First time poster but have been lurking for awhile. Would like some input if possible.
Had an invoice offer yesterday for a Red Rock Unlimted 4x4, auto, Dual Top. The dealer had to purchase from another and was going to have the car driven up to it's location. Everything sounded great until we got to the subject of my trade (02 Porsche Boxster fully loaded & mint). Please, no flaming - my family is growing and I REALLY like idea of still having a convertible.

Thier initial offer was $2.5k under the going trade-in price for my car, and the offer that another dealer made (I know, they worked it in on the other end) so I immediately thanked them for their time and started to gather my things. At that point I was introduced to the GM and he stated that he could go another $1k but that was it due to what he was seeing at the auction (his worst case scenario).

Bottom line, I'm looking for another $500.00 and he was unwilling to budge other than offering me 3 free oil changes ($45.00 in my eyes). So, I once again thanked them, stated I would think about it, and left.

I may be able to take advantage of the Friends and Family discount but have to go through a "few things" in order to do so.

Was this possibly the best deal on joining the JEEP LIFE other than a F&F deal?

 

It sounds like a pretty fair deal.

The issue with the Boxter is that sports car/convertible season ended here in the midwest on labor day.

If you feel that you are $500 away from the deal, just do it. You will end up waiting until spring to unload the Boxster and getting less than now. I don't know if you are planning to drive the Porsche through the winter, but will surely will with the Jeep.

I just helped my father with a Corvette purchase. He had an S2000 to unload and it was the same type of situation but it was a sports car for a sports car. When the additional 6 onths of depreciation was figured, it was better to just take the bite now and get a new car. Plus, the honda was out of warranty and one minor repair would overcome the gap of trave value and anticipated value.

When all is said and done, $500 is not a huge gap to overcome.

Keep us posted.[/B]

 

and don't forget to figure in the sales tax savings on a trade in. If you are in a 7% state thats $700 saved on every $10,000 of the trade in value, so you are $200 over on the first $10,000 they gave you for it.

 

Do it! $500.00 seems like a lot, but you will forget all about it when you start driving that Jeep. I unloaded an 86' 944 Turbo when I got my 02' and missed it for all of the 20 minutes it took to get the top down and go.

 

I also have been looking at joining the JEEP family and hit the same situation, offered me almost $2500 less than KBB trade-in value because of what he saw at auctions for similar vehicles. Would have put me upside down on the deal and I can get away from some stuff with the wife but not that. Decided to continue to browse, admire and dream then come springtime I'll be ready.

 

Not every state is this way. I know Michigan, where I am, is not. You pay tax on the price of the new vehicle and then subtract the trade value.

I do believe that Illinois does allow a "difference" type of tax value.

 

Every dealer I spoke with wanted to give me $2000 lower than KBB TRADE IN value, citing "they use the black book value, not blue book value." Didn't matter to me much what their reasoning was, but it sure bothered me about the -$2000.

I'm pretty confident I can sell my car (still waiting for the Jeep order from 6/28/07 to arrive.. ETA 11/9!!!) privately for at least full TRADE IN value, if not close to PRIVATE PARTY SALE value. The extra $2000-3000 over what the dealer wanted to give me will be worth the hassle of selling it. Not sure if you're able to do that financially, but if your car is in the condition you say it is - why not sell it on your own?

 

Thanks all for the input.

Yes, the car is in beautiful condition. Hell, I just put $1k in rubber on the thing! I guess the idea of letting it go well under what's it actaully worth bothers me, but as most have stated - $500.00 is not that big of some when considering the tax credit and the 5 months of garage downtime

Time to bite the bullet and not look back I guess. Will see if the dealer is still willing to DEAL.

 

I was able to get just over $1,500 more than KBB on my 07 2 door trade in. I did have to get up and try and leave about three times and I would have went for more if my wife had noticed a little sooner that the Sahara Unlimited had been sitting on their lot for over a month and a half already. I am in the USN and registered it in Texas and only had to pay for the difference between the 2door and the Unlimited.

 

Kelly Blue Book doesn't mean crap...to the dealer anyway. It's just a guide for us "regular folks" to get an idea of what stuff is supposedly worth. The dealer doesn't care what KBB says, they care about how much they'll be able to sell the vehicle for. Example, if your trade in has high miles, or is more than a few years old, then they're not even gonna try to sell it. They're gonna call a "wholesale" dealer who basically deals with vehicles that are a few years old, have high miles, or have paint/body work, and the "wholesale" guy will buy your trade in from the dealer and sell it himself. They do use "Black Book", they release new books every few weeks I think and they're nowhere near as detailed as KBB as far as options/accessories...that's part of the reason taht those things do not matter as far as value.

Not saying that this is the case here as I'm sure it's not with a Porsche....but just because KBB says it's worth $XX.xxx doesn't necessarily mean it's true.