FocusCanada Forums

I took my car to a dealer today for a Trade in and they offered me 8500 for it. Not that bad, those guys are pretty damn good. Just by a quick drive they could tell me everything that was wrong, with the car and that it had been repainted on the one side.

Easy for a professional that makes his living buying and selling cars. I'm just curious if they are giving me a fair deal.

Its a 2001 S2, 85000km's on it, the offer was with car and all the stuff in my signature still on it.

I'm going to remove some items like chip/udpvewires....

Your car is worth as much as someone will pay for it. But for real these Fords just don't hold any resale value especially because they've been deemed terrible cars and the fact that everyone and their grandmother drives one!

I would say it is worth way more than that. I sure as s**t wouldn't take 8500 for my car and I got a 2001 S2 also. Remember dealers will give you less for your car, especially on a trade in cause they are going to make sure they make some cash on your car. I would look for a private sale way before taking my car to a dealership for a trade in... my 2 cents anyway....

Also, if you are for sure going to sell/trade your car, then take off the mods, the dealership will probably give you the exact same amount for your car and you could sell those mods easy on here (hint hint). Used aftermarket parts are a very hot commodity..... you'd save some of your losses that way.

look in the paper or autotrader to see how much people are asking for a similar vehicle

that's probably the best way to gauge how much your car is worth

selling private is a big hassle though.. people wanna haggle, people come for test drives and beat on your car, people call to make appointments and don't show, etc etc etc

Thanks naz, it actually worked out well. I found a car on the autotrader site with the same km's and its an S2. Was going for 9900 from a dealer lot, so the price I got is pretty straight up considering i'm getting it before tax.

I've still gotta sleep on it, I think I share an emotional connection with my car. I know I want this new car(even though its used), but its just a hard thing to let go of a car that has really done me no wrong or caused any problems.

I won't be posting a message saying good bye or any crap like that. I'm trading up for a 2002 SVTF, so unfortunatly to everybody I'll be back....

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When I pretended I was interested in buying a SRT-4 last fall, they told me they wouldn't give me any money what so ever for my mods :( but I kinda already knew that. They offered me 10 G's for my '01 with about 50km at the time.

Kinda sad considering my bro traded in a '98 Beetle with 120,000 kms, bare bones, pretty bad condition, a few dents, broken mirror, no deck or anything, and he got 10 G's for it also. :(

Couple of good points were made:

1. Your car is worth what someone is willing to pay....(private especially)
2. Trade in values come before taxes so add 15% if you were to sell it privately
3. Selling privately is definately a hassle


Couple of things I would like to point out though:

1. When looking in the autotrader do not look at private listings these guys are on crack (I think there is a guy still trying to sell his 91 NSX for $70,000)

2. Trade in value is also relative to the car you are about to purchase (for example if you were to buy an Escalade you would get more than if you were going to buy a Sunfire, they take it off the top to make a deal)

3. Your car is never never ever extra clean ..no matter what you think. Most cars are average at best, stop thinking your car is immaculate because mileage puts wear on your vehicle no matter what.

As for your value Hardkore if you got $8500 you are doing very very very well....that is like selling it privately for $10000.

Plus we all know that you can pick up a brand new SVT with full warranty for under $20000.

Black book says your car is worth only about $6500-$7000 top end less reconditioning.

Good luck and don't be shy to ask questions about the whole process. ;)

Under 20K for a new SVTF? I haven't found that yet, perhaps thats after fussing with the sales people for an hour... :P

The SVTF i'm looking at is a 2002 SVTF, Blue, Mach Audio, 20,000km's on it. They want 16000 for it.

Someone posted not long ago....I can't remember who but there were a couple under or just over $20000 brand new.

Oh one quick thing as well if you are financing through the dealer they receive generally $525 from the finance company so they are willing to negotiate generally. Also if you can get a credit line....generally about prime plus one or two still better that the rate offered at the dealership unless they do not recieve a reserve.

These are the lowest rates available right now through dealerships:

Royal - 6.95% no reserve
TD - 6.75% they get a reserve here
BOM - 6.65% no reserve
Scotia - 7.29% they get a reserve

But I didn't tell you that ;)

My uncle had a 2000 model focus, and he traded it in recently, and he got $13,000 for it, It also helped the fact that he had low mileage on his car.

paolo,Jun 22 2004, 10:02 AM Wrote:My uncle had a 2000 model focus, and he traded it in recently, and he got $13,000 for it, It also helped the fact that he had low mileage on his car.

Paul that car is not worth even close to that even with no kms...what did he buy?

I've ended up deciding against the new ride, while the SVT is nice and a better performer than my ride. Man this sucks, I get myself all hyped up about something and then I talk myself out of it.....

:(