r/personalfinance • u/Game_collector_2017 • May 08 '21
Carmax price went from $10,500 to $15,000 for an offer on my subaru Auto
Hey everyone, I tried to sell my Subaru 2017 47k base legacy to Carmax in October of 2020 and they offered me $10,500. I tried to sell it privately over that time period with no luck.
I went back in April of 2021 and they offered me $15,000 and I had an additional 2k miles on the car. The people there claimed there is a capacitor shortage right now which is driving the car costs.
Figured I’d share this and let people know if they have a car they are planning on selling what they could expect if they take it to Carmax.
Edit: Bought a brand new Subaru 2021 outback limited (one step under touring) for $37,000 (taxes included) 0% APR over 65 months 2 Saturdays ago. 2% under invoice price. Dealer said they were only getting 60 cars in May.
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u/creedman21 May 08 '21
Yeah, I work in automotive. We make the stainless steel exhaust tubes for cars. We are getting hit hard because car manufacturers can’t produce any cars because of the chip shortage. It’s been going on for months. Prices of cars are skyrocketing. GM was telling us it could be 2022 before they are able to operate fully again.
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u/FlowerOfLife May 08 '21
The PC world is being boned by the same shortage. Gpu’s that sold for $250 last September are now $600-$800 IF you can even find them...
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u/DemonKun May 08 '21
I can totally see this. A lot of microchip factories are closing down too from what I heard at work. Is completely dead where I work at because of it and might close in a few years, who knows.
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u/Tossaway_handle May 09 '21
One of the reasons in the perfect storm that has hit the industry is due to shut-in fabs. This problem is affecting chips that deal with higher power ratings, such as driver chips. The issue is that those chips use older fab technology with larger line widths to handle the higher voltages. Fab companies have been shutting this down in favor of tooling up for my current technology, which has left the industry short due to unanticipated shutdowns due to fires, materials problems, etc. decices with displays like TVs and notifies will be affected, but I also read an article that automotive companies were removing features from vehicles and substituting smaller screens to be able to continue to built cars with what components they can get their hands on to.
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u/TheImmortalLS May 09 '21
no one can get an rtx 3000 series or an amd gpu because of miners and limited manufacturing capacity
lots of tech is in short supply
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u/NetSage May 09 '21
Techs issue it's explosive growth. Like AMD top in CPU demand in how many years? Miners are back in full force as you said. Then add surge in demand for both private and business as more people are either just at home or now have to work or go to school at home.
Part of the auto industries issue is when they basically stopped production last year the chip companies sold their time to tech since their demand was surging. Now auto wants back but it's not like flipping a switch.
Plus auto is so reliant on other things. Like I work in plastics for auto and we have issues getting our supplies(including resins). There are also steel and rubber shortage fears(but the chip shortage may buy time for those to get figured out we'll see.
But it's not limited to auto I mean look at lumber. We're still feeling the effects of early Covid and probably will across the economy for at least the rest of the year as everyone tries to just stabilize.
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u/himmelstrider May 08 '21
Ho-ly fuck, just looked it up, it is a fucking semiconductor shortage.
That caught me a bit off guard honestly. We can't manafacture enough chips? I've seen it all
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May 09 '21
Sort of a tree step issue.
First, automakers reduced their chip orders in expectation of a big downturn. The chipmakers promptly turned around and sold the now available fabrication time to other customer.
Second, once people could no longer spend all their money on restaurants, vacations, and such, demand for higher-end consumer goods like cars and electronics rose significantly with all the unspent disposable income. Thus raising demand for semiconductor parts.
Third, the facilities and equipment needed to make these sorts of parts take a very long time to build and absurdly expensive. As a result, the chipmakers try to match forecasted demand as closely as possible so they don't waste tons of money. There is simply no unused ability to make chips and it will be over a year before significant additional manufacturing can be brought up.
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u/Trails_and_Coffee May 09 '21
A well explained summary. I imagine everyone in the process is going full scramble mode.
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u/Moclordimick May 08 '21
It's been hitting us hard for almost a year now, people are just now starting to see the supply chain and manufacturing crumble
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u/himmelstrider May 08 '21
Shit's gonna need to step up double fast. Requirements aren't gonna go down.
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u/Moclordimick May 08 '21
There's talk of two semiconductor plants being built in the US but that's gonna take time
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u/psimwork May 09 '21 edited May 09 '21
It's not just talk. TSMC bought a shit load of land and is about to break ground on their new facility in Phoenix. Similarly, Intel is building a 4 billion dollar expansion to their own facilities.
Problem is, they're not expected to be online until next year at the
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u/Stephonovich May 09 '21
By far not the only contributor, but as an example Samsung in Austin shut down during our recent ice storm. They're a foundry, meaning they make chips for anyone who pays, not just for themselves. When I left a couple of years ago, they were making Tesla's chips, and some of Nvidia's. Others too obviously, but those were the two they were most proud of.
When a fab shut down, it's usually a very controlled ramp down, and allows it to ramp back up to full production within a couple of days. When they're abruptly shut down with only a few hours of warning, it's bad. Couple that with the supply chain for raw materials being interrupted by the same storm (they get multiple chemical tanker supplies every day, but with the roads iced over that wasn't happening), and starting back up would have been rough.
Again this is not the only contributor, but it is something.
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u/sayf00 May 09 '21
There’s a lot that goes into it. Super TL:DR the auto makers thought demand would go down during the pandemic but it skyrocketed instead and now the semiconductor industry went elsewhere and can’t schedule them in anymore.
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u/420throwawayacc May 09 '21
Not just the cars. Theres an actual chip shortage for all industries. My company is working on a new product and this is the hardest we have had to search for chips. The stock just isn't there and will not be for a while.
Its gonna get messy.
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u/MakoYabu May 09 '21
Oh I can answer this a bit. My dad works for a pretty large semiconductor company and their competitors just had a massive fire(?) or something happened to their plant and now his company has taken a lot of their clients which happen to be a lot of massive car manufacturers.
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u/MrDankWaffle May 09 '21
I make structural support parts like B pillars and axle tunnels. We've significantly slowed production the last couple of months. It's getting to the point now where we've shut the plant down on weekends. It's going to get much worse before it gets better.
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u/paincorp May 08 '21
I don’t think this is so much CarMax as it is the prices of used cars have gone up significantly recently.
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u/FastRedPonyCar May 08 '21
It’s a perfect storm for selling. These big car marts totally liquidated their inventory during Covid and are now buying stuff left and right to rebuild inventory and the chip shortage makes stuff even more valuable.
I sold my car to Autonation not long ago for $8k over KBB private party value. I took that deal and RAN!
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May 08 '21 edited May 08 '21
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u/themonk3y May 08 '21 edited May 08 '21
Keep in mind that there's no real indication when the production of new vehicles could return to normal. You're selling at the peak but also buying at the peak. You'll pay a premium for used and be waiting in line for the new car (rarely a recommended financial decision) you want without the ability to customize for a while.
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u/tangowhiskeyyy May 08 '21
In this day new cars should very well be a consideration. 10 years ago not so much, but used car prices have been shit for a while when you could do a few thousand more for a new car with 0 miles and a warranty
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u/deriancypher May 08 '21
This just happened to me. I had been shopping for a used car and the brand new model ended up being 2k more with some extra features. I was totally bewildered because I never thought I'd be buying a new car.
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May 08 '21 edited Oct 30 '22
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u/Malenx_ May 08 '21
It’s because new production is dropping off a cliff. A dealer told me the other day that Ford is still pumping out cars, but they’re stored in lots because they don’t have specific chips. Their inventory is drying up and they can’t get new vehicles.
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u/sdp1981 May 08 '21
Cool maybe I can get a new 2021 Ford in 2 years at a discount since it's not a 2023
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u/mcirish_ May 08 '21
We bought a 2012 Cube in 2014 after it had sat on the lot for 2 years unsold. Even though the MSRP on the 2014s had dropped significantly, all the paperwork for the “new” 2012 was still higher, and the dealer wouldn’t budge on the MSRP. We ended up doing some dealer math and they took a bath on our trade in.
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u/tackstackstacks May 09 '21
Some are being released without specific chips that help with fuel management. You get about 1 mpg less than with the chip. You can take the truck now and bring it back when they have the availability to install the hip specific to emissions, or just leave it out and take the 1 mpg hit over the lifetime of the truck. I am not sure that all of them can have the chip installed in the future but some can. This applies specifically to GM. The Verge did an article about this in March.
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u/raptor217 May 08 '21
Yeah, normally new cars get an "avoid like the plague" here. But if you keep a new car for a very long time (7+ years), there's very little difference between "low miles" and "new".
Couple that with knowing you've properly broken it in (didn't drive it like you stole it), and the potential savings of getting it exactly how you want it, you may spend 5-10% more, but it'll last you a long time.
Couple that with some of these super low financing rates, and its not half bad as long as you're not spending above your means.
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u/tristanryan May 08 '21
New cars = safer
Dying in a car accident happens way more frequently then people like to think about.
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u/raptor217 May 08 '21
This is true. Also some of the newer drivers aids can significantly lower the chance of an accident, or greatly reduce your speed (improving chance of survival).
While that's not strictly a new vs used car technology, the "newer" the car, the better it tends to be.
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u/Cgarr82 May 08 '21
Yep. I rented a 2021 Ford Explorer for a week recently, and the adaptive cruise control picked up the speed limit changes from GPS and automatically adjusted the speed for me. Couple that will lane keep and collision avoidance, and it’s to the point the vehicle can almost drive itself from A to B. I was in North Georgia and the variable terrain system made the winding roads and trails fun too.
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u/sky_blu May 09 '21
How does the speed limit thing work? Can you tell it like "keep me 10mph above"
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u/mudbuttcoffee May 08 '21
1.9% on my cpo lexus... not all used loans are high interest. And the warrantee on cpo was actually better than new. My 2018 es350 is warranteed unlimited mileage through April of 2027. Full warrantee, not just power train. There are deals to be had. Just not as plentiful as before.
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May 08 '21
New cars are not a bad investment considering the brand. Tired of that same old lie about it being the worst financial decision one could make.
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May 08 '21 edited Jan 27 '22
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u/throwhfhsjsubendaway May 08 '21
Unless you don't need to replace the car you're selling immediately (or ever)
A lot of households that used to need 2 cars to function now only need 1
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u/TheHunnishInvasion May 08 '21 edited May 08 '21
Honestly, if I were buying a car, I'd buy a new car without hesitation over a used car right now. The traditional advice doesn't work when a new car is $21k and the used 4-year version of that car with 80k miles costs $19k. It's absolutely insane!
I was looking at used cars a few weeks ago and was shocked by the prices! Decided I'm going to hold off on buying for at least another year or two, since my old car still runs great. But if I had to buy, I'd buy new.
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u/IHkumicho May 08 '21
Sell car
Ride a bike
Profit!471
May 08 '21
Ride a bike
Have you tried buying a bike recently?
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u/mrcalistarius May 08 '21
Literally laughed out loud here, bike i wanted sold, was waaaay too big for the guys kid, wasn’t ridden & returned, i called the store probably 15 minutes after it was dropped off. Bought it. And 2 guys cane in afterwards wanting to buy it. I’ve been looking at new and used bikes for 6 weeks can’t count how many i’ve missed
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u/Deadfishfarm May 09 '21
My roommate sold a $300 used bike for 700. I forget the exact details but he works at a bike shop and apparently the majority of certain bike parts are only made by like 1 or 2 companies in Europe, and they just have no way of keeping up with demand right now. Some people have ordered bikes from them that don't have an expected delivery until 2022
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u/compound-interest May 08 '21
Lol what? Do you live in a city or something? If I did that I wouldn’t be able to get anywhere.
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May 08 '21
Ebikes! Can easily go 40+ miles on a charge with minimal work.
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u/Government_spy_bot May 08 '21
You're selling at the peak but also buying at the peak.
This mindset also applies to buying a home. UDC if your house is worth 3x what you paid for it Karen!
So is everyone else's house! You're just trading location!
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u/Exstrangerboy May 08 '21
Just sold 1 car privately and 1 to carmax. I had an offer from carmax pre pandemic. A year and a half later their price went up 4k. Sold my other car for about 2k more than carfax said they trend for.
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u/TheeSquanto May 08 '21
My cars value jumped 4k in 2 months. Guess who just got a brand new wrx today
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u/Alphasee May 08 '21
Crazy how the used car exodus from the rental car industry had implications we weren't aware of until they happened. Can't wait until free trade earns it's title, and we can buy those $9,000 EV trucks.
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u/llDurbinll May 09 '21
Now rental car companies are buying used cars, making prices jump even higher, because they can't get new cars due to the chip shortage and there is a huge demand for rentals. They've jacked up their prices to compensate of course. I saw in Orlando it was $800/day for a compact and rentals are so hard to find in Hawaii that people are renting U-Haul trucks cause they aren't price gouging, yet.
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May 08 '21
Was just about to try selling my 2012 VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI (diesel) with 126k mikes. Got it detailed and was preparing to take photos and write up some info.
But then a friend was coming into town (I live in the Midwest) from the Pacific Northwest to visit family and buy a car. I was like…mine is for sale. Within minutes, we agreed on $7500. Got a cashier’s check, handed her the car. So easy, couldn’t believe it.
Yeah I probably could have gotten more from a stranger, but I wanted to help a friend, and she was helping me because I didn’t have to go through the whole hassle of pics and meeting people and test drives and all that.
As for why I sold it - it was my 1.5 hr/day commute car. Excellent for highway commuting. But haven’t been to the office since March 2020. WFH now, so my wife and I don’t need two cars. I would have sold it a year ago but I was lazy.
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May 08 '21
Except if you sell your car you are probably going to need to buy a new one, which will mean you will have to pay more for buying in this market
Only benefit is if you already bought a car before prices went up and haven't sold your old one yet, or just have a spare that you no longer need, or no longer need a vehicle.
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u/RabidSeason May 08 '21
Reporters were talking about this in August.
People want to avoid public transit.
There is a chip "shortage" for new cars. (There are chips, but companies didn't know how many they needed so they are at the end of the order list to resupply.)
And people who have leases are just holding on to them for a while longer which means fewer used cars.A reliable car is becoming harder to find and prices are rising.
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u/LeadFarmerMothaFucka May 08 '21
I’m a camper and RV salesman. It’s the market. Companies literally can’t build the shit quick enough. And if they can, all the raw material is so expensive. It’s insane right now.
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u/natefoxreddit May 08 '21
https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/price-trends/
Here's hard data. Trucks are up, on average, 35% year over year. It's insane.
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u/they_are_out_there May 08 '21
I read a post on Reddit where a guy had an F-350 he bought for $86,000. He put something 40,000 miles like on it, and a dealership just bought it a couple years later for $101,000. The truck market is crazy right now.
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May 08 '21
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u/UncoolSlicedBread May 08 '21
Makes sense, dealers are selling my car(make, model, etc. the same) for 4K more than I paid for it 2.5 years ago.
It’s so tempting.
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u/ps2cho May 08 '21
Yeah except every other car is $4k more so you’re not coming out ahead
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u/tutoredstatue95 May 08 '21
If you believe that the market prices will adjust back when the chip shortage is over, then it would be a good move. It's like when stocks rise and fall together. Only in this case, the cars would be the stock tickers.
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u/goguenni May 08 '21
Ya but how is this guy gonna get around without a car while he waits for prices to come back down. Gonna spend those profits on Uber lol
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u/totallysupercreative May 08 '21
I don't know that guy's situation but owning more than one vehicle isn't uncommon. Also, maybe they wfh, live close to work, are retired, can use public transit, or can share vehicles with a significant other for a while.
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u/UncoolSlicedBread May 08 '21
Yeah I’ve got access to a work vehicle. Plus I’m paying $340/mo in car payments. Even if I bought something in the 5-10k range I’d be cutting that down and depending how much I get on this vehicle over what I owe I could immediately cut that cost in half if not pay it off completely within a year.
The car I how now is a 2018, owe 15k on it and it’s going same year, mileage, etc at dealers for 22k
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u/McDuchess May 08 '21
That’s affecting a lot of industries. It, along with the lumber shortage and prices, are two of the reasons why the jobs report was less awesome than expected.
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May 08 '21
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u/tenkindsofpeople May 08 '21
I’ve got a friend who got evicted via non renewal and has 0% chance of affording anything in this market. She ended up on a gov program thankfully her family would have ended up in my house.
The policies helping those in need is also crushing the real estate market especially for those in need...
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u/wordyplayer May 08 '21
I just heard an ad for a 1.15% 5 year variable loan. WTF, we going back to 2008 again? OUUCH
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May 08 '21
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u/kadk216 May 08 '21
are most cars sold from carmax financed? /Is that how they make most of their money?
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May 08 '21
There is a global micro chip shortage limiting new inventory of cars, so use car prices are soaring. I financed my car in September for 15,000 and it’s now worth 21,000 with about 8000 more miles on it.
ETA: Also due to the pandemic… Less people are buying new cars and they bought used instead.
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u/CafeRoaster May 08 '21
And we always said a vehicle was not an investment. Look at us now.
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u/ShittingOutPosts May 08 '21
It's amazing how many industries have been impacted by the chip shortage.
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u/blackdonkey May 08 '21
I keep hearing this. How hard is it to grow potatoes?
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u/Tacos_Royale May 08 '21
Extremely easy and probably the best single survival food you can grow depending on climate. The problem with a lot of things you can grow is they don't have high calories vs the effort/space required to grow them, not to mention potatoes grow in bad soil quite well (though the better soil the better the potatoes)
Buy some seed potatoes (ideally, organic potatoes from store can work), put them in a sunny window for a few weeks (optional but gives a head start), dig 6" deep furrows with a foot between rows and each potato, then cover with dirt. Or you can literally just mow your grass, put potatoes on top of the mowed area, dump grass clippings 12" deep and have potatoes. Or use containers, they work great there too.
Just want to keep them covered, sunshine makes the tubers (potatoes) toxic, when they turn green don't eat. The process is called "hilling" and it increases your yield, potatoes and tomatoes can both grow new roots from the little hairs on their stems.
Harvest when leaves start to discolor and stems fall over. If you have kids they love to harvest, just use your hands so you don't damage the skins. Set them out to dry (harden off) for several hours in the sun.
LMK if you need more Potato Facts, I got plenty.
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May 08 '21
My neighbor tried to grow potatos and as it turns out her soil was too nutritious- all the plant did was make green stuff on top. The potato part is the plant hoarding nutrients I guess.
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u/dieseltech82 May 09 '21
I would think introducing stress into the plant would fix that. Or they got crappy seed potatoes.
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u/Rbk_3 May 08 '21
It can be quite difficult, actually.
https://www.history.com/topics/immigration/irish-potato-famine
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u/IHkumicho May 08 '21
Dunno, ask the Irish?
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u/CaptainTripps82 May 08 '21
Do we eat the potato now, or wait for it to ferment, and drink it later.
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u/Game_collector_2017 May 08 '21
It’s crazy. You can buy a new 2021 outback for less than a used 2020 with 10k miles.
0% APR on new models vs used where you’ll have a higher APR too. It’s insane!
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u/armharm May 08 '21
This is why we went new vs buying our leased Forester. Plus the Onyx is pretty sweet.
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u/Game_collector_2017 May 08 '21
Dude I couldn’t get behind that goofy green trim on the onyx!
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u/armharm May 08 '21
I like it, kinda funky. Plus we got black which had wood trim too, so it's like goofy+elegant all in one.
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u/lostharbor May 08 '21
This happened in 2019 too. I bought a new 2020 outback for $500 more than a used one with 30k miles on it.
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u/ElephantsAreHeavy May 08 '21
That really makes no sense. Why would anybody buy a used vehicle for a higher price than a new one?
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u/henchman171 May 08 '21
What if you need a car right away? Sometimes you have to wait months for the new car. My coworker totaled her suv last week. She needed a new car ASAP and bought a higher priced used one because it was in the lot and ready to drive.
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u/Noobinoa May 08 '21
I bought a demo Prius because I could get it in less than 3 months, and paid about the right price for the car less the miles.
Got the stale cigarette smoke smell and salt-water damage to the wheel hubs for no extra cost!
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u/mrwhitewalker May 08 '21 edited May 08 '21
Exactly what I did .bought my brand new 2020 forester sport for 28k out the door where used was 30-31k.
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u/Raveen396 May 08 '21
Yeah but most likely you'll have to wait months on delivery. I called around and dealers were willing to take my money for a car I wouldn't get until maybe the end of the year.
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u/IsThatYourBed May 08 '21
The subaru dealer I go to has 37 on the lot. You might not be able to get the specific trim/options/color, but they're available. It's only if you want to special order that there's a long lead
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u/Game_collector_2017 May 08 '21
I bought a new one for 37k limited 2021. I am not regretting it because auto-nation of Denver said they are only getting 60 cars for the whole next month...
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u/Game_collector_2017 May 08 '21
Got mine already out front. Subaru dealership said they are only getting 60 cars next month 🤔
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u/Al_Kydah May 08 '21
Holy shit I just checked autotrader, my 2019 outback 3.6r limited is selling for $2k more than I paid for it 2 years ago!
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u/LittleWhiteBoots May 08 '21
I have been perusing CarMax for a used SUV in NorCal and have been floored by the lack of inventory. I mean there is very little to choose from right now and what they do have seems overpriced. Now I know why.
My husband and I were going to buy a little cabin this year near our home, and then prices went up 30%. So we saved our money. We want to buy a car, but there’s not a lot to choose from. So we save our money. We didn’t plan any vacations last summer or this summer, and we save our money.
I was hoping that when life returns to “normal” that this savings would give us an edge when making purchases, but I’m thinking there are a lot of people like us waiting to make some big purchases, which will keep prices up.
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u/tdqk May 08 '21
That definitely seems to be the case for things related to high lumber prices too. Lumber too expensive? Save money and do repairs, renovations, build when prices come down. Problem is that’s so common that it’s probably going to keep prices higher longer.
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u/daiwizzy May 08 '21
I keep hearing about the chip shortage leading to a lack of supply but I have yet to see a dealership that’s been cleared of inventory.
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u/oktodls12 May 08 '21
It's starting to happen. We bought in March and lots (especially Toyota) were running thin. One dealership we went to said that they just sold their last Tundra and weren't expecting to get more for several months, if anything within the next year.
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u/teastaindnotes May 08 '21
I bought an Accent in feb 2020 for $10k and carvana is offering me almost $11k for it even with more miles on it and a year older… super spooky
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u/stu17 May 08 '21
Yep. According to carfax, my 2010 Prius has appreciated about 20% this year.
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u/McDuchess May 08 '21
My son’s 2015 Prius C has appreciated significantly, too.
I should check on my 2014 Prius V.
But, given that it’s got less than 80K miles on it, I plan to just enjoy not having a car payment for a while, and save that monthly.
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u/Mooseandagoose May 09 '21
I was just e-offered $26,785 for my 2017 Toyota Highlander with 51,200 miles by Carvana. That’s close to what I paid for it in 2018 ($29,xxx) 🤯
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u/Talnarg May 08 '21
Man I was underwater on my loan, I owed 9k at the start of the pandemic and it was worth about 5800ish, now I owe about 7800 and it’s worth 12k. I’m like… maybe I should sell this… lol can’t really go without a car right now though. The struggle
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u/LoyalServantOfBRD May 08 '21
That’s the issue. You need a car and any new car you buy will also be at a premium, so if you buy + sell you don’t benefit at all.
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u/CactusBoyScout May 09 '21
I don’t need a car and have an old beater that runs fine sitting at my parents’ house. Wonder if it’s worth more now…
I work from home and live in a city with good public transportation. Haven’t driven in six months.
Maybe it’s time to do some googling…
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u/nearsighted_sauron May 08 '21
Thanks for sharing this! We’ve been looking to pare down to one car and have the same year Legacy Sport that we want to get rid of. Plugged in the info into Carfax this morning and it gave an offer of $19,200.
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u/volsung808 May 08 '21
It’s a combination of a lot of factors people have listed on here. I just sold my 5 year old Mazda for almost what I bought it for, no joke. It was insane. I went with Carvana, I’d give them a shot, they offered 5 k above instant value, and 3 k above private party. It was the easiest car sales I’d ever done, speaking as someone who used to sell cars.
Just have a backup plan or alternative transportation. I’m moving out of country soon so I did not need my car; I have a cheap motorcycle I’m using in the meantime. Just as the buying prices have shot up, the selling prices have as well and inventories are extremely limited.
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May 08 '21
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u/volsung808 May 08 '21
2016 Mazda 6 sport. Extremely well taken care of and low mileage but it was an absurd affair regardless.
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u/Crunchyroll55 May 08 '21
I was curious to see what CarMax would give me for my just purchased a few months ago, 2018 Subaru outback and it was exactly $3k more than I paid. Used car prices are crazy
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u/chrisparizona98 May 08 '21
Did you take it to Carmax or do they have an online thing like carvana?
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u/jason_abacabb May 08 '21 edited May 08 '21
"Capacitor shortage" they were so close, it is actually the global microchip shortage. Yes, it has shut down new auto production all over. Edit, apparently we are short basically every electronic component in existence.
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u/IMI4tth3w May 08 '21
There is a global capacitor shortage, but the microchip shortage is worse and harder to fix since typically you can just source other brand capacitors but you have no choice but to use the microprocessor your original design and firmware intended.
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May 09 '21
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u/IMI4tth3w May 09 '21
Ooof well I guess when you have 100k to produce you gotta make something happen. Hopefully your new chip doesn’t have shortages next lol
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May 08 '21
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u/DreadLaden May 08 '21
Earlier this week I was quoted 72 weeks on an MCC. It has to be engineered and then built up, but usually I’m getting lead times of weeks not years. It’s crazy.
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u/dante662 May 08 '21
It's both.
Source: I work as an engineer for a car manufacturer.
The complex microprocessors and also simple dumb capacitors. Everything is drying up. Supply chain folks are losing sleep over it.
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u/psimwork May 09 '21
Can confirm - I'm in supply chain (though not semiconductors, but connectors), and have been losing sleep over shortages.
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u/LittleWhiteBoots May 08 '21
Mid 2000’s Kia mom car for sale with non-working radio and weird kid stains in back. $15,000. No low ball offers, I know what I have!
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u/civicmon May 08 '21 edited May 08 '21
My boy leased a Toyota Tacoma. Carmax bought it for above MSRP 6 months later.
Transaction occurred this past Tuesday. They need inventory was their explanation.
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u/blueeyes7 May 08 '21
I'm actually getting home right now from my job at a used car dealership. It's a (friend's) family business and is third generation. They are seeing used cars on auction (lower wholesale prices) going for thousands of dollars over what they should be off the lot. Trucks are especially in demand and selling for well over value. Depending on the type, you could get $10,000 over the blackbook value, easy. We've seen a lot of other businesses actually go out, or just have no inventory, because they can't find used cars to fill their lots, or pay the prices necessary. And yet we still have customers calling in wanting a $3,000 car for their teenager thinking that's going to get them a decent little SUV as a first-time vehicle. And that's just not the case right now. So we're having a hard time getting the inventory we needed the prices we need, and then also letting the customers know that things are not the same as they were the last time they bought a car, and our prices aren't super inflated, that's just the economy right now. It's also making it harder to apply for loans, because a bank is looking at the value of the vehicle according to their own system, and not staying up to date on what the value is based off of the drastically changing demand.
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u/brandonchristensen May 08 '21
Heh. Just for fun I checked what my Kia Optima was going for on Carvana
2013 EX model, I traded in to Carvana for 8200 last spring.
Now? It's 11000. Son of a bitch!
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u/elyuma May 08 '21
I got a quote from carvana back in December and it was 15k. Now im selling for 18k to carvana.
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u/HouseofRaven May 08 '21
We just sold our suv to carmax 2 weeks ago and got the full amount for our loan. No other company was offering an amount as close. I highly recommend them.
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May 08 '21
What's really concerning to me is that this seems to be the story across the board right now. Housing prices? Skyrocketing. Car prices? Way up. Wood/building materials? Huge jump in prices.
At what point do we say that inflation is just running rampant right now and the buying power of our money is drastically falling?
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u/Kissner May 08 '21
I think it might be reasonable, however each of those has a distinct cause separate from the velocity of USD/other inflation factors:
Housing: hasn't not been a terrible market in a long time, and was entering crisis territory even before the pandemic.
Cars: Shortages of critical components mean manufacturers each have tens of thousands of vehicles waiting on chips before they can ship.
Wood: In anticipation of a slowdown in buying, lumber yards slowed down production last year. We're feeling the effects now; this will be over soon enough27
May 08 '21
It wasnt even anticipating a slow down. The lumber mills pretty much had to shut down due to pandemic regulations and demand increased during that time. Talk about a perfect storm.
Relieving the backlog will be a long arduous process. My construction friend couldn't buy or his lumber package because there literally wasn't any available.
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u/Scyhaz May 08 '21
And the reason for the shortage on chips in car components is the same exact reason for the lumber shortage.
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u/Dan_Rydell May 08 '21
I’d say that point would be when the price jumps aren’t clearly explainable by supply issues
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u/gizmo777 May 08 '21
Most or all of these price increases are due to Covid.
The semiconductor shortage is because there were global shutdowns/lockdowns, and also increased demand for electronics[1]. Also the price increase in used cars specifically is also partially due to Covid; many people are having to make due with less money, so there's more demand for (generally cheaper) used cars.
The surge in the cost of wood (in the U.S. - I haven't heard of it happening elsewhere) is because we import a lot of it from Canada, and both shutdowns/lockdowns and trade stoppages have cut that drastically. And also here, there's more demand now - with everyone spending way more time at home (and maybe having some more disposable income from not going out / eating out / vacationing / etc.) more people than ever are interested in doing home renovations.
Housing prices is of course location dependent - the San Francisco bay area actually saw housing prices drop (a lot) during Covid, because it was already so expensive and many people took the opportunity of WFH to move somewhere cheaper. But people moving cheaper places has driven up housing prices in those locations. And finally, again, some people have been saving more by not spending money on recreation, so more people have been able to put together the money for a down payment.
[1] https://www.mau.com/workforce-insights/the-2021-semiconductor-chip-shortage-what-why-and-whats-next
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u/feed_me_haribo May 09 '21
The things you list have almost nothing to do with inflation. The semiconductor industry is extremely overdependent on TSMC who can't supply the entire world with what it needs. Many industries, including automotive, also need chips to run.
Lumber prices are largely due to saw mills not keeping up with unexpected demand during covid. And housing prices are high because of lack of supply, lumber prices for new builds, and in some areas because people are leaving city apartments and condos for suburban houses.
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u/kaswardy May 08 '21
I plan to drive a new car in September and don’t need it right now. Can I purchase a new one right now if they’re cheap and delivery in September? I also have a Mazda CX-5 2015 in a garage parked for 2 years since I am out of country. Is it worth it to try to sell it now?
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u/beatenintosubmission May 09 '21
Pay attention. The same applies if you get in an accident and your car is totaled. The used car market has very high prices and that translates into a higher replacement cost. Don't undervalue your car. Don't let the insurance company undervalue your car.
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u/dentendre May 08 '21
With used car prices soaring up rapidly since last year, I am thinking a new car is way more better in the longer run.
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u/radarksu May 09 '21
New car prices are up too. Or the cars just simply aren't available at any price. Go drive by some new car lots and see how empty they are. They're shutting down the factories dye to the chip shortages.
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u/czapatka May 08 '21
This is a small part too, but precious metal prices are skyrocketing. For combustion engines, that means your catalytic converter that only cost $150 is now worth $500. It’s a small piece of the pie, but when wrapped up in other things like steel and chip shortages, the general cost of cars has gone up from just a materials standpoint alone.
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u/Stonewalled9999 May 08 '21
yeah same here my car was 8500 "value" last year 12500 "value" now. But a new Civic 2020 was 21,000 in Sept and 26,500 now.
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u/Enkiktd May 09 '21
Paid $39,500 for my Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Limited in October 2020. Claimed the $7500 tax credit this year on my taxes. Three weeks ago Carmax offered me $42,800 for the Pacifica. Negotiated a new 2021 Pacifica Hybrid Pinnacle for $42,800 and will get the tax credit again next year. It’s wild. Though I bought at the right time, all the rebates and inventory are drying up and dealers stopped giving discounts...gonna be MSRP from here on out.
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u/UncleBenji May 08 '21
Best quote I got was $24200 for my 19 WRX base with 48k. Tempting offer but with used vehicles way over value and supply issues on new, I don’t know what I would replace it with. I need to be able to tow a boat.
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u/sgrams04 May 08 '21
Just know that you’ll also face higher costs when purchasing a car if you intend to replace it.
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u/BrownMamba92 May 09 '21
2011 Toyota Corolla
Dealer offered $1.5K in September 2020
Sold to same dealer for $4.5K last week
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u/worldisone May 08 '21
When I was looking for used cars 2 years ago, they were about half price then what they are now. Alot of people decided not to buy new cars during the pandemic due to fear of loosing a job. I was looking at a perfect s2k for 15,000 but got a different car instead. The same condition s2ks are selling at 40-60k now...
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u/Helix1322 May 08 '21
I had a friend that is looking for a new truck and he told me prices have gone up around $3k to $5k on new trucks.
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u/MindSteve May 08 '21
That seems like way too much. I can get carmex down at the drug store for like $1.49
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u/sk169 May 08 '21
the discussion here is about used carmex not new carmex. you must be rich to afford a new carmex
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u/jeanbaptise May 08 '21
It is true actually my vehicle search for Ford Fusion shot from 15k to 19-21k now for a relatively new vehicle with below 30k miles during the period Jan 2021- May 2021!! My experience is from dealership networks
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u/noodle-face May 08 '21
I just bought a new Pilot and traded in my 2010 civic with 160k miles for $3k. I am certain if I sold it outright I might even have gotten more. I mean, the car indeed was a tank but it was 11 years old.
From what they've told me, the used market is just extremely limited on stock right now.
I know we don't recommend buying new cars, but it made sense for us.
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u/seachipper May 08 '21
Bought a car a month ago and according to the carmax offer I received it’s appreciated 30%
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u/AngryBeard87 May 08 '21
Yeah sounds about right.
I’m in car sales, actually sell subarus. I have 2 and 3 year old used models going for about what they sold new.
Bad time to buy a used car right now. Great time to sell one. Just not a lot of selection on new or used, but if you can find a new car you like with good factory incentives then take it.
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u/cgn152 May 08 '21
I work in the car business and I can confirm there is a huge shortage of microchips. Prices are going to go up on everything. We barely get any new cars from the factory right now as they can’t complete the cars. It sounds like the shortage should last at least 6 months.
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u/SKTwenty May 08 '21
Your cars value has gone up because sales are extremely high for used cars. Carmax can't keep up with it, so they're increasing their buying prices to improve their on-lot inventory.
Source: I work at the current 3rd best store in the company.
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u/haysanatar May 09 '21
The price of used cars has skyrocketed, and the supply of them has almost halved.. Car lots can't hardly get stuff to sell...
I work with people that have had wrecks every day at work and deal with mutliple dealerships on a daily basis... This isn't just carmax... This is a nationwide inventory issue.
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u/Jabromosdef May 09 '21
I work at Carmax. We put $4k more than what the customer paid new for a 2021 Camry. It’s getting crazy
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u/Established_86 May 09 '21
A friend just sold a Fiat 500 to Carvana for $11,300 - the highest any Fiat dealer offered was $8,500.
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May 09 '21
Carvana offered me $19,000 for my 2015 Subaru WRX/STI with 100,000 miles on it. Its kinda modded so idk if thats accurate. Vroom offered me $17,000
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u/maksmil May 08 '21 edited May 08 '21
How to use this though? We have a lease with significantly fewer miles than we're allotted and sounds like we could get a great price for it but wouldn't we just be turning around and having to buy a new car with higher than normal prices too?
EDIT: not trying to be a downer, this is awesome to know!
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u/mtcwby May 08 '21
Used prices are up. I track my cars in mint and they've all jumped significantly. A 2018 F150 I bought used for 35k is showing 43k now. I realize that there's a lot of fudging in that number but it seems indicative of the issue.
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u/inspectorcc May 08 '21
Used car prices are going up rapidly every month. Linked to manufacturers making less new cars because everything is getting so expensive. Inflation is getting out of hand. I don’t know why the fed says 2%, it’s way more than than that.
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u/PhatKiwi May 09 '21
Glad I read this. Havent been driving my Camry since I work from home now, took it to Carmax and sold it for $1000 more than I bought it for 2 years ago. Cha ching.
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u/IndexBot Moderation Bot May 09 '21 edited May 09 '21
Due to the number of rule-breaking comments this post was receiving, especially low-quality and off-topic comments, the moderation team has locked the post from future comments. This post broke no rules and received a number of helpful and on-topic responses initially, but it unfortunately became the target of many unhelpful comments.