It's the best time ever to sell a used car -- as long as you don't need to buy one

[Demovictory9]

Clarissa Iliff logged about 78,000 miles on her trusty 2015 Ford Focus before a looming new-car purchase rendered it expendable earlier this year.

Trying to unload it, the Orange resident took the Ford to a local car dealership, which offered her $4,850 for the sedan in late March. But that was about $1,000 less than the low-end valuation from automotive research company Kelley Blue Book, so she passed.

It was the right decision. On Monday, Iliff sold the vehicle to CarMax in Costa Mesa for $6,400.

“I didn’t expect to get that much,” said Iliff, 31, director of business operations at BOTEC Analysis, a public policy research and consulting firm. “I am absolutely pleased with the financials.”

Iliff benefited from a red-hot used-car market, which has been roiled by a once-in-a-generation set of circumstances brought on by the pandemic. Last year’s collapse of the rental car market, ongoing production issues in the new-automobile business and droves of buyers flush with stimulus checks have turned the used-car market upside down, leading to a shortage of inventory that has sent asking prices soaring to historic levels in the Los Angeles area and nationally

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A snapshot of the Los Angeles market in April gives a sense of the turbulence. There were about 101,000 used cars for sale in the L.A. region during the week that ended April 4, down 12% from the same week in 2020, and off 18% from 2019, according to data provided by Cox, a car services company. Meanwhile, the average list price was $22,963, up 12% from a year earlier and 14% from 2019.

https://www.latimes.com/business/autos/story/2021-05-04/la-used-car-boom

[mitch96]

1. I got a killer, KILLER deal from Carvana for my 2017 Prius... Helped defray the costs of

getting hosed by the dealer... Beware of the "out the door price" They throw you a low ball just to get you in the door and then wear you down with massive amounts of bullshit.
They all suck...YMMV
m

[Demovictory9]

2. yes, I was offered a few thousand for trading in my car. after I accepted verbally, emptied the

car of my personal belongings, watched it being driven off to storage on the dealer's roof... they then offered $800.

sigh.... so many games.

[mitch96]

4. Their job is to take every last dead president out of your wallet. nt

[Demovictory9]

5. yes. To do so, one goes into another cubicle and has a fake loud conversation in your earshot

"we have buyer for that car, but today ONLY. SHe must sign it over today!!!"

[mitch96]

7. The most powerful thing I have found in negotiation with these scum is to walk away..

Drives them nuts. They will do anything to get you back into their showroom. I've had them throw in a trailer hitch and drop $500 after I walked out... YMMV
m

[Tommy Carcetti]

3. Got a great trade in deal on my Subaru.

That and the Biden Bucks for a down payment helped me get a great deal on an Outback.

[Demovictory9]

6. nice

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

8. Ha, Carfax just offered me $9500 for my 2002 Tundra with less than 50K miles, nah I'll keep it!

In almost 20 years no maintenance but tires, brakes and oil changes. It'll go another 20 yrs!

My 2003 Lexus SC 430 convertible is even more soild, that cant have that either. It was $65K new, and the navigation still works!

Buy Toyota! Well maybe not new, new Tundras cost $45,000 + nowadays