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I'm in the market for a new Honda Fit Sport MT 2008. My dealer wants $15,9200 for a new one and wants to give me $1700 for my 99 Odyssey LX (144k miles). I want to do better. Any suggestions? How would the thriftiest among you go about this transaction? Thanks,
Con

Hi Fit07. I just bought a 2008 Fit (love it). The dealer doesn't make a lot of money on this car. They offered me $500 for a trade in that is easily worth $1500. They just don't care because they're making so little money on the Fit. I rejected the $500. I'll sell my old car on Craigslist instead. More work, but also more money.

The only way to get the most money out of a used car is to go private party. And it's a large pain in the rear, at that. You could always try craigslist (as it's free), or eBay motors. Dealer trade-in is always going to be low (we were given 4k in trade on our 01 Escape in 2007... KBB was at 8k). Anything over a certain mileage (usually 100k) can no longer be sold on a lot, and must be sold at auction. At least, that's true for the dealers around here. We were in a position though, in that we needed the trade-in more than we could justify waiting to sell it for more. And having it sit around taking up an insurance payment.

Matthew, thanks for the suggestion. I JUST SOLD THE VAN ON CRAIGSLIST! Posted at 2pm, asking $3500, got a call within 20 minutes. The lady just left my house, and bought it for $2500. Lowball, but it's done! and a lot better than the $1700 the dealer was offering. She'll take it "as is" and get the repairs done that I was going to do next week for $550. I don't know if I just got lucky or if that's how craigslist works, but....I'll take it!
Happy 4th of July!
Connell McGrath
Lenox, MA

If there's a drive for something, craigslist is far better than eBay. People would much rather fulfill their need to have something now, as opposed to having to wait for it. Remember to take down your ad! Otherwise, you'll keep getting calls on it ;).

Hell yeah, craigslist kicks ass. Funny how she only gave you $2500 for it, but damn you still got $800 more than the dealer and it only took you 9 hours to do it.

Damn, you got over 50mpg in your fit, and you made $89/hr today. Congrats.