I had considered trading my 2001 Maxima SE AE, but I was offered only 20k for my car (loaded with 8000 miles). List for this car was 31K. I was disappointed. Why such a huge depreciation? I was always told a Maxima would hold more of its value than, say, a Chrysler or other domestic make. What gives?
I might as well drive the hell out of my car because the low mileage did not matter.

 

Whenever you buy a new car, the depreciation instantly takes a hit because it is being used. That's why they say that the second you drive a new car off of the lot you lose upwards of 25% of the retail value.

Sorry! That's just how it goes.

 

Well, be honest with yourself. Would you pay more than 20K for an AE Maxima when you could buy a brand new one with more horsepower for four or five grand more? Personally, I think 20K is good considering you have a car with an outdated engine. Just my take on it.

 

Well, I've seen used 2001 SE's advertised for $21K+ at dealerships, so I think the dealer that offered you $20K for your AE was leaving some room for negotiation (AE's stickered for $4K or $5K above most SE's). I've looked for used AE's in the SoCal area, and I have not seen any.....so it's not like supply is exceeding demand.

As for having a car with an outdated engine....yes the 2002's have more powerful engines, but there will never be another 20th Anniversary Maxima. Add to that the fact that AE's came standard with many cosmetic items that 2002 SE owners still have to add to their cars, and the reasoning that your AE is only worth $20K seems less rational.

Ron

 

First of all, not to start any flames against Alty owners, Nissan focused on the Alty as th car of the year. Lots of $$$$ has been spent by Nissan to promote that car as the ultimate ride. Radio spots, billboards, tv commercials, etc. Our car has taken second place to the Altima in peoples minds. The flip side to that is, ou org brothers have paid for a 2K2, almost what we were paying for a used 2000 last year(yikes). Our only hope is that the next Max looks like crap and we are able to get killer deals on 6spd. 2K2's. Looks like you, as well as us 2K owners, could get the shaft if you decided to sell your car soon, while still being upside down.

 

$20K for a 2K1 trade-in is a great offer. Wholesale on a fully loaded SE is in the $17-$18K range. New car dealers usually markup the car $5k so that would mean they would ask $25k for your car. We know they would get more like $20-$22K. What this means is they are giving you more on paper. There are only two explanations for this: there's a hidden factory-to-delaer incentive that you don't know about or you are paying too much for the new Max.

To make a long story short, I would keep your car. I drove two 2k2 6-speeds and I like the 2k1 better. I didn't care for the 6-speed's shifter and the power was almost too much for the chassis. I feel the 2k1 was more balanced. Again, this is my personal opinion and I kow some of you may disagree.

 

20k!?! That is a damn good price especially when you can get a max for 23k basically loaded.

I only got 17k for my 2001 5spd Loaded SE with 16k of miles. BB was 17-18k.

 

Hey, I'm sure you will get more if you try to sell it yourself. Not every car consumer is an ORG member and are unaware of the Altima's pure speed or the fact that the "02" has more HP than your "AE". With only 8000 mi. you should be able to sell it for between $24-26k with relative ease.

 

maxima's have bad resale (for an import) because Nissan tried to compete with Honda and Toyota on leases at the end of the 90s. They set the residual really high and ended up with TONS of used Maxs on the lots. They also tried sell heavy to fleets (corp company cars), these too returned back to the used lot fairly soon.

They also offer crazy, CRAZY rebates, like $4000-6000. Obviously this takes money DIRECTLY out of your resale.

thats really all there is too it. Honda was able to keep resale up for years but not offering any incentives. Now, for years, Honda has been doing rebates and incentives, their resale seems to have averaged out with everyone else.

 

The average car consumer might not be an ORG member but they are also not idiots. $24-26k for a 2K1 Max, come on. Even if they are not experts they can log on to priceline.com, or other pricing sites. We may be taking a big hit to trade up to a 2K2, but they are cheaper than 2K, and 2K1's were last year.

 

I never said they were idiots but my hunch was very close. I chose the most accurate source I knew of KELLEY'S BLUE BOOK and researched the car mentioned the 2k1 AE Maxima SE and I used my mileage(8,880)for the example. See for yourself at
http://www.kbb.com/. I could not provide the link due to quotes being provided real-time.

 

Hate to burst your bubble, went to the site, plugged the #'s for my car. The price was not something I'd like to share with anyone. By the way my car is a 2K, fully loaded SE. This might not be the best site to use for a high quote.

 

Don't worry I'll provide mine, $23,345! Again, the car mentioned in the original quote was a 2k1 AE Maxima SE not a 2k SE.

 

Obviously they have a serious error with that site if they say you can sell it for 23k. New ones are going for that and no one guranteed will pay over 20k for your car.

 

KBB is not a good source for resale values. They price cars considerably higher than the market reflects. I have found Edmunds.com to be the most accurate for Private Party/Dealer values. I was looking at used 2K1 SEs fully loaded w/5-speed this past winter and sellers were asking between $23k-$25K. Is now 4 months later so price should have fallen again. Nissan is running financing/rebate promos right now that put you in a new 02 Maxima for less than invoice. If anyone can get $20K for their 2K1, consider it an accomplishment. The AE package should make much of a difference in value over a SE. Nissan resale values s--k! Honda and Toyota are definently winners in this category.