What's it Worth? Cobra @ dealership help

austin3749 · Dec 12, 2020

Hey yall. Looking to trade my 2011 GT Premium for a 2003 Cobra 10th anniversary vert at a dealership. It seems pretty overpriced. They’re asking $24,600 for it when the KBB for it is $16-19k at a dealership. They offered $10,000 for mine and that’s definitely extremely low. So any advice on bringing them down to $17kish? Their offer says they’ll do up to $5,000 over KBB value. So is it possible to get them to bring my trade-in up to $15,000 while bringing them down to $17,000? The cobra was in 2 minor accidents (reported) but its extremely clean, new top, short throw, clutch, JLT intake.
-03 10th anniversary vert with 78,000 miles
-They’re wanting $24,600 (way too expensive)
-Offering me $10,000 for my TR6060-swapped 2011 GT Premium

They already tried to use intimidation tactics. “You cant rely on KBB or NADA or private party sales because they’re wrong, its a rare car and its been here for less than 24 hours”
There’s another vert cobra with less miles going for $22,000 nearby too. They said “go ahead show us”

03 Cobra Carfax

TL;DR: Need advice to drop a cobra vert’s price @ dealership from $24,600 to $17,000ish and bring my trade-in from $10,000 to $15-17,000ish.

nickyb · Dec 12, 2020

Ask to see what they paid for it.Was it a trade in or did they buy it at auction? They make much more on used cars then new ones.

austin3749 · Dec 12, 2020

nickyb said:
Ask to see what they paid for it.Was it a trade in or did they buy it at auction? They make much more on used cars then new ones.

It wasn’t from an auction. Some guy apparently traded-in his 03 cobra and a camaro ss. They were like “yeah, we’d at least like to recoup some of our losses” like dude, that doesn’t mean you bs me on the price. They raised it by $1,100 after I inquired, it was $23,500. It has 2 accidents and its a vert. They dont care about the private party market.

RaggedGT · Dec 12, 2020

No offense intended-but isn’t an 03 Cobra kinda a downgrade compared to 10 GT Coyote?

austin3749 · Dec 12, 2020

RaggedGT said:
No offense intended-but isn’t an 03 Cobra kinda a downgrade compared to 10 GT Coyote?

Depends on who it is, whats done to it, etc. I want to steer away from the coyote platform, its my 3rd one and I miss the new edges. There’s a local guy with a procharged stage 2 roush that has 35k miles, I offered a trade and he said he’d consider it. That was a super clean car but I doubt he’ll trade.

RaggedGT · Dec 12, 2020

austin3749 said:
Depends on who it is, whats done to it, etc. I want to steer away from the coyote platform, its my 3rd one and I miss the new edges. There’s a local guy with a procharged stage 2 roush that has 35k miles, I offered a trade and he said he’d consider it. That was a super clean car but I doubt he’ll trade.

Can understand, big fan of the Sn/new edge platform myself. Was just curious

Adieu · Dec 13, 2020

Let's break this down:

austin3749 said:
Hey yall. Looking to trade my 2011 GT Premium for a 2003 Cobra 10th anniversary vert at a dealership. It seems pretty overpriced. They’re asking $24,600 for it when the KBB for it is $16-19k at a dealership.

They can literally ask whatever they want, for any car, KBB/NADA/Black Book be damned. There's no law or regulation on that. The books are literally a guide, and can't keep up with market changes in spite of how frequently they're published.

austin3749 said:
They offered $10,000 for mine and that’s definitely extremely low.
-Offering me $10,000 for my TR6060-swapped 2011 GT Premium

Who says it's low, you? Good. That should be your reaction to any trade-in offer, because any trade-in offer IS going to be low. Also, they don't care one bit about the transmission swap. Your average buyer isn't even going to know what "TR6060" means, or why it's worlds better than an "MT82". All they'll know is that they're looking at a Mustang with three pedals, and to be honest, whatever salesman ends up selling your old car, if it doesn't go straight to wholesale due to it's age and/or mileage and/or condition and/or modifications isn't going to know THAT much. You're going to have to fight for your trade, but don't expect to get KBB on a modified car that's 10 years old, you're gonna have to haggle to get more than their offer, but how much more is completely up to them at the end of the day, and if they don't want to haggle, no amount of it on your part will change that.

austin3749 said:
03 Cobra Carfax

A Carfax is worth the paper it's printed on at the end of the day. It'll keep you from buying a known lemon or a known totaled wreck, but that's it. Beyond that it's strictly a false sense of security. I could go on Autotrader right now and find a Mustang or two with a "clean carfax" that have been through an insurance auction. It's a simple matter of googling the VIN.

austin3749 said:
TL;DR: Need advice to drop a cobra vert’s price @ dealership from $24,600 to $17,000ish and bring my trade-in from $10,000 to $15-17,000ish.

You're wanting a $14,000 swing in purchase price on this deal. That's never going to happen. A real good wizard with a pen in the finance office might, and I do mean might, be able to swing what looks like a solid $7000-8000 off "on paper", and by "on paper" I mean on the four-square they bend you over and service you with as they give you about a $3000 discount and hide the difference in monthly payment and fees.

If you reset your expectations to getting $5000 off this deal, that might realistically be something you are able to make happen. Their price on that Cobra isn't all that outrageous, as they're out there on Craigslist and Facebook for over $30k in varying conditions, and on Autotrader... well... your dealership isn't asking much at all compared to what's in my area:

When I switch to a nationwide search, the one you're looking at is the cheapest one on an Autotrader-participating dealership in the entire country right now.

austin3749 · Dec 13, 2020

MustangIIMatt said:
Let's break this down:

They can literally ask whatever they want, for any car, KBB/NADA/Black Book be damned. There's no law or regulation on that. The books are literally a guide, and can't keep up with market changes in spite of how frequently they're published.

Who says it's low, you? Good. That should be your reaction to any trade-in offer, because any trade-in offer IS going to be low. Also, they don't care one bit about the transmission swap. Your average buyer isn't even going to know what "TR6060" means, or why it's worlds better than an "MT82". All they'll know is that they're looking at a Mustang with three pedals, and to be honest, whatever salesman ends up selling your old car, if it doesn't go straight to wholesale due to it's age and/or mileage and/or condition and/or modifications isn't going to know THAT much. You're going to have to fight for your trade, but don't expect to get KBB on a modified car that's 10 years old, you're gonna have to haggle to get more than their offer, but how much more is completely up to them at the end of the day, and if they don't want to haggle, no amount of it on your part will change that.

A Carfax is worth the paper it's printed on at the end of the day. It'll keep you from buying a known lemon or a known totaled wreck, but that's it. Beyond that it's strictly a false sense of security. I could go on Autotrader right now and find a Mustang or two with a "clean carfax" that have been through an insurance auction. It's a simple matter of googling the VIN.

You're wanting a $14,000 swing in purchase price on this deal. That's never going to happen. A real good wizard with a pen in the finance office might, and I do mean might, be able to swing what looks like a solid $7000-8000 off "on paper", and by "on paper" I mean on the four-square they bend you over and service you with as they give you about a $3000 discount and hide the difference in monthly payment and fees.

If you reset your expectations to getting $5000 off this deal, that might realistically be something you are able to make happen. Their price on that Cobra isn't all that outrageous, as they're out there on Craigslist and Facebook for over $30k in varying conditions, and on Autotrader... well... your dealership isn't asking much at all compared to what's in my area:

When I switch to a nationwide search, the one you're looking at is the cheapest one on an Autotrader-participating dealership in the entire country right now.

Yeah. I’ve done a trade-in before at a dealership my friend worked at. They gave me about $4,000 extra in order to make the trade happen and also qualified me for 0%.
There’s only two dealerships near me who are sellings cobras. The one I saw, and another one that’s $22,995. I know dealerships will already be asking for more than private, its just the deal of the game. A lot of private sales recently have been anywhere from $16,000 up depending on mileage and mods.
I can tell you for a fact THIS dealership does care about mods, but on the cobra, not mine. The salesman repetitively continued to say how the cobra is nice, its got aftermarket stuff, blah blah. The only stuff done to it is a Borla setup, Rovos wheels, and a JLT intake which is hardly anything.
I know they can ask whatever they want. I could ask $70,000 for mine and never sell it. I think more of the point is, their price is set to a point where they want to make profit (which is fine obviously) and they want to price it as whatever they want due to the fact it’s “rare”. Yes, not very many cobras out there, but I’d rather see outrageous numbers on Roushes and Saleens, there’s very little of them around here.

But regardless, I do appreciate your comment and the info you gave me. I dont expect them to offer me much for my trade-in so I’ll probably see if I can sell it private-party and THEN get them to lower the price after its been in the lot longer. Thanks.

KRUISR · Dec 13, 2020

Don't think of the negotiation at the dealer as the numbers stuck on each car. Think in terms of difference and don't get hung up on the rest.

So looking at your numbers above, you would like the trade done and add in maybe $1 or 2k from you. Let's say they can do that (I don't think they would), does it matter if the trade in is $10k, $15k or $5k? If the difference is what you want, who cares. You need to figure the value (to you) of the dealers car, the value to you of your car and you have a difference. If that difference can not be met, move on.

austin3749 · Dec 13, 2020

KRUISR said:
Don't think of the negotiation at the dealer as the numbers stuck on each car. Think in terms of difference and don't get hung up on the rest.

So looking at your numbers above, you would like the trade done and add in maybe $1 or 2k from you. Let's say they can do that (I don't think they would), does it matter if the trade in is $10k, $15k or $5k? If the difference is what you want, who cares. You need to figure the value (to you) of the dealers car, the value to you of your car and you have a difference. If that difference can not be met, move on.

That’s all that really matters to me. I dont care about numbers really besides when it comes to monthly payments. I really just want the difference in price to be about $1-3k. Right now, that difference is about $16,000 which is crazy. They’d be having me pay $33,000 for the car after my trade-in with a monthly payment of about $650. That’s more than my 2019 GT PP1. Sure I can say I want a $400 monthly payment. But then they’re gonna sit there and just add hidden stuff to get it down when in reality I’m going to be paying more yknow?

Potomus Pete · Dec 13, 2020

When we traded our Honda we were penalized thousands because of two minor accidents. So when you get that car somebody is going to fool with you.

KRUISR · Dec 13, 2020

So you have a 2011 GT Premium and a 2019 GT PP!? Based on your comments, you are still making payments on the 2011? If so, that could change things as well.

austin3749 · Dec 13, 2020

KRUISR said:
So you have a 2011 GT Premium and a 2019 GT PP!? Based on your comments, you are still making payments on the 2011? If so, that could change things as well.

Both have payments. Difference is, my bank said I could switch it over to a personal loan.

Mustang5L5 · Dec 16, 2020

I actually think their pricing on the Cobra is spot on. They sell for $24-30k in my neck of the woods and going up. $17k would be a steal for a terminator, especially what appears to be a 10th anniversary convertible. KBB/nada does not apply to 03/04 cobras. Look up KBB of a 93 cobra and then go try to buy one for that value (KBB is $14.5k).

As for what they offered you? Well that’s to be expected. They are just going to run the car though the auction and the only way to make a few bucks is to offer low so they can quickly move it to the next person through an auction. If you want $15k you’ll have to sell it yourself privately. Dealers go by grey book value, which is historical auction prices locally. If they pull up a list and see the last 20-30 11GTs went for $9-11k at auction, they aren’t going to give you more and potentially get stuck with the car.

Really what it comes down to is you are 15k apart, and you want to be $2k apart. That’s a big difference to overcome and not a lot of incentive on their part to move. 03 cobras are rare and in demand. 11GTs not so much. They will wait for the next person with a better offer. They will sell that car.

Habu135 · Dec 17, 2020

Lots of private party Terminators out there for sale. Many bone stock still.

Going to a dealership to buy a used car is like getting married a third or fourth time. You know the chances of being completely screwed over are astronomically high.

nickyb · Dec 17, 2020

Habu135 said:
Lots of private party Terminators out there for sale. Many bone stock still.

Going to a dealership to buy a used car is like getting married a third or fourth time. You know the chances of being completely screwed over are astronomically high.

I'd have to be the only one not screwed by a dealership. In 2007 I took a salesman job at a Saturn dealership.My daily at the time was a 93 tourass that the trans was starting to slip,one day it gave up the ghost on the way into the dealership. I went to the user car mang.and asked what cash cars he had In The wholesale lot,he gave me keys to two cars, one $1150 and the other $1650. The 1993 lx is the one I bought, tax,title,and tags $2107 out the door. Best car I ever owned.

Neuron · Dec 19, 2020

Sell your car and buy what you want, the dealer counts on lazy people who do not want to hassle selling theirs.

What's it Worth? Cobra @ dealership help

austin3749

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Been here over a DECADE and still no CT

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What's it Worth? Cobra @ dealership help

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Been here over a DECADE and still no CT

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Been here over a DECADE and still no CT

Easy there, this ain't a dating site.

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