I notice that they are still selling the Prius for full MSRP. I guess demand for the Camry Hybrid around those parts does not exceed supply like it does here. Too bad I didn't know about this place a couple months ago. Oh well.

 

FYI, I've had my 07 TCH up for sale for about 2 months at less than the private seller KBB value (and equal to the Edmunds private seller value) with hardly any nibbles. I think the higher price of the car ($20k+) in combination with the drop in economy makes it hard for a lot of people to get used car loans. It's getting close to where I'm going to go to my local Toyota dealer and take the wholesale price which he has already offered me.

So good luck in selling your car, I hope your area has a better used car market than mine does!

 

I think you are right. People are not out there buying cars these days, and many people who are out there buying cars can't get financing. Car dealers may also be able to help people get financing that they could not have easily got for themselves.

For all these reasons, I think it is very difficult to sell a used car these days, and not just an expensive used car like Flopshots. Before I got my new TCH I tried to sell my 4x4 2002 RAV4. I saw almost no interest in the car at $10,500. You have to figure a buyer will generally expect to get 10% off the asking price, so it is fair to say that I could not have got $9,500 for my car on the open market. Therefore I wound up trading the car in to the dealer when I got my new car, after the tax advantage I figured I did better on the trade in than I could have done on the private sale.

Good luck to you Flopshot and anyone else trying to sell a used car in this environment. My advice to you is to look into selling it to a dealership and don't expect to get top dollar.

 

Got the "Invoice" from the dealer today. It looks like my car is "real" and will be equipped as we discussed. I have a sales order signed by the dealer to purchase it for $131 over invoice. It is scheduled to arrive the week of 11/3.

Now I need to put my plan in motion to sell the existing TCH.

 

I ordered my '09 TCH Hybrid on 9/19 and picked it up on 10/7. It was fully loaded w\Nav and I picked it up for $2000 less than MSRP.

 

sunny, did you get your TCH from Fitzmall too, or did you get that price from a dealer in your area?

 

I bought mine from a dealer in Madison, WI.

 

I went ahead and sold my TCH to Carmax today for $22K. I shopped the price at 2 other toyota dealers- they made offers that were $2500- $3000 lower!

I had a good talk with the used car manager at one dealer. He said that the market for hybrids went nuts when the gas went up. He said that there were used Priuses going for $3000 over the cost of a new one at the wholesale auto auctions. The market is now settling down to a more normal amount. He thinks that Carmax overbid on the car & suggested that I take their deal. I followed his recommendation!

I put the car on Craigslist over the weekend. I didn't have any takers. Of course, when I got home tonight after selling the car, I had 3 different calls on the answering machine. Go figure...!

 

No CarMax near me.

My local dealer is offering me just about what your dealer offered you... $18.5k on an 07 with 53k miles. I've set a personal deadline of selling my car privately by Nov 1 (I listed it ~Aug 1), otherwise I'm selling it to the dealer. Considering I got the full $2600 tax credit, I can't complain about using the car for 2yrs and 53k miles for just $6k in depreciation, not to mention all the fuel costs I saved during that time.

 

Flopshot, isnt the 2009 TCH identical to the 2007 model?