Ok guys, at the ripe old age of 21 I'm looking at purchasing my 6th vehicle (I know I have a sickness lol). I actually am looking at "downsizing" per se. Currently I have a 2005 Toyota Camry and a 2004 F-150 Crew Cab Lariat. Both are fully paid for. I own a very large boat for bow fishing, and a very large 16 ft enclosed lawn care trailer for my business. Up to this point, anything less than a full sized truck wasn't possible. I drive the car daily since I live 260 miles away from my business in AL for school and commute frequently. Love the car but as a V6 it only gets 21 mpg and the truck gets 11 mpg on its best day. Here comes the freedom part, As of this winter I will have sold my boat AND my entire lawn care business. I need/want a truck for practical purposes and hunting but can't afford to drive my current one full time with its gas mileage....so I thought, trade both towards a newish Tacoma. Realistic equity from selling both vehicles will be right at 26-28k. This puts me at a relatively new truck...something I've always been so far from I've never even considered. I WANT a Crew Cab Tacoma 4WD 2010-13 with less than 30k miles. What are the advantages and disadvantages of buying new vs used when paying cash. If the interest rates are 0-2% I would make payments and invest my money elsewhere...but for the sake of this discussion, lets assume I buy in cash. Are new vehicles negotiable at all on price like used ones are?
Selling your boat? Are you insane??!! Buy a new toyota. They don't depreciate enough to bother buying used.
I simply don't have the time to take it out anymore....and once I graduate school here in Birmingham I'll be moving to Alaska if I get the job I'm working towards. Love bowfishing, it's just waaaay to expensive a hobby to keep if you don't go regularly.
new vehicles are negociable, you just have to play the game and haggle. bluff them, and set your out the door price. they mark them up thousands of dollars, so you set the price and make them break. they will. i did it. they wanted one price, i was paying cash told them my out the door price they said no, so i said i will take my business elsewhere and started out the door and off the lot. they caved.
Get something dependable that gets good gas mileage used and put the rest toward those student loans. That would be the best in the long run,of course it wouldn't be as much fun. Talk to a financial advisor about investing it. Maybe some type of plan to go toward the student loans when you have to start paying on them. Make some money on it before using it to pay on the student loans. Get that payed for and then you can get whatever car/truck you want with no worries.
I have a 2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser and love it. Same engine as the Tacoma. Runs great and reliable. Never had any problems with it. Only thing that would be better is if it got a little better gas mileage, but 20 mpg average isn't bad for a 4WD.
If you go new, yes the price should negotiable - just like used. Keep in mind some dealers are easier to work with than others - I've noticed a trend with a lot dealers where they say they have "no haggle pricing" - which is great for people that don't like to bargain and just want a decent deal, but bad news for someone like me that will attempt to grind out every penny from the car dealership - point is, you may have to shop around to get your best price.... First thing you want to do is find out the approx invoice price (website like edmunds.com) on the internet. Unless your buying a really specialty/limited vehicle, IMO, you should generally try to never pay more than the dealer invoice price (I usually shoot for around $500 under invoice). They will whine that they aren't making anything but that's usually not true at all. Car dealers generally get 'dealer incentives' from the factory for selling/moving vehicles, your just asking for a piece of their pie that a lot of customers don't even know exists... So for example, if a Chevy dealership gets a diesel truck from GM for 50K, in theory they could sell the vehicle for say 500 less than they actually 'pay' for it and if they are getting a several % incentive from GM to sell the vehicle, they are still making money (not counting other expenses of course). Here is a good write up on dealer incentives: http://www.cars.com/go/advice/Story.jsp?section=inc&story=incDealer&subject=incent We haven't bought a new vehicle for a while but several friends that have in the last few years have used the internet a lot... Really easy to send inquires via email and questions on the dealer websites to try and see what dealers in the immediate area are willing to play ball...
Speaking from experience in our area (I own an 05 TRD Tacoma AC with 122K), the used market (within two years or so of the current model year) holds value so extraordinarily well, that it doesn't usually make sense to purchase used. Unless you're purchasing a certified used, which comes with the 100K warranty, and Toyota-care, used is not necessarily the best bet. My wife and I just bought a '12 4runner this summer, and while it's not a Tacoma, it, along with the Tacoma, are two vehicles that Toyota REALLY has no issue pushing, which is why they historically don't offer significant cash bash or financing deals on them. Locally, this translated into very little negotiating room on the floor even when I came in with a Tru-car pricing report, and a 150 mile radius sampling of similar vehicles for sale. In the end, a salesman friend of ours at a sister dealership negotiated an awesome deal on our behalf. I don't believe I would have been able to get that deal on my own. If you have time, shopping the local/independent sales might be your best bet. I've seen guys offloading their trucks on Tacomaworld for well under KBB/NADA due to financial difficulties (you get a lot of that on a site dedicated to modding :D). Definitly visit truecar.com to get a print out of a price breakdown for your model (shows invoice, avg. sale prices in your area and where it falls in relation to invoice). Good luck, and you'll be happy with your choice if you're ready to downsize. My Tacoma gets used HARD, and it's been great to me. Fuel mileage is decent (it will definitely do better than the Ford), but not amazing. You WILL feel the size change in cab room stepping down from an F-150, so be forewarned :D If you have any specific questions on the truck itself, feel free to PM me.
Trevor...I have an '06 Tacoma TRD extended cab w/ about 120K miles. It's been a great truck and I do all my own maintenance. Couldn't complain about the durability/reliability of this truck. You're smart though....I should have gotten the double cab. Regretting that now but I make do. I bought the truck new too. Good luck with your purchase!
I debated the double/access as well. Lucky for me, I now also own a 4runner, so seating capacity isn't a factor anymore. I wanted the Locker and a 6ft bed, so the AC was my only choice. The dbl cab long bed is too long, and you lose payload, so there are trade-offs (this was more or less directed to you Trevor).
a few years ago i bought a brand new truck, wont do it again cause after the first month you realize that you way over paid... sure it was nice to be the only person ever to own it but that wears off quick. i'd say get one a year or so old, still new to you and your pocket will thank you for it.
I own a 2009 Tacoma Quad Cab TRD Off Road package. At that time, brand new, I could not find that truck for under $29k within 250 miles of my area. Then I found one with 800 miles on it in Dallas. I e-mailed the guy back and forth negotiating, and ended up settling at $26k flat (tax, title & license). So yes, you can negotiate used vehicles. Just don't rush. And if you are like me, negotiating through e-mail is much, much easier. I never spoke to the guy before I arrived at the dealership. I would also e-mail all the local dealerships the same e-mail, and let them start sending me prices. I would then forward those e-mails to the other dealers to get them to come down. It was kinda fun.
Take any new truck (good deal or not) and drive it off the lot and the value has depreciated by around 10-20K. Consider that for a moment...the truck still has 99999% of its useful life left, but it is now worth a lot less money because you drove it off the lot. Let someone else pay the depreciation and pocket the difference my friend. The only potential hang up is if the 1 year old car is a lemon. You can mitigate this risk using "carfax" and making a careful inspection before you buy. Since dealers can make money from both selling new and used cars, they will still bargain on a used car. Step one: do your own homework and no what the truck you want is worth (including options) and where it is located. edmunds.com is a great place to do your homework. Step two: Have a cashier’s check in your hand and do not shake the salesman’s hand when he meets you on the lot. Throw them off base by showing the check and saying "I’m a cash buyer and I will shake your hand when and if we have a deal" Step three: Inspect the truck you have scouted online....if it looks good, take it for a test drive, but do not comment while you are driving. Step four: If you like the truck look-em in the eye and tell him how much you will pay for the truck. Of course he is going to say there's no way he can accept that amount. Tell him ok and start walking back to your car. if he does not stop you move on. Dealers have a right to make a buck, but not to rip you off. IMHO, if the dealer makes a 1000 on a transaction he has struck a fair deal; anything else is a rip off. Step five: beware of extra bs they will try to throw in that is basically worthless and make sure they are not overcharging for taxes, title and registration. Make sure you see the contract before signing anything. An offer is not a contract. Do not sit in the office when they play the “ I have to check with my manager game”...sit in your car and make them sweat and walk to you. Keep your keys with you and be prepared to drive off. A variation of this strategy is to have the wife or girlfriend beep the horn on tell you "you don't need this truck" let's go".
I couldn't agree more. I bought my Titan in '07 brand new because I had just gotten a new job that came with a car allowance and covered travel expenses. It was nice to say I had a brand new $36,000 truck at 27 but after that wears off its not worth it. Next time I will either use the money for a 1-2 year old version of a nicer, more expensive truck or pay less for a used similar vehicle and pocket the extra money. Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
Maybe a little exaggerated but they do drop considerably. I've always heard about 15% when you drive off and 15-25% annually. So a vehicle could drop 30% -40% in the first year. For a $30,000 vehicle that's around $9,000-$12,000. http://voices.yahoo.com/4-expensive-car-depreciation-facts-should-10828529.html
lol........as a salesman and someone that manages a team of other salesmen, I can tell you that the best deals never go to the people who act like this. You may think you did great and that you took control of the situation, but I'll rarely spend time with someone that isn't respectful during the sales process.
You guys are crazy to think a vehicle drops 20-30% in value when it comes off the lot. I just looked my F-150 up online @ KBB, and I bought it for roughly $32k and it's worth $27k+ if I were to sell it on my own. I also have 17,000 miles (higher than average) on it now. I think buying new vs. used is all about how long you plan to drive the vehicle, how many miles you plan to put on it, and what type of financing offers you are able to get new vs. used. If you trade vehicles every 2-3 years and put less than 15k miles a year on them.....then yeah, a used car might make sense. For me, I normally put a good 20k-24k miles a year on a vehicle. Over a 5 year loan, I tend to end up around 110-120k miles when the loan is paid off, just about when you can start to plan paying for maintenance and parts. If I were to buy a vehicle with let's say 20k miles on it, now I'm looking at 130k-140k miles on it when paid off. I have this thing where I don't like making payments and also paying for parts/labor. When you figure the cost of parts/labor into the total cost of ownership.....the numbers slightly change too. If I buy new, I can plan to get another few years out of it with some maintenance cost kicking in just about the time it's paid for. The other thing to consider as well is the interest rates available on new vs. used. I'm currently paying 0% interest for 5 years on my F-150. At the time, with pretty good credit I was able to get roughly 6% interest as the best rate on something used. KBB lists my truck with 20k miles at a dealer sale price of $30k vs. the $32k I paid new. When you consider interest on the used truck @ 6% ($4,799 over life of loan), I would have paid a total of $34k. Plus at the end of the loan I would be driving a vehicle with 130-140k miles when it's paid off vs. now I'll probably get another year or two out of the truck after it's paid off and pay less in the process.
In the same boat and agree Matt. Also - FWIW - I'll never ever have a car payment. Ever. It is just not that important to me - other folks (seemingly like you Trev) just love owning vehicles lol and don't mind it. I just think paying on a depreciating asset (odd phrase) is something I want to stay away from.
Hi matt, I suspect we will disagree, but I have paid exactly what I asked for that last three cars I bought. So while you may not agree with my tactics, I know I'm in a better position than you to assess whether or not I struck a great deal. I've walked off of dealerships only to have someone call me and accept the offer. We both know he wouldn't have made the call if he wasn't making a profit. Do you really think if I had acted nice, the nice dealer would have offered me a better deal? I too worked with salesman, supporting them, as a technical trainer for highly engineered products. We sold great products at a fair fixed price. I believe that auto dealerships train their salesman to wring the last nickel out of the hard working folks who show up on their lots. Drive by any used car lot and you will see ridiculous prices posted on the windshield of new and used cars. Now what happens when Mr. weak uneducated, un-credit worthy consumer shows up on that lot? Is the salesman going to say " hey we posted this price way too high, you need to offers us 5K less? Obviously not, because the salesman's pay check is based on how much profit he turns on a deal. Meaning, the industry is rigged to take advantage of people. A fair profit is fine, but taking advantage of people is morally wrong. I stand behind every word I wrote, because when it comes to car buying thousands of people are taken advantage of on a daily basis. As for hurting the salesman’s feelings…money talks and bs walks; and our friend is a cash buyer.
