My wife has been telling me that I need to dump my 9 yr maxima and get a new one (preferably a Infiniti but I cannot go and buy a V6 again). I was looking into the 2.5SL Altima. We went into the dealership and test drove the vehicle, the CVT tranny is a marvel, though the upholstry was cheap plastics.

When I asked what my maxima will hold, he said $1500 ($3000 KBB and he would need $1500 to "refurbish" it). My jaw dropped and I walked out of the stealership disgusted. These guys in the stealerships are real low lifes, their vehicles cost the owner arm and leg but my vehicle is like toilet paper.

BTW my vehicle has been superbly maintained by me and has 156K on it. I am better off having it vs the $1500 bucks.

 

Just sell it in Auto Trader then. You ought to be able to get $3000 or so for it, maybe a little more.

If you have over 100k miles on your car or it is more than 7 years old, pretty much all you get from the dealer is around $1500. They typically cannot get bank financing on a car with 100k miles or more than 7 years old so they send them to auction instead.

 

156k on the clock you're better off selling private party. That offer is the dealership telling you that they don't want to deal with the hassle of taking a high mileage trade. I wouldn't read too much into that offer as far as the actual value of the vehicle goes.

Typically a dealer will auction those or dump them to a used car lot.

 

they arent a charity...they run a business

 

Don't blame the dealership. That price sounds about right. Car prices have dropped recently and the on line sources have always been very inaccurate. The dealer could pick that car up at auction any time he wanted for around $1,500.

You probably could have talked them up some more instead of stomping out with your feelings hurt. It's called negotiating to get what you want. That's how adults do business.

That being said, buy the Altima without a trade and sell the Max your self. You WILL get more for it that way.

Just be ready for people showing up to look at it with no money, wanting you to owner finance it or lowballing you with offers that will probably hurt your feelings again. Also, hope you don't sell it to someone who crashes it before they register/insure it. Finally, hope you don't sell it to some crazy who shows up at your door 2 months later because it broke down on him. Cheaper cars tend to attract some "interresting" people.

 

Trade in values are low in general no matter what kind of car you drive. Stop whining about it and sell you car privately if you want to get more money for it. Dealerships tend to give you market value for your trade. Kelly Blue Book doesn't buy cars and is only a guide.

 

My local Nissan dealership sended me a mail wanting to by my 00 Maxima because it was "in high demands" and offered $6,000 for it. Of course this was back in early October before the economic turmoil began.

 

those are crap and just a way for them to sell new cars

 

x2, I got one of those when I had my celica and my old manager got one for her camry.

 

Exactly, those letters are just to get you in the door. It's $6,000 before adjusting for mileage, condition etc...

The dealer can also show you what ever they want for the trade. They can show $6,000 for the trade against an new car at full sticker with the dealer keeping all the dealer cash, rebates etc...

When a trade gets appraised it's given an ACV (actual cash value). That's how much the car is worth to the dealer.

They can show less or more than that depending on how the negotiation goes. If someone is emotional about the trade they can show more for it and discount the new car less which leaves the bottom line the same. That can keep someone like the OP from getting their feelings hurt and storming out. If the customer wants an unrealistic discount on the new car the dealer can "hold back" on the trade by showing less than the ACV. That difference can be shown as more of a discount.

Sometimes the trade is heavily over valued to show as "cash down" to meet bank requirements for financing.

This is one reason KBB and other online value guides are inaccurate. The numbers they get are so screwy they can't come up with a real average.

Like maximadave said. You can't go to the KBB store and sell your car for those values.

 

its 2008 - 9 years, makes your car a '99?

Keep it and drive it til it dies.....You could probably get another 100k with relatively minor problems.

I had 193k on my '99 when the clutch went. I sold it to a friend of a friend who is a nissan mechanic. I am still kicking myself for not paying the $750 for a new clutch. Last I heard, it was still running great and that was 1.5 years later.

 

00's usually were built in 1999. my 2002 was built in 2001.

 

Keep it, buy the Altima and trade the wife in for a 84 model. Just kidding.

 

My '02 was built in June 2001. Pretty early build date for an '02 but since according to the VIN, mine was the 91st one made...

 

thats funny...

as mentioned above, get the alti, i'm sure you'l love it. You can always sell the max here on org, at least you'll have a better chance of staying away from the "interesting" people that shop around at private listings.

Good luck with your max and your future purchase.

 

curious as how u can tell urs waz the 91st made through the VIN?

 

If it makes you feel any better, I was offered $5,500 for my 2003 maxima SE with 60,800 miles. haha. Needless to say, my face turned red as I laughed it off and grabbed my keys.

 

did you sell your car privately?

 

I have not sold it. I just got that quote last night. Its been for sale for a bit and I've had the normal tire kickers that people in this thread have talked about. I might end up just sticking it out with the maxima. It has been a great car for the last 20k miles, except for this clunking that I have going over bumps slowly. It just sucks that the prices have dropped off so fast in the last 2 years.

 

I feel your pain on the resale value of the Max. Everytime there is a model change, the resale drops even further. If you Max is paid for, drive it 'til the wheels fall off. Mine is paid for and glad I don't have any more car payments. I also have the clunking over bumps and will hopefully fix it soon.

 

when i had my 00 i wanted an 02 but didnt want to lose money on the trade-in...waited until it got totalled and got my 02...keeping the 02 as my beater

 

I just traded my 1990 Maxima GXE in for a new Maxima and got $1500 for it. I may have gotten more for it since it is in good condition. However, as stated by another poster, the people that buy these cars do not use Grey Poupon mustard on their sandwiches. It's better to not get involved with them.

 

Ok - I have to ask! Is the clunking noise your struts?

 

I have no idea! haha. It doesn't do it all the time, so I wasnt that worried about it. I have been trying to narrow it down so on the next warm day I get I can check it all out.

 

for a 9 year old maxima and with that many miles that's about the right price a dealer will give. when i traded in my fully loaded 02 with 116k i only got $4,000 for it...i wanted around $5000 but eh i was just glad to get rid of it =/

 

Hope it wasn't for that pontiac lol j/p

 

the clucking is the bushing in the strut mounts get old. you can have someone replaced them, they're very cheap.

 

Last night replaced the strut mount and the strut rubber seat. The left strut mount was shot and the whole strut mount plate popped off with rubber and bolt sticking in. Had to use a impact wrench to remove that bolt...

Overall the suspension feels quite stiff with little roll when going over uneven road surfaces. Have to ride it more to know if this exercise will take the clunks away. Total cost of parts $110.

 

I had the same experience with mine when i did the mounts

You will notice the difference in handling big time! If you did the isolators and spring seat too the clunk should be history.

 

1 month ago I was at the Nissan dealer and found a great deal on a 2006 Altima SE-R...They wanted to give me $4900 for my 2002 max. Granted it has 110K on it, but in real nice shape still and figure I can get a bit more private party so that is what I am doing.

So as others said, dealerships just want the sale - to deal with high milage turn ins, they just auction them off and give the lowest possible number to make ya bite and get the new car off the lot.

I wanted the SE-R and took the 2002 maxima which I will post soon for sale. I do miss the maxima, but the SE-R altima sure is sweet! (as I now get boo'ed off the maxima.org forums

All in all, sell private party on craigslist and you will still probably get another $1K for it. More hassle, yes. But more moola too!