Depreciated value on My Camaro LS

[smokingcamaro]

So I bought my Camaro LS in July of 2010 for $23,000 out the door. I am just a little upset at how much my car has depreciated in just 2 1/2 years. I went down to my local Chevy dealership to see about getting a SS since I really want something more powerful, They offered me $14,000 trade in value for my Camaro. I just really do not understand how it can be so low, I have 40,000 miles on the car. I then went to a second Chevy dealership just to see how much they would give me and the offer was only $200 more then the first one. Do you think this is correct or is my dealership crazy?

[AdamZ]

Sounds about right...They will put it on the lot for 18. Try to sell it privately for 18.

[SSOOCH]

A. It's a massed produced car
B. It's an LS
C. You'll always get raped on a trade in.

Try to sell it out right.

What does kbb.com say it should be worth?

[JeffHudgensMD]

Originally Posted by SSOOCH

A. It's a massed produced car
B. It's an LS
C. You'll always get raped on a trade in.

Try to sell it out right.

What does kbb.com say it should be worth?

C is more true than any of the other two.

[smokingcamaro]

Well this is what KBB says my car is worth on trade in!
Excellent
$16,728
Very Good
$16,378
Good
$15,628
Fair
$13,728
Now for private party is
Excellent
$18,178
Very Good
$17,628
Good
$17,078
Fair
$15,378

[PsychoZL1]

Depreciation is always going to kill you in the first couple years of owning a car if you bought it brand new.

Not to mention the dealership will low ball you most of the time on trade in value.

[JeffHudgensMD]

Originally Posted by PsychoRS

Depreciation is always going to kill you in the first couple years of owning a car if you bought it brand new.

Yup... That's why if you buy a new car you should drive it for 10 years and run the wheels off

[OzzySS]

not knocking the LS, but i'm surprised they even went above $12k on a 2010. private sale is almost always better if you have the time to get the price you want

[Dtrimpi87]

Welcome to the world of buying cars. New cars today don't hold value. They lose value as soon as you drive it off the lot. I think of cars as a commodity not an investment. Now of course there are big differences between a collector's car and your normal mass produced modern car.

[Mr_Draco]

Originally Posted by smokingcamaro

Well this is what KBB says my car is worth on trade in!
Excellent
$16,728
Very Good
$16,378
Good
$15,628
Fair
$13,728
Now for private party is
Excellent
$18,178
Very Good
$17,628
Good
$17,078
Fair
$15,378

KBB isn't worth crap dude to dealers. Dealers use black book values which change weekly based on what a car similar to yours brought in at auction the week before. As a general rule of thumb, expect to get 70% of KBB Good value.

As already mentioned, your car is worth $17-$18k and this is about what a dealer will sale it for. If you are serious about getting a SS, sale it privately first.

[Spektrum]

Even when I was selling cars we always valued the trade-in lower than KBB. Black Book, the guide that is commonly used, is always lower.

You could probably expect losing between 20-25% of the value just from driving it off the lot.

Always good to sell it yourself if you can!

[MBS]

Selling it yourself can be a huge pain in the ass. Calls people just wanting to test drive it, And with that high of a re-sale it is a limited market, Now maybe the Camaro is easier , My son had a Avenger in great shape and it took 2 months before he gave up and went back to the dealerlship, Like the guy above said keep her pay it off and drive her for free for 10 years

[Kent2010]

With BRAND NEW 2013 LS Camaros priced at around $ 21k-22k (after incentives and such) I highly doubt a 2010 is going to be on the used lot at $18k.

If your fees and taxes are average, you paid about the same ($21k) for your 2010 when it was brand new. Tax/title/license/dealer fees you paid "out the door" increase your cost but add no value to your car.

Frankly, I'm surprised they offered you $14k for a base 2010 Camaro w/40k miles -- that car is 3 model years old and fully out of its b2b warranty. I'm guessing that is a trade-in value -- only good if you buy another car, and the actual cash value is somewhere around $13k. Take it to CarMax and see what they will BUY it for... that's a better indicator of true value than what the dealer is offering as 'trade'.

[RollaMo]

Facts:

1. Yes, your Camaro has depreciated that much.
2. You will never come on out ahead when dealing with a car dealership.