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Comment by realgeniushere | Hacker News Reader

This is normal. You buy a car from a guy on the street, it could break on the drive home and you’re mostly shit outta luck. Even if you have a legal claim (and you usually don’t since the sale is as-is), it’s not worth the trouble and they’re likely to be judgment proof.

On the other hand, dealers usually include a warranty of some kind with their “certified pre-owned” vehicles. And as repeat players, they have a reputation to keep. The manufacturer also imposes further rules on them to protect the car brand.

Fwiw, I strongly oppose laws that protect the dealership business. But this specific thing you’ve noticed is not some grand conspiracy (how would that work anyway?). It’s just rational consumer behavior.

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It's highly unlikely that's a car with 150k miles gets listed as a CPO. And, regardless, that should not affect the market price of the vehicle in general for private sale / trade in.

> You buy a car from a guy on the street, it could break on the drive home and you’re mostly shit outta luck.

Then why did the private party value double overnight?

Probably because the Kelly blue book is just sourcing local data and the dealer’s listing had an outsized effect on the average, like another commenter pointed out. KBB is not the be all, end all.

That doesn't quite seem responsive to your parent comment. They recognize that the dealer price is higher.

What's weird is that every price jumped after selling the car to a dealer, not that the retail price was higher than the trade-in price.

> Trade in value quoted at three sites (kbb, edmunds, carfax) was $3500. Private party sale was $4100, retail sale that a buyer would pay at a dealer $5200.

> Dealer puts new tires on it lists for $9999 and suddenly the three sites list “fair market” retail at $11,000, trade in at $7000 and private party at $9000.

How much did the tires cost?

That's their summary of what was changed. It's likely not the full list. The car would typically get a full detailing, inspections, cosmetic repairs, etc. as part of that process.

>What's weird is that every price jumped after selling the car to a dealer, not that the retail price was higher than the trade-in price.

It's based on comps. Dealer in your zip listed it at a comical price and it dragged the price up because data was sparse.

I tried that 'buy from a man on the street' thing a couple of times. Young, wasn't spending much anyway. I was fairly experienced at spotting the easy problems. Both times I bought someone else's well-hidden problem. One lasted a year, one a month. Friends, then dealers (with a warranty).

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