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The Fit Is Go! Part 1 (Updated 6/26/2008)
By JD Bluefield | June 23, 2008
So what has been keeping me from posting these past few weeks? Well, with the gas at over $4/gallon and oil continuing its rise I decide to sell my truck and transition to a more fuel efficient vehicle. It’s not that my truck was a V8 gas guzzler. In fact, it averaged 23mpg with its 4-cylinder engine. That was great, but I’ve now opted for the Honda Fit Sport, which got 34mpg on my last fill up. I love trucks for their great utility and versatility, but the new Fit’s sportiness and reconfigurable seats brings versatility in small cars to a whole new level.
What spurred this drastic move? When I read that it was impossible to sell a used truck/SUV in California and that Ford, GM and Toyota were dramatically reducing truck production, the writing was on the wall that gas prices were more likely to go higher than lower and that if there were any time to bail out of a truck/SUV it would be now. As I’ve said in other posts, I believe that oil will continue to rise and gas will inevitably follow suit.
You make money when you buy, not when you sell. It may piss some people off to hear this, but I actually MADE money selling my truck. How is this possible? Although, I sold my truck below Blue Book, but I bought it way below Blue Book. I treat buying a car the same way I buy a stock. It has to be in great condition, no problems and most of all, value, value, value! You can’t make a stock or in this case truck any cheaper after you buy it. The money is always made on the front end to the deal, not the back. I wasn’t planning to sell the truck for a profit, but it was something that just worked out nicely.
I never buy new. You lose up to 25% of the vehicle’s value the moment it hits the pavement. I can’t stomach that loss and its just not good business. Many people want to buy a new car, not me. I get more of an ego boost scooping up a great deal than bragging about how much money I flushed down the tubes.
Not only do you lose money on a new car, but its an overwhelming waste of time. I’ve spent hours with friends in the “closing” room and its just not worth it. They try to screw you with the trade in, screw you with the options, screw you with the financing. Its a total waste of time. I’d much rather go on craigslist, type in “must sell” and talk to people who are in a bind, want to sell their car and will to give me a good deal. And this is exactly what I did. I found someone moving out of state and picked up an ugly duckling at a literally trade-in price.
Never let emotions get involved. Although I loved that Tacoma and was the best truck I’ve ever owned, I had to let it go. It just did not make economic sense to hold onto it. Like I said, I did sell it below Blue Book, and that hurts when you know its really worth more, but I was more than happy to get my money back.
On the purchasing side, I really wanted to get a Honda Fit, but I didn’t jump into the first one I found. Two sellers wanted way above KBB to compensate for the premium they paid, so I had to walk away. One even wanted $6k above MSRP because that is how much over they paid. Unbelievable. Fortunately an opportunity presented itself and I jumped on it and walked with a better deal than I could have imagined.
No offer is too low. If I told you going into this deal that I’d get $2400 off the asking price, you’d call me crazy. Here is how the negotiations went down.
$19,000 Buyer Paid (With options and mark up)
$16,600 MSRP
$14-15k Blue Book
$13,400: Seller’s posted price on Craigslist.
$13,000: Seller’s lowers asking for Honda Fit in first email.
$10,650: My offer.
$11,800: Seller’s counter offer.
$11,000: My counter offer. Seller takes offer.
The truth is, you never know what can happen unless you try. If I had thought, she’ll never sell for $500 less than asking, then that’s the max I’d get off the price. I honestly expected there to be tons of problems with the car that would be exposed upon inspection. There were minor issues, but overall a great car at a great price. The reason this woman was so eager to deal was that she was leaving the islands in two weeks, needed to sell the car and dealerships probably offered her far less than I. So even though she lost money, we both walked away happy campers.
Immediate Savings: Price Tacoma sold for - Price of Honda Fit = over $5 Pocket money.
Yearly savings:
$60/yr savings in insurance.
With gas at $4.10/gal, I’m projecting to save around $520/year.
If gas goes to $5.00/gal, that savings will rise to $630/year.
Gasp, $6.00/gal gasoline, savings jumps to $760/year.
I’ll also save drastically more on yearly depreciation.
Hopefully the savings doesn’t end here and with an oil change and some adjustment of driving habits I can increase fuel economy even more.
Topics: Personal Finance, Travel |
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