I was looking into selling my CR a while back as well and noticed the same thing. I figured it was because of the market conditions.

On the other hand I do work at a bank and all we care to look at is the NADA value. KBB is not even an option. When I went to another bank to get a refi on my CR there NADA said it was worth 32k!

 

Yes, used car values have gone up since the beginning of the year.

People started spending more money this year, but we're still in a bad economy and a credit crunch, so....
Bad economy = people wanting to get into something cheaper (ie: used)
Credit crunch = people not being able to get credit for new cars, so they settle for used ones.

I have access to Manheim (dealer auction) and I've been watching closely my S2000's value. From Beginning of this year to summer, it went up about $1,500. I thought it was because of summer is top-down weather but that doesn't apply in So. FL.

THEN I read an article about used car prices. They quoted one of the top guys at Manheim saying that auction prices have increased an average of 16% this year, which pretty much matches the price increase of my S2000 (finally, anecdotal evidence that's accurate!)

My friend does dealer inventory auditing for another auction house and one of the main gripes all dealers have right now is the high used car prices. The market is more cut-throat and profit margins smaller than ever, even with the increased sales.

These increases are mostly for popular, affordable used cars. Prices for high-end and exotic cars are still in the dumpster.

 

Good info....I hate Manheim...When I was looking to sell, it did not know what a CR was and neither did the dealer.

 

looks like a general supply and demand thing. try finding a clean 94 mr2 turbo or similar year supra or rx-7 and the prices are steep for those, too. my guess is that as more and more s2000's bite the dust prices will only go up for an s2000 with low mileage and clean title.

 

as vehicles get older the less accurate these pricing charts become, imo. There is gonna be a lot of disparity in conditions of the cars. You can't say because some website says that a car is worth 10k that's what you should pay regardless of condition. A few years back i almost bought a 1995 miata, he was asking 8k, but the car was so damn clean, that i would have paid it in a heartbeat.

My dad has a 1989 toyota van, book value $1200, he's been offered as much at $4000, i have a 1995 land rover discovery book value $2500, but i don't think i can get more than $1500 for it. Book values are worthless imo.

 

def gone up some.

 

I understood that once a model is discontinued prices normally drop and demand decreases dramatically. Without new cars leading sales and manufacturer advertising sales drop off. Maybe the the S is an exception, ie low production numbers and cultish following. After it was introduced Honda did fairly little advertising anyways.

 

My KBB and the NADA went up too since Thanksgiving. I'm so amazed

 

mine went down wtf? dropped like 2k...

 

I read somewhere (cant find it now) that cash for clunkers may have had some effect like this also by taking many used cars off the road and bumping the price of the used cars available.