Dropped by Carmax to see what they would offer me

They offered me 13K even for my truck. "Very Good" blue book is 17,260 and excellent is 17,985.

I have a 08 AC V6 6MT 4x4 TRD OR with Tow Pkg in SSM with 265/75/16 load range E tires, but otherwise totally stock.

They said it was worth less because of the manual, and yet the manual is a 900 option

 

it is worth less with the manual... you pay more for the auto up front.


an 08 to a dealer, yup that price sounds about right ... how many miles?

 

Dont they have to make money?
They cant offer you what it's actually worth...

 

90% of the Americans do NOT want manual. They would have to sit on it for a while to come across the right buyer. They probably didn't want it unless it was cheap, hence the 13k

 

You are never wasting carmax's time. Carmax is a valuable part of trading in a truck because it gives you a baseline offer good for 7 days that you can use as leverage with a dealer. If they offer anything near what carmax offers tell them you will walk. Also though, how many miles? That's the majority of the price.

 

87,300 miles.

No, they were private values. The trade-in values were about 2K less.

I guess I was mistaken about the manual costing more.

 

Something doesn't sound right. Those are good miles and you have desirable options. 11k trade in sounds pretty low.

 

I think he was saying the online trade value was about 15k.... Honestly, 13k might not be a bad trade value for them. It's really hard to go by online.... I traded my 05 Tundra, online value put it at 16k.... I got 10K.... Online pricing can be misleading.

 

Most of these places will quote you wholesale prices which are even lower than trade-in quotes. For them, they give you their worst case, which is they have to send the car/truck to an auction.

 

That sounds about right for a quote from Carmax considering that if they buy it from you they have to clean it and put it on their lot while financing it until they sell it. If they can't sell it in reasonable time they send it to auction. They have to factor all that in their price, and they know a manual will be harder for them to sell.
It will be much better to sell it privately, especially if you are not in a hurry and can wait for the right buyer to show up.

 

Yup wholesale or black book is all a vehicle is really worth. Anything above that is just somebody's profit.

 

Having bought a car from Carmax, I do know their offers, while maybe not the highest, are fair, and don't change based on whether you're buying a vehicle from them or not. Not so with most dealers - the trade-in goes up and down based on the selling price of the vehicle being purchased. Carmax doesn't do that "let me run that by my manager" (usually about six times) bs. Their cars are priced at what they sell for, and their vehicle buying offers will be the same, buying or not.

 

Clean trade Edmunds(can't go by private party when trading in) is 14,900 so you weren't that far off. Manual and access cab are a turn off to some people. I used to drive manual vehicles and that would make my trade in value vary wildly between dealers, some would offer a fair number on a manual others would low ball as they really just didn't want it on their lot.

 

I'm not their biggest fan, but I agree with what you've said. They are a lot more upfront about what they'll give you for a car than a dealer will be. Have been through this.

As DancesWithWolves said, wholesale is all you are going to get from any dealer.

If you want more, try to sell outright yourself to an individual. That can be an even bigger headache and sometimes downright dangerous.

I don't have a problem with a dealer trying to make $$$. I can always get up and leave. My issue with dealers is their lousy service depts.

 

Carmax is great for trading in vehicles ... or at least using their estimate to get more for your trade from a dealership. When I got my Tacoma I ended up selling my 2011 Subaru Outback to Carmax because they gave me $2000 more than the Toyota dealership's max offer.

 

I did the exact same thing with my wife's 2010 Nissan murano. Kbb said its fair sale value is 18,500, the state of Kentucky valued it at 17,400 when I paid property taxes on it and car max offered 8,500. Never wrecked no accidents what so ever. I didn't even ask why so low we were in such different ball fields I knew we would never be able to make a deal on a trade in.

 

Sold 2 vehicles to Carmax, got better than trade-in prices on both. Neither time was I buying one of their cars. I'd consider them pretty good based on my personal experience.

 

I got $ 12k trade for my 06 ac-cab pre with a blown manual trans with 70k from Dealer

 

2015 ac base model manual 4x4 with 5,000 miles.

carmax 19,000

3 toyota dealers 21,500 was the highest of the 3 and that was if I bought another 2015

ford 24,000 a little over what I paid for it in the first place.

Carmax doesn't offer much but its a hassle free car buying experience. They won't offer you more for your trade in if you buy there car. This makes a typical buyer not feel pressured.

 

My old man always says that something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay on the day that you want to be rid of it! When I traded my accord 5speed in they offered 1/2 of kbb trade-in because "no one knows how to drive stick" I politely agreed and said "that must be why you never see a semi on the highway and they are all parked waiting for some genius like me that can perform magic with that third pedal and make it move!" Needless to say it took a little time to find a stealership that offered a good trade.