Coming from a former car salesman, I hope you didn't think that the price a Dealership put on the window of that used FiST is any indication of the actually value of your or any of our cars... There is a huge difference between a Retail and a Private Party value. Kelley Blue Book does give you an idea, but in reality most dealers will use car auction sites to see how much similar models have recently sold for when making a trade offer, so your Trade Value ends up being thousands less than Private Party (which is thousands less than Retail). So a $26,000 ST3 FiST sells to the original owner, gets traded in 1 year later for probably $16,000, gets marked up by 40-50% to $24,000 and will be sold for $18-20...
But if any one of us tried to sell one of ours, we should expect to get out about 80-90% of the original purchase price from it, and none of us can get as much as a Dealer because of the perception that getting a used car from a Dealer translates in the car being properly serviced and cleaned (which in many cases, never happens). Dealerships can also offer extended warranties, which often makes them more revenue than the sale of the car itself (why do you think Certified Pre-Owned vehicles have become so popular?)
But if any one of us tried to sell one of ours, we should expect to get out about 80-90% of the original purchase price from it, and none of us can get as much as a Dealer because of the perception that getting a used car from a Dealer translates in the car being properly serviced and cleaned (which in many cases, never happens). Dealerships can also offer extended warranties, which often makes them more revenue than the sale of the car itself (why do you think Certified Pre-Owned vehicles have become so popular?)
