There is always a huge difference between the two services on there trade in values. Can I find a dealer that deals strictly with one service (NADA), or do they pull both values and compare? Jeff, maybe you can help.

 

Yeah, NADA is just nuts- I've never seen a vehicle go for the numbers they report. You really should be shopping for the DIFFERENCE amount, not trade-in values. For example, let's assume you're looking at 2 identical trucks at different dealers. Dealer A says he'll give you $12000 for your trade against the sticker price of $32500. Dealer B will give you $9500 trade-in against the invoice of $28000. Who's giving you the better deal? Dealer B, because the cash difference is only $18500, aswhere you'd have to pay Dealer A $20500 out-of-pocket. When you're trading, it's not what the new one sells for, or what they're giving you for your trade- it's THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO that matters.

 

Jeff, we need to talk. I'm tired of doing the fordvehicles dealer inventory search. Find something I would settle for, call the dealership. Tell them I'd like to purchase for $200 under invoice like the FTE program. Take my AQHA and current rebates. Get a price between the two services for my trade in. Stroke them a check for the difference in my upside down truck give them more money to reduce my financed loan amount, which I already have finacing for, and be done with it. First off these dealers act like I've come from Mars when I mention the FTE price saying no one does that. I reply with: Oh Yeah Bone Head, Try typing www. ford-trucks.com and seeing the thousand posts by all the happy customers dealing with you at Van Bortel. It's insane they make it so difficult for themselves, the customer and the whole transaction. Meanwhile they're talking this wierd salesman lingo like "We want to earn your business, what will it take" Uhh! I just told you can you do that? Bueller, Hello, Anyone, Anyone Bueller!

 

Most dealer deal with NADA on the east coast. I don't even think there is a KKB book to look at, its only the net. I was told by a used car salesmen the owner that KKB was for west of the Mississippi and Nada was east of the Mississippi. If you can, try to sell your used truck yourself. If you cant , maybe a family member can buy it for a little more then trade. I like to buy my fathers Caravan for my wife every 5 years. The difference between trade in value and private sale is a lot of money. Ask for the Sales manager that's the best person to deal with, make an appointment with him. You could try buying a 2004 model truck instead. Just my 2 cents good Luck

 

Don't know much about the KBB book. I've owned a couple of used car lots here on the East coast and NADA is what we use for retail sales while Galves is used for trade ins and buying at auctions.

 

Kinda funny, I just put my truck into both sites, and NADA was $900 more for trade than KBB. I still don't think I would be offered the KBB value, even though I have a no haggle price on my new vehicle. So there is no comparing deals to be done for me. And I have seen Kelly Blue Books and NADA books, we sold them at the gas station I used to work at.

 

Hey here is a new twist too.

I first went to the used truck lot in my wifes car ,looking at the exact 2003 Ranger FX4 I had at home to check their prices.
Went back to the same dealer the next Monday after finding what my truck was worth in KBB and NADA and was ready to buy a new F150 fFX4 boy my Ranger couldn't even bring the average trade in price in either book?????one year old and not a scratch kept in a garage all the time ect. They explained the price differance as they buy their Rangers at auction and offered me 50% of what I had paid for the year old truck. Only $3,000.00 lower than trade in.. I guess they needed to pay the light bill.I did ask them if they would take me to the auction so I could buy a 2004 F150 because they were a year old now too.
Any way I found a great dealer now bought the 2004 Fx4 and so life goes on. Watch this new trick and enjoy.
Ron

 

Around here, the dealers don't use NADA or KBB for trade-in values - they have their own little black book that they use (don't know the name). However, KBB is usually fairly close...as Jeff says, NADA is a joke. I think the point of the NADA book is so dealers can advertise how cheap their cars are compared to their NADA value...but nobody actually sells cars for that (at least in Michigan) and you'll never get that on a trade-in. Basically, if you pay NADA for a truck you got ripped off, and if you get NADA for your trade you got one heck of a deal.

To give you one example, after one year of owning my '04 Superduty the NADA retail value was $1,000 more than I paid for the truck brand-new. Somehow I don't think I could get many people to pay that for my truck when they could buy a new one for less.

However, as I mentioned, KBB is usually fairly close for trade-in values - I've been offered as much as $1,000 over KBB value for my Superduty, and that's on an X-plan purchase. However, some dealers offered me KBB value and some offered me about $1,000-$2,000 less, so KBB was probably the 'average' offer, or a little above average. In this area (western Michigan) there is one dealer who consistently beats the other Ford dealers by about $1,500-$2,000 on trades - on identical X-plan purchases - so it pays to shop around. I've bought 4 new Fords in the last 5 years, and I've never gotten less than the KBB trade-in value for any of my trades...so I think KBB is a realistic target.

But, as Jeff said, the difference in prices is the important thing - some dealers will make it look like you're getting more for your trade, while they just jack up the price of the truck they're buying or throw in extra fees. What I usually do on my X-plan purchases is negotiate them up as high as I can on my trade, and then give them a written offer that I'll buy the truck if they give me $500 (sometimes $1,000) more for my trade than their highest offer. So far, I've never had a dealer that wouldn't take the written offer...though usually I end up bypassing the salesman and dealing directly with the manager. The thing is, you have to make it clear that you're willing to leave and go someplace else if they don't take your offer...if they know you're willing to take your business someplace else, it helps your bargaining position. They'll usually start by figuring out how much the $500 will affect your payments, and then ask if you're really willing to leave over "only $10 a month" or something along those lines...then you'll usually get the story that they're already offering you more than any other dealer would, and that trucks like yours only get so-and-so dollars at auction, and that maybe you should take the vehicle overnight and test it out, and that sort of thing. But, in the end, I've found that they'll usually agree to it.

LK

 

Then throw Edmunds in the mix...
Everybody selling uses KBB or NADA. Higher Prices.
Buyer uses TMV from Edmunds. Lower, more reasonable prices.
Not my fault if you're upside down in it.... :-(

 

Let's assume for a moment that we're all working with ethical dealers. Now, let's talk about the "gray" area, what abny one dealer thinks a vehicle is worth. Perfect example: Kia. We've taken two of them in trade in the past 2 years, both in nice shape with low miles. Within 30 days of sale, one blew the engine, the other a transmission. Obviously, OUR opinion of Kias is now quite low, and we usually run in the opposite direction when one pulls on the lot. BUT- another dealer in town may have had great luck with Kias, and is willing to give the owner a lot more than we would. Also, if you pull in with a Chevy/GMC pickup right now, I ain't gonna give you much. Why? 'Cause we've got a very nice 180-day supply of them, thank you. Supply and demand definitely figures into the trade equation.

 

Jeff, I have a related question: when I've been at non-Ford dealers and asked them about trade-in value for my vehicle, without exception they call up the Ford dealers in the area to see what it's worth instead of using their little book. Has that now become the standard practice - to call up the dealer who sells that particular brand of vehicle - or is it just something unusual that my local dealers have started doing? As far as I can tell, it's getting to the point where dealers don't want any used vehicles on their lot of another brand...the Ford dealers only want Fords, the Chevy dealers only want Chevies, and so on. It seems that dealers in this area used to have more of a 'mix' of used cars & trucks, but now if it's any other brand they take it to auction.

LK

 

Hey 1956MarkII

I hear what you say about the Kia at a Ford dealer.
I was talking about a 2003 Ford FX4 4x4 Ranger with all the goodies and only 23,00 miles on it and trading for a New F150 FX4 with all the goodies on it at a FORD dealership here in my home town. I was embarrased when the salesman told me I was upside down on my trade in ????? I paid cash for the Ranger when I bought it as well as the new F150 FX4 4X4 ( at a dealer out of town ). Same GRAY area story about we need to allow for if something goes wrong with your trade in ..Transmission motor etc. etc.,
Sounded to me like a story from Golden books. I thought I had a warrenty for 36,000 miles or three years on the Ranger?
They did offer a generous $9,500 for my truck. I was told by the salesman they buy Rangers like mine at the auction for that price or less. When I looked at them a week before in my wifes car at the same dealership $17,000 or more for the 2003 Rangers with more miles and I got the AS IS warranty no worry about that bad transmission or motor now on their part.
Come on fellows How big is the GRAY area? (PROFIT)
Bought my new one out of town again.....
Ron