A Missouri Car Dealer Wants How Much For This 2009 Chevy?

My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw how much a Missouri car dealer wants for this 2009 Chevrolet. My first thought is are they crazy? My second was, what dealer is this, I need to make sure I never buy a vehicle from them.

That's right, this Missouri car dealer has a used 2009 Victory Red Chevrolet Cobalt SS for sale for $28,000. Upon first blush, it's a Chevy Cobalt, the small car that replaced Chevrolet's Cavalier in the mid-aughts. Yet it's not just the typical Cobalt, it's a Cobal SS.

Now I drove the Chevrolet Cavalier in the late 90s and its Pontiac twin the Sunfire through most of the aughts. Not any souped-up version though. In fact, I drove rather basic models. They were stick shift, with roll-down windows. When I moved to the Sunfire, mainly because I liked the car's lines and interior more than the Chevy, I had no plans to stop driving it.

If it wasn't for a crash in Lubbock back in 2014 I had planned to keep driving it. I was hoping to have enough money for some cosmetic bodywork, and to replace the well-worn driver seat. I had managed to keep the interior from being trashed. Not to mention, the engine just kept running and running with oil changes. Yet my crash in 2014 changed all that.

I had enough of stick shift driving, and I was tired of a basic car. I wanted a little more. Maybe a sunroof. A slightly souped-up radio. At least an automatic transmission and electronic windows. I mean, come on, by 2014 you almost had to work to find a car that wasn't automatic and didn't come with electronic windows anyway.

What I'm saying is, I don't think Chevy's cheap vehicle of that era is bad. Although, where GM tends to skimp when you're buying a cheap car is the interior. This ultimately is why in 2014 I didn't just try to find a newer Sunfire, Caviliar, or Cobalt.

Here's what Car and Driver has to say about the 2009 Chevy Cobalt SS 2009:

The SS, for all its low-rent interior furnishings, is a smoking performance deal. It outperforms many much-more-vaunted machines on the track and easily records sub-6.0-second 0-to-60-mph times. It also handles really sweetly.

That's a pretty cool review, but is it worth $28,000 today? Was it worth $28,000 in 2009? No. Chevrolet was selling the vehicle for $24,000 in 2009 according to the Car and Driver review. A scary price considering GM's chintzy interiors which are prone to falling apart if you breathe wrong.

So what about this specific Used 2009 Victory Red Chevrolet Cobalt for sale at Dean Team Volkswagon of Kirkwood? The vehicle is a five-speed manual and comes with a sunroof, Bluetooth, keyless entry, and fog lights. It is equipped with side airbags and was driven about 600 miles a year. The vehicle has 8,179 miles total on it. It was garaged in both Michigan and Arizona.

The CarFax report shows the vehicle had one owner and generally comes back clean except for one recall, which has to do with the car's power steering.

So should you pay $28,000 for this low-mileage Chevrolet Cobalt SS? Hell no. Kelly Blue Book pegs the trade-in value of a 2009 Chevrolet Cobalt SS in excellent condition around $7000. If you were looking to sell that car on your own, Kelly Blue Book says you can expect to sell it for around $9500.

Now it's been a long time since I worked for a car dealer, and even back in 2014 I was shocked at how much more used and new vehicles had gone up since 2005 and 2006. I was even more shocked at how difficult it was to find a reasonably priced used vehicle last summer. Yet between the pandemic and supply chain shortages choking off new vehicle inventory, it's not surprising used vehicles were coming at a premium cost, especially when bought from a dealer.

That said, $28,950 dollars for this car? If you'd pay that much for this car I'll show you someone who has a Chevrolet fetish, has money to burn or is just plain gullible. I'd expect this car to be on a lot for between $12,000 - $14,000. Of course, while the world is littered with Chevy Cobalts, The Chevy Cobalt SS is much harder to find, and that's exactly why Dean Team Volkswagon in Kirksville hopes someone will pony up the cash.