I recently went to Star Mazda to buy an MX-5. I decided to trade in my Toyota Corolla 2007 which I bought just last year. My trade was valued (not blue book, my car specifically) at $10,200 by Avondale Toyota in Arizona. Now, I still owed $6,000 in finance on the car, implying that I have roughly $4,200 equity in the car.
When I dealt with Jerome at Star, he offered me $4,750 for the car, leading me to believe this was after the $6,000 additional they would have to pay to cover my loan.instead, they valued the car TOTAL at $4,750, and then used that as a partial payment to the $6,000, leaving me owing (!) $1,250 after my trade! I gave them my car worth 10,200 and PAID THEM TO TAKE IT FROM ME!
The only reason they got away with this was they fooled me into believing that they were giving me $4,750 in addition to the amount they would take to pay off the loan. It's easy to be fooled, because that would actually be a good amount to get in that case, so I thought I was getting a good deal.
So, basically, I made a NEGATIVE down payment on my new purchase. They screwed me out of just under $6,000 by significantly undervaluing my trade. The worst part is that I went back after realizing how much I got screwed to ask them to give me back my trade so that I could sell it to Avondale Toyota for its proper value, but they told me they sold it! Mind you, this is after giving me a line of bull about how hard it will be to move it because it was involved in a hit and run (despite that fact that the damage was fixed entirely and was cosmetic - and yes, the $10,200 quote was accounting for the accident).
They gave me a good deal on the new car, to be sure, but only by screwing me significantly on my trade. I will strongly advise people to steer clear of this shop or, at least, READ THE CONTRACT and know what you should be getting. And don't let them push you to sign the paperwork that day. Take it home and have it reviewed by another shop.
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