It's honestly blown me away how well my car has held its value. I bought it a couple years ago, a new 2014 Toyota FJ, just as 15 models were about to roll out (though the 14 was the last FJ). With add on the msrp was 35.8k, and with discounts and haggling I got them to go 5250 off msrp, paying barely over 30 for it new. I've since put on over 30k miles and I went on kbb - the kbb "very good" value (which it's very good or better) is 34k. Now I know vehicles don't sell for kbb, but a year ago I went on auto trader instant offer just to see, and a dealer offered me just shy of 32k for it then. I feel so damned lucky.
That is indeed surprising since Toyota couldn't give FJ's away just a few years back. The fact that you got 5k off of a toyota shows just how badly they were willing to move those. Many years ago I worked in the car industry and I can see a few possible holes in your post. 1st take KBB and throw that nonsense in the garbage. That is not an accurate representation of an offer you would get. It doesn't take into account how specific dealers handle their back end for trade ins, their performance at auctions, or what kind of costs they incur turning a vehicle around for resale. The instant offers are completely bogus as well. Very few places (CarMax is the only one I can think of) will make you a written offer for simply selling them your vehicle. Most places their offer is contingent on purchasing a vehicle from them. In that instance, they can move money off the price of the car you are buying to artificially inflate their trade in offer. People always seem offended and shocked by their trade in offer, and propping this number up helps people close deals. when in fact they are moving money off the price of the car by using manufacturer incentives you don't know about, like dealer cash for financing through a specific finance arm. That being said, Toyotas and Hondas hold their value extremely well. They have produced a quality product for some time now.
I've sold to two cars through Auto Trader instant quotes one a 2008 Corvette and the other a 2012 Genesis R-Spec. I received the amount of the instant offers on both occasions. Toy 4x4 anything and most Jeep 4x4 products have among the best resale values in the industry.
Yeah, like I suggested, I don't normally believe KBB, but I trust auto trader. And to be clear, the offer I got was straight up - that is, the offer was just for my car, no need to buy a vehicle. One of the reasons why I bought the vehicle is that my cousin told me it holds its value better than any vehicle on the market - any. And that's when it was still on the market, reselling for 67% of it's value after three years. I liked that, and I liked that I got a good deal, and of course I like the vehicle. Sitting in the front seat feels like you're driving a tank, it drives great w/o issues, and I can take it basically anywhere. But I honestly feel kind of guilty - I think I could resell it today, to a dealer, for about what I bought it for (not including taxes - I think that does put me at an instant loss). I could probably sell it for more if I had the time and patience for a private sale, but yeah. I feel incredibly lucky. But I get why the vehicle holds its value - it rocks! There's very little downside. The mileage is probably the biggest downside, but even then it's 20mph on the highway, but even that isn't that bad for an SUV. And it might be little surprise that I started my car shopping looking for a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited and ended up choosing this instead. One thing I have often wished is that this vehicle had a convertible top but, of course, it doesn't. It'd make the summer driving so much more fun.
I'm think your examples are exceptions rather than the rule. Also, both of those cars are low volume, niche type vehicles so more likely to fetch a better price on trade in. You also likely paid a premium to own such vehicles, so in the end it balances out.
