Comment by neogodless | Hacker News Reader

Comment by neogodless | Hacker News Reader

All I can offer is an anecdote. I have a 2015 Mazda 3 (top trim level, with 34,000 miles on it.) Purchased 4.5 years ago with 8k on it for just under $20k.

Well over a year ago, I started checking KBB.com values to either trade it in or sell it. Back then, trade was close to $12k, and private party was a bit over $13k.

I've checked several times since then, and the price has basically grown and grown. As of today, it's showing $18k trade-in and $18.5k private party.

As little as I drive, I'm very tempted to sell. But at the same time, I could drive this car for the next 10 years easily. With remote work being a permanent fixture for me, I don't really need the car, but I'm still a bit emotionally attached to it. But am I more emotionally attached than I would be to $18,000?

I am curious, though, how well KBB aligns with real world transactions and what dealers are willing to pay. (It's always been a hassle negotiating dealers to give you anywhere close to KBB trade-in values.)

If you really want to see something insane, get a quote on Carvana.

I have a 2018 Mazda3T Sedan with really low miles (thanks COVID) and they're offering me more than the MSRP when I bought it three years ago.

> really low miles

This is key, otherwise you should save your time, private sales are the way to go in the current market for higher milage vehicles

My wife was in a similar position. 2013 Mazda 3 base trim. She was going to sell it early 2020 because we didn't need the second car and KBB said ~$4k.

We decided to actually get rid of it last weekend and KBB said $6500-$7500 for trade-in. There were some cosmetic issues with it so figured we'd be on the low end. Not wanting to deal with posting it to craigslist and coordinate visits, we asked if the dealership would purchase it. They offered us $6k so reasonably close.

If you live in the rust belt, I'd advise to sell it within a couple years. I had two Mazdas they both died of rusted-out frames while the engines and interiors were still perfectly fine.

If you're in a dry climate, it'll last a very long time as long as you keep up on maintenance.

Old mazdas were made with Ford though. The more recent ones are completely different.

You are in a good position to wait for a sweet private party deal. I'm not sure if you will ever get KBB at a dealer but many private buyers will use it as a reference point so you should be able to get close to that asking as long as you have assessed its condition properly.

What would you do after selling? Go by foot? Or buy another car at similarly inflated prices?

As I hinted, I work from home, as does my spouse. We could share her car, as we often do now. My car is just a luxury/convenience item at this point, not a necessity.

(Though I have an irrational desire to eventually get a truck to help with my chores around the property. But no rush on that.)

They said themselves that they don't really need the car anyways. Is walking (or bicycling) to places really such a foreign concept to so many people?

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