Trading Car in need advice

Green Machine

Founding Member
Sep 22, 2001
481
9
28
Lakeland Florida
Looks like I'm going to be able to purchase a 2008 Shelby GT500 in the next 3months :jaw: . I'll need to get the most $$ out of my 2005 Mustang GT to do it. One of the big dealer ships has 3 Shelbys coups at 45K to 47K, and with cash I can negoiate it down. Btw - just turn 20K miles on the Mustang.

Gas prices here are already at $4 per gal for regular, and that cuts the other way cause my trade in not something they can sell quickly. However, they have a lot of $ tied up in the Shelby inventory and I'm thinking I would have more leverage here than trying to sell the car privately.

My question is on the SCT tune. I'm running the 93 Bama Chip race tune and getting 18/26 mpg (no heavy foot here) and Doug did a custom dyno tune in Feb of this year. To me this is the selling point of good gas mileage and performance when you want it.

Do I leave the tune with CMCV delete, O/R h-pipe, JLT CAI etc or remove all of it? Is the car more sellable with it or with out?

Thanks, Dewman
 
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Personally, I would try to sell the car outright. What I've found in the past on selling my other Mustangs with "Perfomance Parts" is that most people don't care how much you have invested in all these parts. I think this is especially true if you trade it in at a dealership. They may tell you those parts really don't add much value to your trade-in amount, then turn around and advertise your car with all the "EXTRAS". Dealerships are in the business to make money off of every car, consider that when they tell you they can give you $XXXX for your car. You can see how much they would give you for a trade-in and base your decision off of that. If you decide to sell your car, price it according to the condition and add some $'s for your parts, but not the total amount.

I went to trade-in a 95 Mercury Tracer to a dealership and they said they would give me $600 for it. Pissed-off, I walked out and decided to adverstise it myself ($1695 o.b.o). Honestly, I had two people fighting over the car and ended up getting more that the asking price ($1800). Sorry for the long story but thought it might help you make your decision.
 
The only benefit to trading the car in is that the sales tax is only applied to the difference you have to pay between the GT500 and your trade in. Other than that, you will most likely get more selling it on your own. One thing that hurts you a little too is that there is a rebate on new ones, so people will be less likely to buy a used one.
 
Only some states do the sales tax credit, but that can be a huge benefit to trading in if your state does it.

You would probably end up getting more money by taking off the parts, selling your car private party stock, and selling the parts. You may be able to get a few extra bucks selling private party with the parts on, but it usually will take a bit longer to sell.
 
Kentucky does not do the sales tax credit which sucks. They actually did it for a few months several years ago and realized how much revenue the state lost. My dealer claims the state makes a lot more money off the vehicles he sells through tax collection that he does.
Many dealers will give you less for a car with modifications. Many buyers are scared of them, especially if they are performance mods or they don't like what you did. Performance mods also say to many people that the car has been run hard.
 
I'd say put it back as close to stock as possible if trading it in since the dealer doesn't really want all of those performance mods as it does lower the number of potential buyers. From a dealer trade in, you could look at a difference of roughly $4-5K less than what the dealer will advertise it or around $3-4K less than you could go private sale. I know if I were looking to buy a used Mustang GT, it would be one with average miles and close to stock with a warranty of some kind, UNLESS I knew the owner really well and knew how the car was treated if it were modded. I bought my first two used('92 and '95), but my last two('00 and '06)were bought brand new.
 
IF you decide to trade, I would ask the dealer ahead of time about the mods you have made. If the dealer's customers are primarily mainstream, the dealer might want the car without the mods. If the dealer caters to performance customers, then it may be beneficial to leave the car the way you have it. I don't see a downside to asking.
 
I was all set to trade my 05 gt convertible in on an 08 shelby coupe a couple of months ago. I was offered 23,000 for my car in trade. At the time it had less than 9,000 miles. I did inform the dealer about all the upgrades or "extras" the car had. The dealer seemed excited about my car. The shelby got sold out from under me when I was out of town and missed a call from the dealer. They were trying to locate another one for me but couldn't get one at the same price.(sticker) I've since decided to keep my 05. Good luck if you get your new Shelby, they are awesome.