Your car dealer pal probably has a bigger marketing/ad budget than most folks here and can get out to people who are stupid with money and pretty much are stuck using a BHPH type of lot. Fair enough, I knew a guy who did that for years, too. They have the advantage being an actual dealer and not a private seller and they can better call their price or tell you to pound sand compared to a private seller.

Im no big fan of leather in Houston summer sun, but I’d bite on that King Ranch swap...if it involve the back seat and the whole interior. No half-*****ing it.

 

Of course.....can't half **** it and you've got to have all the seats....that's a given. However, reconditioning/dying them isn't that hard. The problem is FINDING them in good shape and not all ripped up (and at a doable price). You can get most, if not all, of the stains out. However, fixing the rips and tears is a non starter, at least for me.

As for advertising, you're dead on, but, not in regards to this one particular lot. It's an old legacy dealership building on a high traffic thoroughfare where a lot of eyeballs can see the vehicles and they're positioned to be seen. He obviously buys at auction and all the components are purchased at wholesale. All of which are obviously huge advantages. As a result he can turn a profit.

However, I do think if a person is very patient and knows how to shop/buy, supplies the labor, and understands how to sell..... quality pics.....utilizing social media.....displays an immaculate truck at a high traffic location etc then they can sell for substantially above book value. Heck, I KNOW they can do it because I've done it. In other words, you don't have to consider all upgrades as wasted money. Not necessarily selling at a profit, just not get killed at resell and very possibly recoup most of the money invested in improvements.

What I've noticed about private parties is this......

They quite often don't even go to the effort to CLEAN the vehicle, much less take quality pictures. Their descriptions are sorely lacking and in most cases aren't very accurate. They don't know how to leverage their items exposure by using the internet/social media, etc. They aren't very patient and want to sell asap, etc etc. Therefore they're not selling at anywhere near the vehicles potential. Then they complain they got hammered at resell.

JMOP.....

 

I think you nailed that. I know I'm turned off looking at other people's filth, even if it's relatively easy to clean up. When we sold my wife's CRV I spent about 6 hours cleaning the interior. After 8 years of hauling small children (and my wife is a slob when it comes to her vehicles) it was disgusting, especially when I lifted up the rear seats and found a full layer of melted candy and food caked into the carpet. I received several comments when people came to look at it about it being the cleanest car they've seen yet. If only they knew how many gallons of dark brown water I took out of those seats while cleaning them....

 

Love my leather seats AND vented nut-sack cooler!

 

Lol lol lol....too funny bass.....lol.....not laughing at you but WITH you....😉 Particularly the comment about your wife.... lol....I've got one too, but, it's the exterior more than the interior with mine.....my daughter is the same way

Personally, i go to the trouble of removing the seats to clean things with just about every vehicle I've ever bought.....AMAZING what you find......quite a bit of change and even bills.....incredibly dirty..... just like you described to a T.....disgusting.

I spent all last fall looking at campers trying to find THE deal. Drove several hundred miles, overall, looking at em. I was amazed at how much UNdeclared h2o damage I found.....some were unaware, but, some weren't.....that on top of not going to the trouble to clean the damn things. Most of them were "salvage" campers but they just hadn't been titled that yet. 😉 Sure reinforced my conclusions about private party sales.

I just can't figure out if people are just THAT lazy or they simply don't care. However, it's sure costing them some serious bucks.

One other thing and back on topic.....

I use to know a guy in a major city who was a sales manager at a Lexus/Range Rover dealership. He told me that if people would simply deep clean, wax, etc their trades BEFORE driving on the lot they could have gotten quite a bit more on their trade. However they were too lazy to do it.

He also said that they'd keep for resale high mileage trades rather than dump them to the auction IF they were well maintained and had eyeball appeal. Those folks got top dollar as the dealership WANTED their vehicle on the used lot. Folks who couldn't afford a lower mileage used high end vehicle would snap em up like hotcakes, and at a premium. They wanted the look and the image associated with the brand....plus the vehicle looked almost new.

 

That's exactly what happened to me. I took my clean CRV to the dealership I was buying a minivan from and they offered me $6500 for it. The best private offer I had gotten was $7000 and it was one of those "it'll take me a few days to get the money" deals. I always said I'd NEVER trade in a vehicle but taking $500 hit wasn't that big of a deal for a sure-thing and to get it off my hands. They relisted it a few days later for $10,500 it was only on the lot for a month after that. This was one of those "no hassle no haggle" places that doesn't negotiate, so I'm sure somebody paid $10,500 for it when they could have gotten it for far less from me.

 

Yep....$10.5k is probably what it sold for on the lot......that is the point I tried to make earlier in this thread when several folks where saying that adding leather wouldn't add to the resale.....that's simply not always true.....nor is adding improvements to a vehicle.....I've been to one of the largest used auctions in the USA on several occasions..... When a well conditioned lifted truck with aftermarket rims/tires goes through the ring it'll being considerably more than the same stock truck, sometimes way, way more.....and these guys, as a group, are experts (HIGHLY debatable with some of em. 😉 ) in the field and have zero interest in losing money. You should see em all gather up at a certain lane when a certain vehicle is about to run through.....like a magnet.....hehehe

 

 

The only thing I can see adding leather is maybe getting it closer to the top of the range for that particular model. It certainly will not add value as in comparing an XLT to Lariat models, IE won't sell as a Lariat Price, but more towards the upper end of XLT price.

Funny talking about the filth. My wife is a slob, I'm not. I can spend maybe an hour and my interior will look like brand new, in fact, right now, it just needs a vacuuming to look new again.

My wife's Focus? OMG. Got in it the other day and she has junk piled up all over the place. I was like, WTF WOMAN! I have seen tornado aftermaths that were cleaner. I mean, did a Tsunami blow through it? My daughter will have her work cut out for her when she gets the car next year. LOL

 

lol lol lol......awww man.....lol

Good to see I'm NOT alone.....lol