How much is it worth?

[Black Bob]

You have some factors working against you on getting a good trade-in deal. It looks like you paid $1000+ OVER normal market retail value when you first bought the Solara. Lumping in a 2nd trade-in car is not really good either, dealers are notorious for adding 2 trade-ins together and giving you waaaaay less on both when you do the math. Besides 2nd trade-in gives more ammo for the dealership to confuse you. And compound that with the outstanding debt on the Solara, I don't think the dealership is going help you out in paying off the Solara through the trade-ins. That's not to say the dealer won't give you the hybrid, it's just that you may be paying a higher monthly payment/longer term because you still may be upside down when all is said and done. Just to let you know, even when the economy was booming, financing a car on a long-term basis and then trading it in a year later is not the most efficient use of your money. Sadly, I had to learn all of this first hand as a customer like yourself.

[Garrryyunit]

I'd rather get the Prius or Civic, because they get close to 45mpg and I don't want to pay the $28k it would cost for a brand new Accord Hybrid. What kinds of problems are people having with the Civics?

This should explain it all

or you can just google: problems with civic hybrid.

haha.. there is plenty for you to choose from. :] transmission is the biggest problem

[gnegroni]

Why don't you try and sell privately (Solara) and give the Jetta in trade in?

[chrono807]

Is there any truth in what I'm reading here? http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automoti ... prius.html

Apparently the Prius's traction control is a little bit overzealous (or so people say). The main concern I have is that somebody mentioned that they had trouble on a highway that is about 5 minutes from where I live.

Is this just negative propoganda, or does the Prius really have a safety / gas mileage deficiency in the winter?

[zhaden]

I don't know what dealership you're working with, but I've sold cars and it's a pretty simple process. You just have to play along. When you're ready to make the deal, decide how much you're willing to spend. Would you take the deal, right now, if they gave you 7500? Are they giving you anything off sticker?

It works like this... you've got the dealer invoice price for the car you want to purchase. You can look up invoice prices on edmunds. It doesn't matter if they have the particular car that you want on the lot, every significant manufacturer has an online system where they can view other dealerships' inventory and make a trade for one of their cars for one that you want (keep that in mind, if they're pushing you to this white car they have NOW instead of the silver one you really want - if you're willing to wait a couple of days, your dealership will bend an awful lot if you let them feel like you're getting closer, including working out a dealer trade of cars when it comes time to sign). Anything over the invoice price (MSRP) is profit on the vehicle in and of itself. Japanese manufacturers have far less markup on their vehicles to stay competitive with the cheaper American cars, that's just how it goes; so don't expect to get much money off the sticker. Kelley Blue Book's trade-in value (assuming the car is in good condition) under the good conditioned category is generally very, very close to the black book value of your car. The Black Book Value is a documented auction price of your vehicle in your state. The vast majority of states have this, New York included. They can look up any manu/model by year and see how well this car has done at your state's automotive auctions over the recent course of time. This is the benchmarking guide for dealerships to know how much they should be willing to give you. If your car is in nice condition, they will try to sell it retail on their lot; but if it sticks around for a while, dealerships get paid kickbacks and incentives to move cars off the lot, so it goes to the auction.

If you want 7500 for your car and that's what kelley's "good" says it's worth on trade; call your salesmen, tell him you want to do the deal right now, and you'll only sign if you can get 7500. I don't know if lying is in your repertoire, but telling them that another dealership has offered you 7500 and you're close to signing with them will provoke a much less aggressive response, in general. Good luck

A second trade-in doesn't have to be a bad deal, but you really have to work through your figures and scrutinize to make sure you aren't screwing yourself, because then they have even more leverage in terms of pushing the numbers around.

edit: make sure you ask them if there are any incentives on the models you're looking at. Any rebates? Are you financing? Special rates? That pretty much covers most of the variables you're going to be toying around with. You can look the incentives up on the manufacturer's website or on edmunds, as well, generally; although your dealership will be more up-to-date as it is typically updated monthly.

[JMSinMaryland]

see how much carmax will give you

ooh by the way you paid way tooo much for your solara if you got it last year

I paid $17000 out the door in 2002 for my se 4cyl with less then 10 miles lol

I paid $17,500 on a 2001 Solara SE V6 5-speed fully loaded with leather, moonroof, etc and it only had 18k on it. When it was totaled I got 22k for it.

To the original poster, you need to take a step back and think about getting right side up. Sell your car privately. Also don't waste your money on hybrids. They don't get the gas mileage they advertise. If I were you I would look at the Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris. Comparable gas mileage and about 14-16k.

[zhaden]

I paid $17,500 on a 2001 Solara SE V6 5-speed fully loaded with leather, moonroof, etc and it only had 18k on it. When it was totaled I got 22k for it.

To the original poster, you need to take a step back and think about getting right side up. Sell your car privately. Also don't waste your money on hybrids. They don't get the gas mileage they advertise. If I were you I would look at the Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris. Comparable gas mileage and about 14-16k.

While getting right side up may be a good option, giving false information about the cars he's interested is not helpful. They absolutely get the gas mileage they advertise, this is especially true in the last 2 years since the EPA estimates have been revised to represent much more "real world" information. Now, if you like to accelerate to 35mph at every red light in <5 seconds, of course you won't be getting 40 mpg; the same is true in the Fit, though. There are a lot of articles concerning saving on gas in our current, road-way and highway driven culture. The vast majority of these articles mention driving habits as something that needs to change, without exception. Even our Solaras could see up to a 30-50% improvement in in-city driving mpg figures if you are patient enough to multiply your commute time by 3. Which, of course, none of us are, myself included.

Also keep in mind you get a $2,600 tax break for the Prius; I think it's only 50% applicable because of the technologies involved on the Civic. So, $1,300. This is money you will want to be putting towards getting right-side-up; and almost makes up the difference in the models mentioned in the previous post.

Prius, in terms of hybrid technology (or any recent model Toyota - within the last 2 years) is significantly more advanced. In fact, every hybrid system in place in Nissan's Altima is purchased directly from Toyota, slightly revised for use with Nissan's CVT, and installed.

[JMSinMaryland]

I used to sell Toyota's myself (in college) as well as being a Toyota Service Adviser. I'm not giving my opinion but facts. Second guess someone else.

[zhaden]

No second guessing, I'm just saying that your "facts" are based on a few variables that are not independent, and can easily be changed. I don't want a silly tiff, but I guess the first 5 pages of google reviews on the Prius gas mileage stating it's quite easy to achieve 50mpg in-city if you're willing to drive the hybrid way are all statements derived from Toyota's advertising campaign; in contrast with what you've said.

Even reviewers that are notorious for bashing foreign cars state that, while they may be lead-footed and only achieving 35-38mpg driving the way they like, if they slow down their acceleration, 50mpg is fairly easily attainable.

You'll see on the most recent EPA statements that the estimated highway mileage is actually /lower/ than the in-city mileage on the majority of hybrids, especially the larger ones, which is entirely accurate. Instead of 60, the Prius now claims 45 city and 48 highway; entirely achievable. This article is a fairly good resource: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/02/epa_mpg.html

My guess is "Mia" has a brand new Prius, and like all cars, they do not achieve the mpg most people would like to see until at least 10-15k mi, when things have loosened up a bit.

[chrono807]

I'm looking at a Package 2 Prius (or trying to - try finding one!). I'm hoping to be able to sell my car outright for 9,500 (private party value $9,650). As for the Jetta I hope to see $2,500 for it private party (worth $2,960).

Is it worth getting Extra Care? How is Toyota on claims? I've heard some horror stories, is there any truth to them? It's about $1600 for a 6/100 on the Prius so it's a substantial investment that I'd have to work into my calculations.

[Garrryyunit]

I'm looking at a Package 2 Prius (or trying to - try finding one!). I'm hoping to be able to sell my car outright for 9,500 (private party value $9,650). As for the Jetta I hope to see $2,500 for it private party (worth $2,960).

Is it worth getting Extra Care? How is Toyota on claims? I've heard some horror stories, is there any truth to them? It's about $1600 for a 6/100 on the Prius so it's a substantial investment that I'd have to work into my calculations.

for the horror stories, i wont know simply because i am the owner of my solara for just 22 days. Maybe checking the "horror dealer/service rants" section.

[krawzyazn]

you spend so much on a prius when I can just go buy a regualr civic and still get about the same milage as you for half the price