The place is nuts! I can't imagine anyone trading a car in there. However, as I was pulling in, someone traded in an 07 Shelby, although it's debatable if it was a Shelby or just a kit on the Mustang.

Anyway, I was considering trading my 01 Cobra vert on an 03 Cobra vert.

My 01 is in very good condition, new tires, just hit 62k miles on the way home.

NADA Guides
Clean Trade-In
Base Price $11,900
Mileage $1,475
Total $13,375

Kelly Blue Book
<TABLE id=priceCondition cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=center><TD class=ConditionHeader colSpan=3><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD>Condition </TD><TD class=value>Value</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=ConditionBlackLine style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 4px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; HEIGHT: 2px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #c9d3d6" colSpan=3> </TD></TR><TR><TD rowSpan=2></TD><TD class=valueText id=ctl00_ctl00_ctl00_ContentPlaceHolderBody_Conten tPlaceHolderMiddle_ContentPlaceHolderMiddle_rptVal ueSummary_ctl00_conditionColumn style="PADDING-LEFT: 6px">Excellent
</TD><TD class=value id=ctl00_ctl00_ctl00_ContentPlaceHolderBody_Conten tPlaceHolderMiddle_ContentPlaceHolderMiddle_rptVal ueSummary_ctl00_valueColumn align=right>$11,125
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=dotsnomargin style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; POSITION: static" colSpan=2></TD></TR><TR><TD rowSpan=2></TD><TD class=conditionSelected id=ctl00_ctl00_ctl00_ContentPlaceHolderBody_Conten tPlaceHolderMiddle_ContentPlaceHolderMiddle_rptVal ueSummary_ctl02_conditionColumn style="PADDING-LEFT: 6px">Good
</TD><TD class=valueSelected id=ctl00_ctl00_ctl00_ContentPlaceHolderBody_Conten tPlaceHolderMiddle_ContentPlaceHolderMiddle_rptVal ueSummary_ctl02_valueColumn align=right>$10,410
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=dotsnomargin style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; POSITION: static" colSpan=2></TD></TR><TR><TD rowSpan=2></TD><TD class=valueText id=ctl00_ctl00_ctl00_ContentPlaceHolderBody_Conten tPlaceHolderMiddle_ContentPlaceHolderMiddle_rptVal ueSummary_ctl04_conditionColumn style="PADDING-LEFT: 6px">Fair
</TD><TD class=value id=ctl00_ctl00_ctl00_ContentPlaceHolderBody_Conten tPlaceHolderMiddle_ContentPlaceHolderMiddle_rptVal ueSummary_ctl04_valueColumn align=right>$9,190 </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


Edmunds Trade-in
Outstanding $11,392
Clean $10,652


CarMax offered me $7,500

Ha, Ha Ha!

 

 

I know I'm not a member here, but just thought I'd give $.02

I drove 2 hours to dealer in San Antonio, Texas with plans to get a SUV a couple years back, I had a 2002 Suburban Z71, they offered me $12,500. They said people are having great luck with CarMAx across street, try them. So I go through that whole circus to get an offer of $12,000. WTF. I drive all the way home to my small town and get $17,500 for the trade and under invoice prising on the new SUV. Man I was pissed. At least gas was $2.00 at that time.

 

NADA and KBB are woefully inaccurate. Dealerships use another book that is updated monthly. It is almost impossible to get financing on a 7 year old car. Even harder to get 100% financing, and most people do not have a down payment. Dealerships only take in what they think that they can sell on the lot. Your car would be headed straight to the auction, where if they gave you what you wanted they would probably lose money on the car. You also have to consider that Carmax is a one price dealer. Their prices are usually set lower then what a normal dealership would set. Additionally, Carmax does not sell new cars so there is now money comming from anywhere else to offset any loss they take through the month. I was a car salesman for awhile, I know how it works. I am not defending thier actions, just providing you with insight as to why they appraise differently. For arguments sake I keep a wide birth from any one price dealerships, especially Carmax.

 

I was curious, so I stopped by Driving2000 on the way home today to see what trade-in they would offer. I have dealt with them before and they seem to be pretty fair.

They offered $9,000

Yes, I know the dealers use the Black book, but $7,500 was too low.

Financing, I had no problem getting financing on my Cobra when I bought it a year ago. Some places are difficult if the mileage is over 100k, this isn't the case with my car.

Oh, I had forgotten to mention, CarMax has a 99 Cobra vert with 99k miles for over $13,450, yet my car, 2 years newer, 38k less miles, was a $7,500 trade-in.

 

Just an update for anyone interested in trading in a car and to prove how bad CarMax is for those defending them. I went to Jerry Damson today, they offered me $9,500 to buy it, not a trade in, etc.

 

Never said I was defending them, in fact I said that I stay away from them.

 

I know when I was in sales for Woody Anderson Ford and Ray Pearman they used the Wholesalers black book for trade-ins & usually would give low or below low wholesale on trade-ins, unless they were extremely clean & low mileage. So you can forget about NADA, Kelly or Edmunds because none of them are going to help you much unless you want to sell your car outright.