Well I'm still in the process of finding the right used Accord to trade in my Focus for, and managed to find a suitable candidate at a Honda dealer:-
'98-S Accord 2.0ES Auto black 38k 1-owner £9995
Got a part-ex valuation from said dealer for my current steed:-
'99-V Focus 2.0 Ghia 5-dr black 20k 3-owners (don't ask!) £6500
Now is it me or is this dealer trying his hardest to utterly con me? According to my extensive research on the various price guides available to the public (ie. everything but Glass's) the Accord should be over a grand less and my Focus should be getting on for a grand more...infact if they were both on a forecourt the Focus would have a higher sticker price!
Am I right or am I doomed?
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Phil,
You're doomed, you're doomed!
You'll never get a proper deal swapping like for like (age/value) unless you sell well privately and buy well privately. The dealer needs his cut.
Also trading a Focus for a Honda is a bit of a devil, gives the guy the satisfaction of knowing you're willing to pay dearly for the Honda brand.
Is the Focus that bad?
David
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Well no it's not £3.5k bad, maybe £1k bad. I haven't actually viewed said Accord yet so when the time comes it remains to be seen what "deal" can be made regarding the cost to change...
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The word rip-off comes to mind. Last July I paid £9995 for a 2000W 2.0SE saloon with 11k on the clock. My local Honda dealer has several similar (all ex-Honda UK cars) on sale at the moment. If the price you quote is correct, I'd go somewhere else.
Andy
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A) the price for the Accord is too high
B) your Focus will incur the dealer in some cost and it's not his make, so he won't offer you the best price
Negotiate on the Accord price and walk away if you're not happy, and sell your Focus privately
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Is it just my experience or is it almost impossible to sell privately a car (other than an old banger?). Most people looking to spend £5/6k on a car won't risk a private purchase - there's no warranty. When I advertised a Passat (P Reg) and a C Class (P Reg) in Autotrader I had about 3 calls in total.
I think Phil P will struggle to sell the Focus privately. The dealers have all the cards and you have to pay if you want the convenience of part exchange. The only way to win is to hang on to what you have!
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DB,
Yes it is much harder to sell at £5K+ private than £500 but cars will sell at the right price.
It seems rare for anyone to get the private sale price shown in the guides. Those folks who start at halfway between the retail and private value with the thought of "dropping a bit" are wasting their time.
Price a car around the trade-in or auction price privately and it will sell.
David
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The Honda is two plates older and has 18K more miles on it. Not really a straight swap !
Selling privately is difficult in this price range. If your research leads you to believe the Focus is worth £7500 trade i would ask £ 7750 privately.
The great trade centre (london) has T/V plate 2.0 ES Accords for 6499-7299 with 50K ish.
This way you might end up with spare cash.
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Hang about a bit. A 98S Accord 2.0ES auto must be either be a late reg old shape or one of the first current shape Accords. The ES of the new shape only lasted from August 98 to June 99 and Glass's doesn't book them. I reckon this one is overpriced by about £2k, and that's assuming it's a current shape. If it's the old shape it's overpriced by £3.5k. In contrast, a 99V Focus 2.0 Ghia with 20k trades at about £7,400. It's a much wanted model at the moment.
HJ
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Already been to visit the Great Trade Centre and wasn't overly impressed with the stock, cars they had that suited my requirements were either in a tatty condition or had simpy covered too many miles for my liking.
Interestingly though they had an identical Focus to mine but with an extra 30k miles under it's wheels, up for £7.8k. Now I would think going by that my Focus would be up for a good £500 more, making it ~£8.3k, and their prices are supposedly pretty low.
So if somewhere like the Great Trade Centre would sell my car at around £8.3k how can it be logical that a main dealer would only offer £6.5k for it?
Going on HJ's guide to selling your car you should aim to get around 10% less than the dealer will sell the car for...I'm stumped!
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Oh and it's one of the first of the new shape.
Trouble is when you point out to the selling dealer that the car is overpriced they simply shove a price list of other stock under your nose and say "well look at this one and this one...blah blah blah" and don't give a monkeys...
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Phil,
You can definitely get a much better deal than this. Eg my brother recently bought an R plate Accord 2.0 from a garage for less than £4k. Admittedly it had 100,000 on the clock but FSH. Looks good, too. You should be able to get a V plater with highish mileage for the value of your Focus.
Have you tried a search on the Autotrader website? If not, I'd recommend it, if only to get a feel for prices in the real world!
Don't be put off by high mileage, you can get a younger car which has done 'good' miles.
Keep looking!
Pat
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I know the feeling. Unless it is really cheap, ie. £2K below a dealer price, the phone never rings.
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£ 6500 is probably what a trade underwriter offered the dealer selling the Honda.
Or maybe this dealer is trying to tuck you up ? Just think he could retail your Focus for £8995 , making £ 2000 on the Honda and probably a further £ 2000 on your Focus while you end up driving a older car with a higher milelage and £ 3500 poorer.
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Thanks for that bright cheery scenario Steve...I hate to say it but you may be right.
Anyway I'll find out how far the dealer is willing to budge on Friday when I go to look at the Accord, that is if it's worth haggling over.
Don't have £3.5k to spend regardless so unless big changes are made that dealer won't be seeing any business from me.
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Phil
Big downside - the Honda is black. Looks good in the showroom, but it doesn't last five minutes in the real world.
Unless you're out there with the chamois and polish every day or two forget it, especially if it's not garaged.
regards
John
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I know all about black cars - my current Focus is black!
I have to agree it's a pain to keep clean - wash it and next day it's looking filthy again - but I'm a sucker for the colour!
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