Personal experience with trading in a relatively new vehicle?

I was wanting to have your personal stories about trading in vehicles, after owning less than a year. So to make a long story short. I bought a 2011 Subaru Legacy 2.5i Limitied(fully loaded) in April, instead of a Tacoma. The Tacoma has been my dream truck, but I was talked out of buying it by family. Dont get me wrong, I really like my Subaru. But I think I would LOVE a Tacoma. I want to see what the 2012 Tacoma brings, and if I like what it offers I want to trade-in my car for an access cab TRD Sport. I know I am going to take a loss, even though Subaru has a pretty strong resale value. But I wanted opinions on anybody that has done something similar.

 

I suggest you take the Subaru to a Subaru dealer and ask if they'd like to buy it. I got $1,500 more for my Forester (sold to the Subaru dealer, not traded in) than what the Toyota dealer offered, when I bought my Tacoma in April. Subaru dealers sell Subarus, Toyota dealers sell Toyotas, so it makes sense that a Subaru dealer would value yours more.

 

You're going to take a loss, no doubt. However, (being a car salesman earlier in my life. ~10 years ago) right now there is a higher demand for used cars. The current economy is making people hold on to cars they would have traded on new ones. That will help a little. As previously posted, try the Subaru dealer. Dealer like to have their used cars on thier lot. You might luck out. Best of luck!
Alan

 

You'll take a big loss, that's what dealers are for.
Try to not trade it, I'd sell it privately if possible. And then, drive the Tacoma for 20 years to make up for the loss.

 

Big loss? I paid $19,500 in late 2006 for my 2007 Subaru Forester. I got a quote from CarMax to purchase it in 2009 (with 19,000 miles) of $12,500. Decided not to sell. I sold it two months ago (with 38,000 miles) for $13,500 to the Subaru dealer.

So it cost me $6,000 and I used it four and a half years. I don't call $111 per month a big loss. Main difference is the age of the vehicle, but obviously (based on above), used car prices are a lot stronger now than two years ago (I basically got paid $500 per year for using the car for two more years).

 

Yours is a different situation, the OP's car is less than a year old. Cars depreciate initially as soon as they're driven off the lot then it's a much slower depreciation after that.

The post about finding a Subaru dealer is actually a good one. If you can, find a dealer that sells multiple makes (preferable Subaru and Toyota). Asking us is speculation, take it to a dealership and see what they'll give you as a trade. Go at the end of the month or end of the year, those are busier times for salesmen and they're scrambling to meet quotas.

 

yeah but the OP is talking less than 4 months not 4.5 yrs.
Every situation is different. Depending on if your rolled anything into the suburu loan or maybe you own it outright & have more buffer room in taking a hit on depreciation. Not sure what you owe vs. what you'll get.
You see where I'm going with this?
Any dealer will make a deal "work".
Honestly wish you the best, maybe throw it on CL & see what happens?

edit mike beat me to it.

 

Depends on the demand of the vehicle on how much of a loss you will take. There is a higher demand for used vehicles lately with this crappy economy. Perfect example is my wife dropped me off at the dealer last week to pick up the Tacoma and a salesman came running out to me asking if we wanted to trade her 4Runner in on a new one. She has an 08 Urban Runner in Blizzard Pearl. Truck is pretty immaculate. I will probably stop in this weekend to see what kind of deal they will give me because they apparently really want her truck as he said that they can't get enough of the older body style to keep up with demand and he saw how clean hers was when we pulled in. We shall see. We have been looking at the new 4Runners for her so the timing was kind of ironic.

 

I was contemplating trading my truck in for something half the price. I got a little excited coming back stateside and bought too many toys thinking we could afford them all.

Carmax offered$ 16000 for my 07 doublecab prerunner. I paid $22000 for it not more than 6 months earlier. NADA and KBB valued trade-in at more than$ 19000. Certified preowned my truck is worth over$ 25000, so I got a good deal when I bought it, and carmax would have made a killing if I traded it!

Look up what your car is worth, take it in and sit down with the dealers to find out what they will give you.

Needless to say I couldn't afford$ 6000 in negative equity. Kept the truck sold another toy.

 

I bought my 2010 reg cab for 16,000 when I traded it in 4 months later they gave me 17,000 for it, they first offered me 15,500 and I said no it's ok Thanks and they came back with 17,000

 

I traded my '08 Accord for my Tacoma. I owned the car for a little over a year. I bought it for $24,500 and traded it in for $19K. Did I lose money? Sure. But I owed less than what I got for trade in and I wasn't content with the Accord. I didn't love that car and that made a big difference. Plus, Cash For Clunkers worked for me in getting the Tacoma.

 

You're going to get bent over the table if you trade it in. I traded in my 2005 Trailblazer on my Tacoma back in 06 and got raked over the coals. I paid 28K for the Trailblazer and got 15K for it. Sure a Suburu will hold it's value better than a Chevy, but a dealer will still claim they can get the same car at auction for much less than giving you top dollar for your trade in. If your dead set on getting rid of it and buying a 2012 Tacoma, you'd be better off selling it outright. The first 2 years of a new cars life is when it depreciates the most. Hopefully you're not upside down on it and you have equity in it.

 

i bought a mazdaspeed 3, brand new. i paid it off in six months, because i hated car payments. on the eighth month, i decided it wasnt for me. i wanted a truck. i sold it privately, and lost $5k or so. i took the cash and added $2k in savings and bought a 06, used tacoma. i think i got a fantastic deal on the truck, but i still took it up the ass with the bad purchase of the mazda. (not including airplane tix to fly to buy the very unlocal truck)

lessoned learned..never impulse buy a car. EVER!

 

You will undoubtably take a hit but how much of a "loss" you receive depends a lot on how much you owe on your present vehicle. Chances are you owe more than the vehicle is worth [upside down] unless you made a substancial down payment or the vehicle you traded was paid off and the dealership paid you top dollar for your trade. [which is unlikely]
If you decide to go ahead and purchase a new Tacoma you would "probably" be better off selling your Subaru and purchasing your new truck out right.
IMO you would be better off hanging on to the Subaru untill you have some positive equity [owe less thsan the vehicle is worth]
Good luck. BTW take some advice from an old fart and NEVER let ANYONE talk you into purchasing somthing that you don't want.

 

HAHAHAHA have we all learned that lesson!

 

They tried to lowball the shit out of me trying to sell it to them..they offered quite a bit more if I'd trade it in.

 

true but on a new truck your going to save that on taxes when you trade it in

 

btw if you had a wrx i'd trade you

 

bend over and brace yourself with lots of lubricant i didn't read the thread i just ass umed lol.

 

At the moment I owe ~$21,500. By October it would be down to ~$19,500. I talked myself into the Subaru because of the creature comforts(leather, dual climate control, moonroof,HK stereo) and MPG, and I didn't NEED a bed.

If I had a WRX, I would be really hard pressed to trade. Because WRXs are legit!

Thanks for the tip of going to the Subaru dealer to possibly buy the car back. I would have never thought of that. Also, my car would have really low miles, I have only put about 1200 miles on it so far.