the car. And you should be buying the 8 at or very near invoice.

Good luck