kriss

ok I think I found a car-09 boxster base, 17kmi,$35,528,cpo,options: hi intensity headlights,heated seats,wind deflector,18" wheels. they offerred me $11k on my miata ,06,19kmiles. nada/kbb has $12-13k for my trade in(edmunds way lower).kbb/nada show boxster price at $39k and edmunds at $35,9k. from what I see posted online $35k+ on 09 boxster base is common.any idea on an offerring price? thanks. (I stink at car negotiations).

mikefocke

As one who has bought 2 and sold 3 cars in the last year, it is a lot harder to figure out if the deal is good when doing a trade in. I did much better selling via craigslist and then the transaction became much easier as I was only dealing with one variable.

In a trade in, the dealer is seeking to make money for the used car guy and the new car guy. Of course they aren't going to offer you private party selling price numbers but it sounds like they are going even below that on the trade.

When comparing edmunds/kbb, you aren't looking at a CPO in most cases.

But we don't know where you live and what the weather is there nor the market so we can only guess at what might be a good deal. I generally go to a site like cars.com and do the advanced search. I see '09 base cars for $28k-$40k and those are asking prices. Don't fall in love with the first one you see.