KBB Value dropping drasticly
 

So I was in the market for a new car in October of 2013.. my car had 44,000 miles at the time and BBooked for 18,500 on a trade in for "very good" condition according to Official Kelley Blue Book New Car and Used Car Prices and Values. Now if I put in the same car with the same milage I get 15,995 on a trade. This is very disturbing. Anyone else notice this? There is no way it dropped in value that much simply due to time. Meanwhile a 2010 with everything else the same KBB's for 19,084 and hasn't changed much.

It could be since they had the steering lock problem and no oil cooler as to the other models??

I've been looking into trading my Z for something I can get worked on and my '09 Touring with 23k miles and in very good condition is valued at $20k-21k, according to the dealers I've talked to. Not sure how that correlates to the price of a base.

Edit: The loan value is only $15k, so some dealers may want not want to pay full value since the car may be difficult to sell to someone not paying cash. I've had two dealers tell me they didn't want the car for that reason.

I have, my car between KBB and NADA says ~$19k trade in. One dealer offered me $17k, which goes to show you they don't really care what KBB/NADA say. I know I don't have sport or touring, but its not like my Z is a rustbucket. I also have it for sale privately and someone just offered me $15,500. :shakes head: Sad how bad the resale value is on these cars. I just did one of the auto-trader trade in forms. I am planning to take that to a dealer that has a car I want and see how that works, or if they'll just buy it for what it says.

Yes it is sickening how if I would have gone through with the trade just 5 months ago I would have gotten $3,000 more assuming the same mileage. Now I am depressed.

Did the MSRP drop finally hit the used car values?

Holy fuckin hell.
Dropped like a god damn rock...
$20k trade in for sport touring with nav at 40k miles

I assume so

KBB is meaningless.

Some of it may be the MSRP drop.

They also base their #s on historic sales. In October you were riding the wave of summer sports car sales, right now you are referencing the winter trade in value.

I feel that KBB isn't that smart to factor in weather. Because it will go up in a few months then, or stay exactly the same.

Yes, I agree it's meaningless, but it's a constant bar to compare to

Yeah I just ran the numbers on the 09 touring I traded in back in December. KBB had it at 21,xxx - 22,xxx then. Now it is 18,xxx to 19,xxx.

Maybe this is why my car isn't selling. It's okay since I'm not trying that hard to let it go still and nothing out there excites me.

a 3 year old Z with 36k has a residual value of about/approx 55-60% of the original purchase price ... so if you add more miles and 2 more years, and the fact that they are giving you trade-in, you end up at around that number... I never buy new and usually end well above water. Also, I believe the 2 big drops in value are when a car hits 60k miles and/or 5 years of age ... the minute you hit 60k you may be looking at much lower value

They build the reports on things like auction values, that are pretty readily available (behind a paywall).

Yep, that's why I am going to keep my Z.

Good thing I bought mine used and don't plan on getting rid of it.:ughdance:

edmunds is a better source I think. Carmax offered me $14k for my base sport 09 and I wanted to say to them suck on my nuts. I am going to keep it for 3 years at least and I will sell for $12k privately. it depreciated fast from MSRP but the bottom out point is high because overall it is a desirable car. you can't find a good 350Z for under $10k unless you want one chopped up with 150k miles.

I personally don't care if KBB values mine at $.05. Its mine, and I'm keeping it.

Sucks even more for the guy who leased a 370Z if i wanted to buy it out the residual value would be a brutal buy out cost.

They need to announce the new Z already see what my dam options are.

KBB prices, interesting, been watching my Z at dealer trade in,
its 24978, not saying I can get it.

But it's a 2012 with 31000 on it Sports Package....

been tossing the idea around of selling it, and then not..... who knows

Looked up my nismo on Kbb and said there was no value because it is a low volume production.

Edmunds said my trade in value is 23000. Sucks.

The seasonal change is one part of it, then there's the annual book change, however the biggest factor is the MSRP drop on the '14s. With the $3,150 rebate they put on the '13, after announcing the price cut on the '14s the residuals on the '13s tanked about 10 points across the board. I'm glad I leased my Z when I did.

KBB can go suck it because I'm not selling my Z :yum:

kbb is like consumer reports for the general public that dont care about cars.

Hey SouthArk,
What do you mean "something I can get worked on". You seem to know the service manual backwards and forwards, what's up?

I used to love working on cars; I've rebuilt Chevy small-blocks, top-loader trannies, &c. Not so much nowadays. I've got everything I need to work on the Z except ramps/lift, I just don't enjoy working on cars any more. Getting the IPDM out to pull the ESCL fuse was an easy job, but I would have gladly paid someone (I could trust) to do it. I still like "tinkering" with cars, but not the real "work."

I don't know the FSM all that well, I just know how to make my PDF reader search all documents in a folder. ;)

Well am going to the steelership for a trade in my 370z pw 22k miles sport manual for new Z gun metal color, i have one accident, and lots of scratches from morons parking next to me. Lets see if i get a decent deal.

Dealers won't give u anything close to what kbb gives you, dealers look at what these cars bring in auction and what they are selling for . The price dropped and big rebates have a lot to do with it, inventory movement is another reason, they are not selling!! We had a clean touring convertible with navi 08 350z with 48 k miles and we had the car in our inventory for 90 days and we finally gave it away for 15900 !!!

This +1,

Find someone with manheim auction access, almost all the dealers will base what they will give you on trade based on the auction price, and then they go below that so they still make a profit no matter what happens.

Also like someone else mentioned, 370z is following the historic trend of the 350, basically depreciates fairly fast until it bottoms out.

Either way, the longer you wait the less you will get - especially if the next gen gets announced and also turns out to be superior.

A good friend just picked up an 09 base sport manual with 32k miles for 16500, it was sitting on the dealer lot for over 3 month - eventually they took his offer lol. My best advice would be if you are planning to sell, don't beat around the bush for too long.

exactly. KBB is about as real as Harry Potter is to magic.



(and KBB really really really likes to overvalue trucks)

Just switch your Nissan emblems with Infinity ones, it will add 10k to the car value

I finally learned my lesson on my last car which I bought new. Never again. I bought a 2 year old Z and have been much happier with it than my previous brand new BMW which had nothing but problems. Plus, I lost a fortune when I sold it.

2012 Sport, Touring, Nav with 11,000 miles. KBB says $29,000 trade in. Comparing some models at CarMax, I'd say that estimate is high. $26,000 is more likely.

Very sad compared to my 2010 Raptor where I paid $46,000 in 2010 and sold it for $42,000 3 months ago.

Interestingly enough, a look on Cars.com within 50 miles of Orlando, FL shows only 1 370Z that is under $20k, a 10' base/sport with nearly 87k miles on it ($18k, for those who are interested). Every other Z on there is $24k or higher. So maybe the market hasn't hit down here yet. That, or some dealerships and a couple of private sellers are going to be sitting on their cars for awhile.

I may trade or sell my car off eventually, haven't really thought about it. Of course, by the time I do, it's value is going to be low enough to where the best I could hope for would be a basic down-payment, I'm sure.

Oh well, all is fair in love and war.

I've been following Z trends last few months as I plan to come over to this side of the valley.

I've noticed prices sharply dropping, and I'm going to continue to wait until they bottom out, which I'll make a purchase at that time.. I mean.. it's crazy.

For example: Here in the Bay Area, there's a 2013 Touring w/Sports Pkg in A/T for 29k with 7k miles... That's pretty much highway robbery.

:stirthepot:

It's not just Z's, it's all cars. Thank you Mr Obama.

shopping for a vacation?

The only values that hold any real water are the ones listed in the Black Book -- those are auction prices, and they are referenced by government agencies in determining the "real" value of things.

Likewise on insurance claims.

Also, note that trade-in values are always awful relative to private party sales. Unless there's no way to do the deal without a trade-in (e.g., not enough cash on hand for a down payment), you are always better off selling the car privately.

:confused:


:wtf2:

Also, another thing to consider heavily is mileage. Some banks won't even finance a vehicle thats more than 5 years old or has more than 60k on it. So your Z may be worth considerably less once you pass 60k because it'll be harder for the dealer to find a buyer.

For example: I recently bought a Titan for work using Capital One Blank Check and it specifically states that it cannot have more than 60k miles, must be 2007 or newer, and must be from a major dealer such as Chevy, Ford, Dodge, Nissan, Toyota, etc.... not the Uncle Sam's Buy Here Pay Here.

Soooo, luckily my Z has been a garage queen for the past year or so since I've gotten the truck and I'm at 52,7XX miles. Obviously, depreciation is inevitable but staying bellow 60k should help.

KBB fair trade-in is generally (more or less) black book price. It is pulled from the same data set.

Part of their bad rep comes from user error--everyone puts their car as "excellent," when it generally is not, nevermind it's hard to find someone that cares.




The other consideration with trade-in is tax benefits (which vary by state). I saved $4k or so trading my mustang instead of selling--otherwise I'd have never traded it in.