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You don't know when to walk? I'll admit most dealerships these days are run like a backroom roulette game. I'm not entirely sure whether its actually necessary in order for them to make a buck, but in any event, when stuff like you describe starts to occur, I walk! Rules for buying a new car:
Get on the internet and find out what the actual out the door price is. Yup, like real estate comps, it isn't anywhere near as easy to do today as it was 10 years ago. You're going to have to hunt & peck. Just know what price you're willing to pay, optioned as you want before you even walk into a dealership.
For a trade in, things get difficult. You can find a price it's worth, but remember, they'll base what they give you for the trade in on what they sell the new vehicle for - or vise versa. It all goes in the same pot.
I will tolerate no more than the salesman visiting the "big" office once and coming out with the purchase price and the trade in. I merely use the actual purchase price of the new vehicle and the final amount in dollars that I pay to drive off the lot to determine that.
It often doesn't happen that way - too many discussions, more than 15 minutes to get "approval" and you know what I do? I say "Forget it. I simply have something else to do...see ya later." More than once, I was simply allowed to walk out the door - not even a business card handed to me. They simply didn't want my business (unless I would accede to more coin in their pockets; that's a dealership that does quite well because it has a lot of clueless suckers - they don't need or want your business). They use these time consuming and confusing junk things to wear down your resolve to pay so much and get so much for a trade in. That's their job. They can keep their job. I'll just keep looking around. There are other dealerships.
I can't believe you gave these shysters your business.
I don't like the idea of bundling a new car purchase with the sale of a current car. These are two different deals and I am betting you can get more from a private sale.
Offer what you want to offer for the car. You tell the salesperson what you are willing to pay. It is not always going to work but it turns out that plenty of other dealers are around and one of them might make the deal you are after.
Made the mistake once of buying a new car when last years model was sitting right there on the lot. The new car was a redesign but the older model was 50% less on the sticker than the new model, and I could have offered less and might have gotten it. They only had one of them and it was a slow selling car.
I think you walk and the reason you walk is that you want to have a lasting relationship with your dealer, you dont want to buy a car and then dread going there for minor maintenance, oil chances, etc, you want a good dealer with a good repulation, someone you're comfortable with.
I don't like the idea of bundling a new car purchase with the sale of a current car. These are two different deals and I am betting you can get more from a private sale.
In my state there are pretty significant tax advantages to trading in that can wipe out much of the gain from selling privately.
I've had dealers play some pretty big games with the numbers to maximize this advantage.
In my state there are pretty significant tax advantages to trading in that can wipe out much of the gain from selling privately.
I've had dealers play some pretty big games with the numbers to maximize this advantage.
I’m with you on this. Before buying the Fusion, I took the 7 year old FJ Cruiser to Carmax for price quote. The paperwork showed just over $21K. After negotiating the price for the Fusion, I told him the FJ would be traded in. The dealership quoted below $19K, I showed him the Carmax quote, and that he had to meet it, if he wanted to sell me the Fusion. He did, and I saved over $1300 in sales tax.
During the last 58 years of buying and selling cars I have come to the realization that I will never get the very best price for any thing that I buy or sell. I will however, get the price that I can live with, for the vehicle with the options that I want.
Carmax is a great place to get a quote but they are not available everywhere. The Boston area finally got one about a year ago.
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