i went to infiniti dealer this past weekend to check out the new G35c. after sat in it for awhile, i actually started thinking about trading my max in for one.

so, today i check kbb and found out my car is only worth around $15k right now.....i paid almost twice that much (ya i'm dumb for paying that much) about 1 yr and 4 months ago.

i hear y'al talking about nissan has bad resale value, but it never really hit me until today

 

KBB does not accurately reflect the price your car is worth. The dealers do not use this for your trade in. They use the Black Book, and that's it. Don't let them try and talk you into them buying it back at wholesale. It's a BS/stalling tactic they use to keep you in the dealership longer and force you to their terms. Use the link below to get a better grasp of what your trade in is worth. Also, do the deals seperately (the trade in and the purchase are not linked...unless you're unfortunate enough to have negative equity, which almost everyone has in their first 2 years of ownership).

Black Book

Enjoy

 

because your car is modded.

about 6 weeks ago I was offered 16.8K for my 2k max with 35K miles, its 40 months old! This was against any G35C I wanted (trim level) at MSRP, no markup past that. Given that nobody is geting discounts, I felt they werent moving alot of money around to make me feel better.

While they liked the 2k2 tails and headlights, they asked me alot of questions about modded suspension, tint, emissions, intake, etc. even tho they could see my car wasnt lowered and didnt have tint ( I guess this was for the 'big guy' in the office who wont get up to give you a price ) Anyway, they would have deducted alot for any of those things.

10K in 4 years. Man, I'm an idiot for not snapping up that deal. But I really have misgivings about any Nissan product now and I have some other plans for the 15K+ I would need to come up with.

 

In general, when it comes to Maximas, which has a better resale value, the manual or automatic tranny?

 

Dealers take $850-$950 off your car value if you do not have the auto.

 

Tim--I did it online, so i don't think my car being modded would effect the price that i got

Mach1 -- i have an auto

 

Hmm, let us be optimistic. Even if it is $12k in 1.5 year, it's $8k per year. Have you ever considered a short BMW lease programs. It can be cheaper, you know.

 

NO NO NO! Leasing is NEVER cheaper. It may seem that way because you're putting less money out of pocket RIGHT NOW, but in the long run you really aren't getting equity, so it's like rent... you put money in but you don't get it back in the end.

 

online? well, to cover their a$$, they have to assume you are driving a raggity hoopty regardless of what you say. Man, if your car is *clean*, then you are doing yourself no favors by trying to price it sight unseen.

They will deduct for some mods. They were adamat about no susp and intake/exhaust mods in trade.

 

ask the Infiniti dealer what they'll give you for your Max.

Like TimW said, they don't offer much of a discount on the G35, so whatever price they give you for the Maxima is "ACV" (Actual Cash Value).

I'd bet they'll offer you more than 15,000.

-vq

 

Tim,

Did you go to Parkway to look at the G35? I poked around over at Infiniti of Memphis; I was too scared to even ask what my car would bring on a trade.

Buzz

 

Leasing is good in 2 scenarios:

1) You have a company so you can write off the lease expense.
2) You want to drive a car you can't really afford.

Other than that it really sucks. I never leased until I became incorporated. I own my Max (well, will own) because I really liked the car. We'll see if I feel the same way in 5 years.

 

The other nice thing about leasing is that when the lease is up in 3/4/5 years, if your car isn't worth jack (ie maxima) you can walk away. If the buyout is less than the worth of the car, you can purchase it and then turn around and sell the car and make some $$ back. New cars are very poor investments, lease new, buy used.

 

HOWEVER...in all these generalizations, let's not forget mileage issues.

For those of us who drive more than 70 miles a day, leasing sucks.

 

yeah Parkway. They really treated me well. I actually felt alittle bad I didnt get the G35C they offered or call them back.. Hurt even more to see the one I wanted being unloaded 2 weeks later as I drove by

 

Is resale value that bad? I just checked kbb on the value of my dad's 2001 gle, and it showed up about 10k less than what we had bought it for. I went to edmunds.com and looked up same year maxima, accord and camery, with the most similar features which I could do. The maxima was higher than teh accord, but less than the camery. The accord brand new probably cost less than the maxima and the camery either the same or slightly more. I think resale values on all cars are plumiting, I dont think nissans are doing as bad as they used to be in the past.

 

I think we all understand how leasing works. It's just a matter of what one values. Some people enjoy the idea of being able to drive a super nice car, without having to sacrifice the way they live outside of their car. A car is a sh1tty investment no matter how you slice it. You pay buku money for something that loses its value every day you drive it. If your drive to work is less than 5 min (like me) then leasing is a no lose situation. If at the end of my lease I want to keep the car and finance it, I can. If I don't, that's an option too. Leasing is not the devil that so many people make it out to be. For some, it makes a lot of sense. For others, it's a completely dumb idea. It all depends on how you live and how you drive. For a lot of people the idea of losing money over time on a car (which is going to happen regardless) while paying a lot less per month is better than having to pay out the a$$ every month for a car that's not as nice to drive, just to be able to finance it, in which case you are still losing money.

 

I agree with you on this for the most part. If you are going to buy out a lease and own the car you'll have to pay sales tax (at least in Cali) and a lease diposition fee. That screws up the buy out. If you want to own the car then who cares.

It's also funny that we all know that cars are bad investments but are always unhappy about their value, myself included.

 

Nissan VQ35(Max/Altima)


Tim,

You should have JUMPED on that deal!

 

I kind of regret leasing the car, but at the time of the lease signing two years ago it seemed like a good idea. Tax write off as a company car while I got to drive it. But being an maxima fanatic, that makes modding a car that is leased more unreasonable as if I was to own one. Today I just looked at the leasing contract, and the purchase price of 16k is not even worth it after the almost three years of lease payments.

I'm really just thinking about returning the lease this november and getting a used 4th gen to mod.

 

priorities man.. priorities. I dont have special Russ Powers® that allow me to trade indiscriminately.

Being so close to payoff, it would be nice to see a few hundred more dollars a month in the account. Although I have my doubts that the max will be inexpensive to own after the warranty runs out (or before) at 5/75K

 

I don't see how he does it...changing cars like I change my oil.

Either he doesn't know squat about money or he still lives at home with his parents.

I've known some people who are in their late 20's-early 30's who drive an M3, Boxsters, Escalades and still mooching off their parents.

 

 

What do you mean a BMW lease program? I looked at that right before I got my maxima. I would have had to get a 325i (slooooow) with manual seats and Halogens to even come CLOSE to paying what I'm paying for my Maxima ($420/month), but with the BMW, I would have had to put $3000 DOWN just to be able to do that. I will NEVER put money down on a lease. What a rip. Not being sarcastic/flaming at all. Where do you get BMW leases being cheaper?

Thanks,
Lloyd

 

I think he is referring to the better resale value of BMW's (hence better residuals). However, to your point, it takes many more $$$ to get a car of equal size, performance, and features to the Max from BMW so the lease is actually a higher overall cost.

Now if we were to compare apples to apples.

 

Oh ok. I gotcha. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

Not sure if I did or didn't.

That is just the way I read into things.

 

Hey, it seems I started debate about lease vs. buy! I think you misunderstood me.

We were talking about an alternative to: take a loan, buy Maxima, enjoy it for 2-3 years and then sell (trade in) it to buy a new one (G35?). The alternative is a lease.

The message, posted before me, was that Maxima lost $15k in depreciation over 1.5 year. APR on a loan results in $1k more, total $16k. I said, perhaps, $12k lost, not $16k.

Let us discuss alternative, a lease on BMW. $3.5k down. $400+ per month equals $5k a year. After two years you are going to spend $3.5k+$5k+$5k=$13.5k That is what I was refering to. It may be kind of close to what we are spending (losing on depreciation) on Maxima.