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 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.
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. I will concede the point that the number may be a bit high, but there can be no doubt that as soon as you leave the lot your car is worth a lot less. So if the vehicle still has 999.9% of it's life left, why should it take such a hit?
Tembry, I've owned my own landscape business for 16 years and just recently had the same dilemma. I have 2 f350 diesel dumps and had a 08 f250 gas. My girlfriend lives a food distance away and the 250 was killing me on gas. So I needed 4 wheel drive for hunting and something decent on gas. I ended up with a 04 jeep wrangler rubicon. Not the best in gas but gets 20 highway. Any way I would never go new it's the worst investment you can make it just loses too much value right off the bat. The biggest thing I look for when I buy a car or truck is going to be the resale value when I want to get rid of it. I pretty much only keep a vehicle for a max of 3 years and trade it in when I have enough equity usually when its worth around $5000 more than what I owe. With a new vehicle it's tough because usually you are paying top $. But on the other hand a Tacoma will hold it's value pretty good if I were you I would look for a couple year older one maybe 09 or 10 with low mileage probably be able to talk them down more. Just my opinion from my dealings with those weasel car dealers!!!!
Is being rude morally right? Having respect sure is. I am not, and will never be in the car biz - but to lump them all together is disrespectful in and of itself.
I call2much, When it comes to thousands of dollars and a saleman still turning a profit, I'd rather be tought of as rude than screwed out my money. The same goes for the young man seeking advice: if my advice saves the guy a few thousand bucks; feel free to call me rude. The whole let me check with my salesmanager bit is a load of bunk designed to control buyers. Just checked identical F-150 XLT super crewcabs. at a NC dealer New is 40,525 2011 w/ 16K miles 32,548. Of course both prices are too high, but it does illustrate the point.
Good point treestand sniper !!! I think it's a hike when they keep going to talk to the sales manager. I always try to talk to him directly but it is a joke how they do that. I've actually had one sales manager ask me to leave and not come back. He didn't come any where near what I wanted for my f250 and he was low balling me huge and not taking anything off the jeep I wanted. So he just kept saying so are we making this deal or what I can't take off any $ I won't make anything. What a joke I said not unless he came down on price or gave me more on trade. He said ease leave. Ok I will never go back there and I've told everyone not to go in there. Total moron good job on your hospitality to a possible buyer. I've only met a couple of dealers I will return to if they have something that interests me. !!!
Bowsie15, Thank you Sir....got burned once as a young sailor and made it a point to never let it happen again. I used to take the guys that worked with me out to buy cars so they wouldn't get screwed.
Ha ha I do the same thing with any of my family or friends I can't stand when I hear someone got screwed. I went with my girlfriend when she bought her 09 jeep liberty and she got a little embarrassed when I got rude. But if the dealer is going to show no respect at all I said lets go. I won't tolerate the typical BS they almost always do.
Depends on what vehicle you're buying as far as negotiable. When I bought my Dakota... the Tacoma dealer would give me no more than $200 off. I had been there a couple times. I said to myself the Tacoma was my car. The last time I talked to the Tacoma dealer I told him, Dodge is taking $6000 off the top and giving me a decent trade on top of that. You don't necessarily have to match it... but sweeten the pot. He said, That's the best we can do. I told him, I'm buying a car today. If you tell me that's it I'm walking next door to the Dodge place and buying his truck. So, there it was, I did just walk across the lot, drove my truck to the Dodge store and bought the Dodge I figured I could buy a lot of gas for the $7000 difference. AND... the Dodge has been stellar. It now is approaching 130,000 miles with no hickups other than brakes, rotors etc... just normal wear and tear. Fortunately, the Dakota had a bigger box, more room inside the vehicle and had towing package upgrades and all. Toyota is not as moveable on the price as say Ford or Chevy or whoever. My buddy owns a successful used car business. Used car prices right now are just insane. I mean a year old car with a few miles will often cost you more than a brand new one with the dealer incentives and discounts. I've owned this truck longer than any vehicle ever. I never kept a car over 60-70000 miles. I'd love a new one.... but you know, I decided I'm running this one until it drops dead. I may pick up a fairly new small car for travel... but who knows.
While you guys are arguing on how to get a good deal.. I'm still trying to figure out how a 04 f150 and a 05 camry is worth $$28 Grand?? I'm not knocking just curious, I have a Loaded to the gills 05 Dakota Quad Cab 4X4 120k and I could probably get about 8-9k for it... (I paid 11k in 2010) I also Just bought a Used 2006 Cobalt with 71k... $6,000 out the door. Internet values and real world values seem to be apples to oranges around here... Different Markets in different regions I guess. Good Luck with your search Trevor, I've always like the looks of a Tacoma, and ever heard a single bad thing about them except the frame problems back in the day, and Toyota even bought them back for way over value.
I went with new because used Tacoma's are still very expensive regardless of the mileage. I have a 08' double cab with 100,000 on it now. My insurance just estimated its value at $21,500.
You are nuts if you think that is true. First of all trucks do not depreciate nearly as quickly as cars. I once bought at new 4 wheel drive pickup for $23,900 (back in 97)....drove it for 9 years and but 135,000 miles on it...then sold it for $8500. So, the value dropped on average of $1711 per year.
Hey Cooter, Sounds like you made a good deal. In 2003 I paid 18K for a 2002 Mountaineer which now has 145k miles on it. At the time the new ones were going for 35K. I did some fact checking using a 2012 F-150 as an example. Go to nadaguides.com and see for yourself. A F-150 XLT fwd reg cab has an MSRP in my zip of $31940. The listed first year depreciation is a whooping $11810....or roughly a full third of its value. That is insane!
You're making insane comparisons. First off.... you're saying what your vehicle is maxed at... and then you're comparing it to a truck driven out the door. First off... that MFSRP is NOT going to happen if you haggle a little bit. You should beable ... depending on vehichle to get 8-10 percent minimum off, out the door with tags, tax etc. If not... go to the next dealer. You say a resale out the door is 11,000 less. Show me that deal. It isn't happening in the used market. That's why I say a new car can be as cheap or cheaper than a year old car if you shop till you drop.
Dan and Dave, True enough, the number from the NADA are MSRP. You are correct in pointing out this fact. However, is it not also likely the price cited for the used truck is also inflated? If anything this proves my point. - Autos and trucks are overpriced, but dealers are more than happy to sell you one at list price...AKA ripping you off. - It is a mistake to assume that vehicles depreciate in a linear fashion. - Used vehicles are similarly over-priced. - The spread between paying MSRP on a new vehicle and getting a great deal on a year old vehicle with 90-95% of its useful life is enormous. The value of any asset is based on what buyers are willing to pay at a given moment.
That's just what I've seen vehicles sell locally for/blue book. Both are the top of the line package and have in dash navigation added. They blue book for 27k and change, and from what I've seen I think they will bring it. Car has 75k miles on it and books for 13.5k and truck has 115k miles and books for 14k. The truck is lifted with brand new 35" nitto trail grapplers which are 1100 by themselves. I'd take less but id part out the extras on the truck first which would be the same in the end.
I know im new here but I like talking about cars, so heres my two cents. Buying a vehicle is the worst purchase one can make. As somone said earlier they are a depreciating asset. I think buying used is the way to go. There are so many nice used trucks around with less than 20K on them that can be bought for alot less than a new one. I pay cash for all my trucks so I dont have to worry about if interest rates are better on a new vehicle vs used. I was also looking at some smaller trucks like the tacoma before I bought my F-150. I found that I can get roughly the same gas mileage out of a full size that a midsize like a 4x4 tacoma can get. Yes the tacoma may get a little better mileage but not enough to be a huge difference. So, I went with the full size because it has so much more room, and I think they feel better when driving down the road. The smaller trucks seem to bounce around alot because they are so light. And they dont pull a trailer very well.
My post said about 15% when you drive it off the lot and depending on the vehicle it can be as much as 15%-25% annually after that. The link provided and data from Edmunds is fairly similiar(not saying it's exact). So you could be looking at a drop of near 30% after a year or so depending on the vehicle of course. Simply put depreciation is not crazy it is factual and there is a ton of data that supports that. Your vehicle has lossed nearly 16% value based on your numbers and it is a vehicle that holds value well. Just sayin. A good used vehicle will save you money up front and with proper maintenance 130-140,000 miles isn't much to ask of any reputable vehicle. I also hate financing a car so maybe I've bought mostly used because I can usually get a better deal with cash.
