For a trade-in.

Invoice is 8k, but I see my same car all over the place for 12-13k.

What should I aim for? I do have negative equity, which ailround 3k compared to the invoice, and I don't want to perch into my savings.

Mazda 3 s Sport Touring.

98k Miles. 100% perfect condition with body, interior, and mechanically. No faded seats, 2 tiny rust spots on the entire car, and runs as good as new.

This post was edited by Archer on May 27 2013 11:00pm

What year? But I can tell you right now its going to be nowhere close to 8k. Rust is rust, its not cheap to fix. Not to mention you can buy a brand new one for like 14k.

2008. The rust spots are hard to find. I didn't even notice them until I waxed the entire surface of the car.

Newer ones are still going around 18k. I see the mz3s (07-09) disappear from the lots all the time with 15k price tags on them. Although they probably have lower mileage, it seems to have a decent resale value.

This post was edited by Archer on May 27 2013 11:07pm

its still rust kills the value of the car

http://www.kbb.com/mazda/mazda3/2008-mazda-mazda3/s-touring-sedan-4d/?intent=trade-in-sell&vehicleid=197439&mileage=98000&category=sedan&pricetype=trade-in

With any rust you won't even get fair.

Will they even notice it, lol?

I can probably clay bar them out, and he wouldn't ever know they existed.





KBB is more designed to help the dealer than the consumer though. There is a huge article with former and present KBB spokespersons and such in the archives of google.



This post was edited by Archer on May 27 2013 11:10pm

You can't clay bar rust out lol.



KBB if anything gives a higher value than what they'll actually give. KBB on my evo was $30k and I paid $20k.

This post was edited by ride686 on May 27 2013 11:12pm

[QUOTE=ride686,May 28 2013 12:10am]You can't clay bar rust out lol.[/QUOTE]

Oops not clay bar. There was some kind of kit I saw threads about on the mz3 forums. It probably only temporarily hides it, but it really didn't leave any traces.

The rust spots are honestly REALLY hard to see. They are like a pencil point as a reference.

If the rust really has a ~2500-3000, I will repair it for a couple hundred to a point where it will be gone.


I was doing a little research on the mz forums, and they might not even be rust spots.

The symptoms of rust don't add up, either. It has been a year and they are the same size. They are saying that they are brake dust spots that contaminate the paint and look like rust. A clay bar kit removes it. One picture showed a hood that looked like it had a bunch of rust specs, and after a clay bar, they were all gone.

Mazda also re-warranted the cars for corrosion to 6-years. That is next year for my car.





KBB if anything gives a higher value than what they'll actually give. KBB on my evo was $30k and I paid $20k.[/QUOTE]

Shit, that was a good buy. Sad you got rid of it.

This post was edited by Archer on May 27 2013 11:25pm

Trade in market keep changes, and book guides are some seasons more wrong and some times less wrong.

Go on KBB and nadaguide first and key in all your options and year and mileage and see what they give you for "Good" price (def not excellent, and probably not very good)

On KBB and nadaguide, go with the lower one, because if any dealer wants to buy ur car, they will take several reference and take the lowest one.

During the half year however, the market for used 50k+ miles car is not so great, because bunch of brands are hitting the market with good incentive like brand new car with 35+ combine MPG for 129$ per month, and free maintenance.
So mostly during recent months, dealer are even giving 5-10% less than the book value.

You do have quite bit more leverage if you are trading up to a car, they can probably even give you higher than book value. Also they can eat up your "upside down" or "negative equity" into your payments etc.

This is all of course, assuming you are going through a dealer.

You'll be able to get anywhere from 1500-3000$ more if you sell it yourself. You are seeing cars similar to yours selling for much higher because they are dealers and such.

It works like this: Trade-In Value (also whole sale value) < Private Sale (sell it yourself) < Dealer Retail Theres a 1k-2k gap between each category for a car of your nature. Used car market is pretty low and slow now so dealers basically giving you trade in value as whole sale auction values.

Pretty sound advice right here.

Do you happen to own a luxury motorsports company? Would explain all the nice cars haha