Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Branches Eastern Canada What is the value of my car?

I'm terminating my ownership of the Mystique soon, and I'm concerned with the numbers offered by dealerships for the trade-in. Can anyone let me know what they recently bought or sold a similar car for in the Toronto area?

1998 Mercury Mystique LS
V6 2.5L
Auto
PS, PW, A/C, Moon Roof, Leather
No accidents, no serious cosmetic defects, some corrosion on al. rims, all repair invoices available.
Black

AutoTrader.ca has some wildly varying asking prices, and of course you never know what the cars actually sold for.

Thank you for any help.

And if anyone wants to take a look at it, they are more than welcome. I listed the snow tires and steel rims separately in this forum.

Regards,
Craig

Howmany KM on it?

Bah, knew I forgot something.

157,800 km

Pretty high, but the transmission was rebuilt last week, and the car is in good shape.

Craig

With those KM I would have to say about $7000. Of course I would ask for more. Don't forget that although dealers offer less, the trade value comes off the taxes you have to pay on a new car. Example you buy a $20,000 car and the dealer gives you $6000 for your Mystique. You now only have to pay taxes on $14,000 instead of $20,000. This saves you another $900. So in reality you are getting $6900 for the Mystique. Any chance to see those tires this weekend?

Just emailed you. Twice.

Those are the numbers I was thinking, but the best firm offer I got today was $4000 trade-in, for an after-tax value of $4600. I just paid $3000 for the transmission. The car looks and runs great. I was completely shocked.

I'll make one more attempt at a trade-in tomorrow. One dealer gave me an unconfirmed $6000 today, which I once thought was a little low. I'm inclined to see if he will confirm it tomorrow.

It looks more and more like I'll be doing this by private sale. AutoTrader.ca, here I come.

Craig

If you just had the tranny rebuilt what is the motive behind selling it. I'd be more inclined to keep driving it after that kind of repair because otherwise you'll never get your money back. Just what I would do. However there may be some good motive you have to get arid of the car. Say a BMW 328i or something.

We're skiers, so we do a lot of winter driving. I don't think the reliability of the car is where it used to be for driving through rural roads late Friday and Sunday night. I realize that I won't be able to get the cost of the tranny back, but I assumed I had no choice, that the car would otherwise be worth nothing with a broken transmission.

Requiring a little more space, we're considering the Subaru Imprezza wagon and the Toyota Matrix. Self-employment has not lead to the fame and riches promised

We're off to deal again this morning. Wish us luck.

Craig.

Don't forget that nobody usually pays list for the average new car and that the available no-trade discount is normally included in the trade-in value offered by dealer.
For example, list $30k available for 28.5k with discount of 1.5k. Trade-in valued at 6k for net of 24k has really only gotten you 4.5k plus the tax advantage pointed out by SVTCANUK. Private sale usually nets more than trade-in especially when car is over 4 years old, but the time and effort to sell separately is not attractive to many.

True, but the Matrix I'm looking at has $0 in negotiating room (everyone has been paying the MSRP, which is at least competitive). If I opt for the Impreza TS wagon, I figure I've got about $1000.

In negotiations, I'm striking the deal for the new car first, then asking for $6000 for the trade-in. I realize that if there really is, say, $500 more room to move on the new car, and they get $5500 from the wholesaler on the trade, they'll accept my offer.

If I can't get six, I'll sell privately and buy the new car outright. Their financing rates are 6-8% at Toyota and Subaru. Not quite the 0% my folks got for their Expedition.

Craig

One thing to remember about trade ins, it balances out compared to private sales, though you do not get as much for the trade in. However, you only pay GST/PST on the difference between the new car and the old one. When you sell privately and buy new, you pay taxes on the entire cost of the new vehicle.