I've been looking at '95-'96 F150 XLT Supercabs, in the hopes of finding one decent and buying it, I found two this weekend in the Tampa/St.Pete area of Florida(I live about 3hours away)that are still available, 1 is a '95 Eddie Bauer loaded, w/topper & 94k miles, they are asking $9300.00 for it, which is $1440.00 higher than Kelley says its worth by a private owner, the other is a '94 XLT loaded, w/topper & 69k miles & original owner, he is asking $8995.00, which is $1240.00 more than Kelley says for a private owner.
I understand these prices are just that--asking prices, but is it supply in demand,condition,or what reason did they use do you supose to come up with the pricing?? mind you they are $490 & $595 respectivly under dealer retail, is Kelley any way near accurate??
Any comments or suggestions welcome! Thanks, Rick

 

No.
Dealers in NJ aren't coming close to trade-in values as cited by KBB, NADA, or even Edmunds. For instance; our 93 van had an avg trade-in value of $2800.00; best offer from 4 local Ford dealers was $250.00.
Another example; some owners report that dealers are offering ~$17k as compared to KBB/NADA trade-in values of $21k.

We always get a pre-approved loan check for what we think is a fair offer (for us, as well as a dealer), less say $400.00 and let them look at it, touch it, pass it around and everytime, it was accepted for the amount or very slightly above; say $100.00.

good luck.....never hurts to walk away and see how they respond.

 

Rick--I disagree. the kbb prices quoted are very accurate with one exception...high mileage vehicles. Once a vehicle exceeds 100K miles, as I'm sure the '93 van cited in their example did, throw the book out. The book is intended to be a guideline for dealers, not for retail buyers. dealers do not want to purchase vehicles over 100K, so they will not pay what the book says. take any fairly common vehicle with 50K miles in for an appraisal, and the first thing the dealer will do is pull out their kbb. they are almost bound by the values in there because the lenders also use kbb to determine value for loan purposes. rare, modified, or exotic vehicles, or those who have recently proven to have inherent problems, may not be correctly valued in kbb. for about 98% of the cars and trucks on the road, kbb is the bible.

Never pay close to dealer price for a private party sale. dealers recondition, detail, repair, and provide guarantees, on top of paying a portion of the price in commission to their salespeople. private party sellers do little, or none of that, so should not get as much. in fact, i have not paid above low blue book, or wholesale (trade in)value for a used truck/suv in 10 years. find someone who's motivated to sell, and you'll find a deal.

just my .02 worth.

jim

 

The only problem with the blue book is that it doesn't consider any upgrades/modifications you have made to your vehicle. For example, a 65 Mustang might blue book for $1500, but one could easily get $15000 for a show quality vehicle. A better approach would be a fair market value estimate.

 

Dealers and a lot of priv buyers use the KBB to hold open doors. Try taking a vehicle to a lot and getting a price on it as a sale only.
We sold a few vehicles privately in the last 3 years (96 Escort, 92 Plymouth van, 78 Bronco) and had to wait months before we got a decent offer for each from private buyers.
A prev poster said the same; he never paid above dealer trade/or wholesale, so go by that at least when using KBB, NADA, or Edmunds' values.

 

I think it depends on the vehicle. I am having trouble selling my 91 Explorer for less than KBB private party or NADA LOAN value.

On the other hand last year I bought a 92 Mustang GT at less than the going rate (checked on several for sale), which was $2000 over what KBB stated.

I think the best way to determine a vehicle's worth is to read all classifieds available, talk to the sellers, and try to get their low price. Also, circumstances and geographical areas have a significant effect on vehicle values.


Winford

 

Hi Guys, Further to vehicle value.
In Canada ,we have the CAA that has a great Phone-In value guide.
Does the AAA in the states offer the same service?


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Edmunds also has a TMV (True Market Value) feature. I've found that it tends to produce lower values across the board -- private party, dealer trade-in & dealer retail. The site I rely on most for my appraisals is www.cars.com. I use the "Black Book" pricing guide on their site, which, from what one of my brothers tells me, is the 'bible' for used car prices (at least in this area of FL). He used to work at a used car lot some years ago. It's not normally available to the general public so who knows how long it will remain available.