I was driving by a dealer the other day and stopped by to see a white lightning they had in the showroom. I was in my Hawk at the time. They were asking 32,500 for the pickup and wouldn't negotiate. So i started to mess around and asked what it would take for me to drive home in the Lightning considering my Hawk as a trade in. Well they saw it and inspected came back and said the most they could offer me was a mere $21,000 for my Hawk. I have had it only 5 months. So i laughed and told them to go ***** himself, ripoffs. They must've seen a big sign on my forehead that read STUPID or something, it just pisses me off.

 

Well, you were driving a Firehawk wern't you?


**The above comment was a joke for the people that can't tell**

-Brian

 

What a rude thing to say

*** This was also a joke

 

The used car market is in the gutter. You probably could have pulled more out of them but they are going to hit you low right off the bat.

 

You may have felt insulted, but the fact is (from the former owner of a 98 Formula) the depreciation on F-Bodys is staggering... Hawk or no, you lost an instant 10 Grand the second you drove it off the lot, in the 'normal' car market. You may do better if you can find a collector. KBB on my 98 was $11,000 last June, and my car was in perfect condition, adult driven w/2K in mods. It would have cost 32K to replace it. I found lots of people who wanted my car, but no could come up with the $$$...
Lightnings and Vettes seem to be the only USA vehicles that hold their value...


Mark

 

I don't think Lightnings have a good resale value.
What jrudd said also. Since everyone is offering low interest or none at all on a new car why would someone buy used unless it was cheap.

 

I think the Lightnings hold their value better than just about any vehicle out there. Working at the dealer I saw all sorts of used cars for sale and what they were really worth. A new Town Car will cost you 40k, if you'd be lucky to get 20-25k for it two years later. If you bought a LOADED 351 F-150 in 95, you'd have spent almost 20k for it. Now, even in mint, low mile shape, that same truck blue books for 4-5k. If you bought a Lightning in 95, you'd have spent a grand or two more, but clean Gen 1s still sell for over 10k, and clean low milage Gen 1s are still selling today for 12-14k. That's only a 6-7k drop for a vehicle that's almost 10 years old. The Gen 2s are holding decent too. A clean low mile 99 can still bring in 22k. That's not bad for a vehicle thats coming up on 4 years old. I would expect the value of that same truck to not drop more than 2k withing the next 5 years or so, whereas a regular F-150 will probably only be worth less than half it's sticker price.

 

I couldn't afford to sell my Lightning with almost 70K miles on it. Its in good shape but i'd take a complete loss if i sold it. No one wants to buy a used L with high miles for what i would want. Well I have 2 more years on it so I'll hang on to it ..After that i'm buying a house and leave the car notes alone for a while..

 

My dad tried to trade his "99 Lightning to the dealer last year. Eight thousand miles perfect condition $18K. That isn't good resale value. It is only a drop of 5K per year and a little over $1 per mile.

 

i know what you mean about the price you want compared to the price you'll GET.. heh

 

You can't base a vehicle's value by dealer trade in. Dealer trade in will always be much less than actual value, because the dealer has to mark the vehicle up to actual value and make some money. What the dealer SELLS that same used vehicle for is it's actual value.

 

I realize that. The first post here doesn't deal with regular resale either. He just took the truck to the dealer and asked what the value would be. You also have to figure in that you only have to pay tax on the difference between the dealer resale value and the purchase price of the new truck/car, marketing, time, etc.
Bottom line, if you want resale value invest in something which appreciates in value and that, in 99.9% of the case is not a car or truck.

 

A Ford dealer here in Florida offered me 19500 for mine,Whatever Id burn it first..