Takata Recall, Stop-Sale Order Help Us Sell Our 2015 Honda Fit
CARS.COM — After putting more than 15,000 miles on our long-term 2015 Honda Fit during its year in our fleet, it was time to sell it. We got a little help in a surprising place: a stop-sale order precipitated by the Takata airbag-inflator crisis. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in February issued a recall on a broad range of new Honda and Acura models — totaling more than 2.2 million cars — as part of the massive Takata action. As a comprehensive fix does not yet exist, limited by the availability of replacement parts, Honda told its dealers to stop selling any vehicle affected by the action. This helped us get top dollar for Cars.com’s Honda Fit long-term test car.
Related: Honda, Acura Recall 2.2 Million More Cars for Takata Airbags
A sales manager from the Honda dealership where the Fit was serviced emailed asking if we were interested in selling or trading in our car. She said they were on the hunt for used 2015 models like ours that aren’t part of the stop-sale and that the small, urban-friendly hatchback was a popular car at her city location. Lucky for this dealership, we were getting ready to sell the Fit the next day.
In fact, we already had a written offer of $14,000 on the table from another dealership. The city location that reached out to us was in our backyard, so we blew off the $14,000 offer that was 40 miles away and hoped to unload the Fit closer to home, and for a little more money. At the Chicago dealership, the Fit EX was appraised lower than the other offer of $13,500 so we countered at $15,000, they came back at $14,500 and we happily agreed.
The initial outlook didn’t look good for making much money back on this long-termer. Black Book Market Insights reported subcompact car depreciation dropped more significantly than other classes from May to June 2016, plus new Fit sales are down and interest in small, fuel-efficient cars is waning with low fuel prices. After purchasing the Fit for $19,400 in June 2015, we were pleased to recoup 75 percent of its value, as well as exceed the Black Book sell-to-dealer value estimate of $11,525 to $14,165.
The stop-sale may have benefited Cars.com’s long-term fleet budget, but it’s not a good thing for dealers’ bottom line. Honda spokesman Chris Martin told Cars.com that it is not possible to quantify the stop-sale, as the automaker does not track all used vehicles in dealer inventory. But given the size of the February recall and the scarcity-inflated price our used 2015 Fit fetched, it must be significant. To help soften the financial blow as unsellable cars sit on lots, Martin explained that the automaker created an assistance program for Honda and Acura dealers that provides monetary support on trade-ins at the dealership for normal vehicle aging of vehicles as they await repair.
“Honda began receiving replacement parts for the recall announced in February 2016 from an alternative supplier in late March,” Martin told Cars.com. “Vehicle repairs began shortly after that and, as we continue to receive more parts, more of the affected vehicles are being repaired. Once a recall repair is completed on a vehicle, it is no longer subject to the stop-sale.”
Beyond possible penalties under state or federal law, Honda advised its dealers that failure to repair a vehicle under recall may subject the dealership to claims or lawsuits from the customer or anyone else harmed as a result of that failure, Martin said.
