Thinking about trading my CTR for a Ridgeline

Groundcontrol

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The dealership I bought my CTR from had only had two come in so far (this was in Oct 2018), with mine being the second one. The first one was purchased by the owner of the dealership, driven for a while, decided he didn't like the ride, traded it back to the dealership and then it was sold in their used lot for the price of a brand new one.

I bet someone at that dealership really wants the car and can get the employee price on it for themselves. The CTR will be sold as soon as your paperwork goes through on the Ridgeline. But that really doesn't matter if it gets you a good deal on a vehicle that better suites your needs.
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Groundcontrol

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You are in the rare situation where you have the vehicle that the dealership wants instead of the other way around. It may be worth testing out how badly they want the CTR, unless the dealership has been really cool with you in the past.
 

Bodhizefa

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In one year, you could get the 2019 Ridgeline at a $5K-$7K discount (maybe more), but your CTR would still be worth roughly the same amount it is today. I would either sell the CTR independently and buy a 2018 Ridgeline so you turn a profit, or wait a year (if you love the 2019 model Ridgeline) and turn a profit then. The dealer is the one with the expeditiously depreciating asset (i.e. the current Ridgeline), while you have the unique auto asset that is maintaining its value year over year. Don't underestimate your potential to turn a profit on this swap!
 
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Streamfever

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The dealership is in a small town and been great over the years. I agree they want the CTR more than I really need the Ridgeline. My guess is I could renegotiate but they’ve been good to me.

The Ridgeline is the truck I want, just seems like a great truck. Hard to beat Honda engineering and the service I get locally.

I’m going to think on it one more week and appreciate all the feedback so far.
 


Florence_NC

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The dealership is in a small town and been great over the years. I agree they want the CTR more than I really need the Ridgeline. My guess is I could renegotiate but they’ve been good to me.

The Ridgeline is the truck I want, just seems like a great truck. Hard to beat Honda engineering and the service I get locally.

I’m going to think on it one more week and appreciate all the feedback so far.
Whenever you start mixing relationships into the equation, such as your long-standing relationship with the dealership, the best thing to do starts getting more murky. But a couple of undeniable facts:

1) Relationship or not, the dealership is a for-profit business. They have their best interest in mind, not yours. What they are offering you is to their financial advantage, not yours. You can take that to the bank.

Building good relationships with customers is part of the long-term game plan, particularity with smaller dealerships. Their hustle is to develop a one-way emotional attachment from the customer to the dealer, with the sole end game being that the customer will keep coming back and making otherwise bad deals. And the customers keep doing it because they feel a responsibility to continue the relationship, and would somehow be "cheating" if they went elsewhere. I promise you the dealership feels no such emotional attachment or responsibility to you. They just want you to convince yourself that they do, and that this is a two-way relationship. It isn't.



2) Setting aside what vehicle is best for you, and looking at it from a strictly numbers standpoint, what they have offered you is a bad deal. Irregardless of what you payed (MSRP you said, same as me) the market price on a CTR, even a used one with some reasonable mileage, is over MSRP. Strictly from a business point of view, what you payed is meaningless, what it is currently worth is what matters. And it is worth more than the brand new Ridgeline. It is worth another $2-3K more by the time you get the Ridgeline to your house the first day you own it.

So this is a bad deal even if you only look at it today. 2 years from now, that Ridgeline is going to lose at least $15K in value. The CTR is more difficult to say, but I expect in 2 years it doesn't lose more than $5k. And depending on mileage, Honda production, and continued demand it may not lose much of anything. So just 2 years into the future, you are not only down the initial bad deal, but another $10Kish on top of it. A bad deal strictly by the numbers.




They would be giving me money for the trade, not the other way around.
 

disgraced.fk8

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I would have to see the in writing details of this deal. When there appears to be no profit in the deal for the dealership, something isn't right.
New cars get sold at a break even or "loss" off MSRP often times now as the dealers get x% kickback of the total price for moving the vehicle off the lot, and moving inventory to keep the dealership in good standing is more important. It's getting to be a very weird business model nowadays... Dealerships make more off used vehicles than new
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