** pcaskey@swcp.com (Paul Caskey) writes: **
>>My Dakota is a fully loaded 4x4 SLT V8 ext.cab, and is exactly one year
>>old.
>>Now I look up its value, and both Edmund's and the NADA book show it
>>being worth around $15,000.
You have to factor in all the "extras" you said fully loaded.. that should
give you some more value right there, at least bump it up a couple of
grand.
I looked up the edmunds page just for kicks as well.. It is interesting
to note that the extended cab goes for *less* than a regular cab.. anyone
know why? hmmm This I wonder about somewhat.. how can a vehicle that sells
for a higher MSRP (ext cab) have a blue book value that is less than a regular
cab (lower MSRP) Do they "derate" it because of the shorter bed? strange,
myself wouldn't believe it. Any dealer will be trying to sell such a used
vehicle for the high teens to low 20's (if they could get away with it?) :-)
Anyways.. I add up the numbers for mine 96 4wd ext cab slt v8 auto-magic
etc.etc.
ad nauseaum (heavy duty service pkg, power mirrors, limited slip, skid plates
you know..) and get about 17,100 for the market value. I paid between 21K and
22K in X-Mas 95 for this vehicle through an employer's fleet program
$100 over invoice. We dealt with the fleet mgr. no pressure, pulled up the
computer, typed in the options we wanted, and 6 weeks later picked it up. Best
new car buying experience I ever had.. I even had the printed out pages from
the edmunds website, the numbers (down to the option codes) matched exactly.
(so that's about a 20% depreciation) over the last 15 months
You should expect to loose 5-10% walking off the lot with a new vehicle
(depreciation) that's just how it seems to work. This is probably worsened
by the fact the 97's were a new body style etc: New cars (prices) suck :(
These were some of the things I took into consideration when choosing a 96
instead of waiting for a 97. I had a 1988 Chevy Silverado with 131K on it
88 was the first year for the "new" body style for the Chevy's. This was a
distinct advantage when I went to sell it. I was able to get $5K for this
truck with no problems at all (sold the first day in fact.. which was good
because I didn't want to mess with a long drawn out attempt to sell the
vehicle myself) I attribute this to the new body style and the fact it
was listed in a 1988 or older Truck Trader rag. I'm sure that if I had a
97 dak the same thing would apply when I go to sell this one..
Other considerations.. I will be keeping this truck for a long time
100K+ miles I did not want to take the hit of another 2-5K on the
purchase price just because the "new and improved" Dak was out. I
was nervous about buying a "first year run" vehicle (although I did this
with the Chevrolet in 88 and it turned out just fine) and finally, at
131K miles my current truck was due to be ready for some maintenance.
Buying new cars sucks.. finacially, you will always come out ahead
with a used, unless you are going to keep the thing for eons, part of
it is also wanting something brand shiny and new, and knowing the history
of the vehicle, (break in, care and feeding et.al)
-tim "happy with my 96 dak" schneider
tims@synopsys.com
Synopsys Inc. Phoenix, AZ
602.468.6900 (Ph) 602.468.9055 (Fax)
http://www.synopsys.com
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