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Chrysler Town & Country Prices Paid and Buying Experience
captnroger
Member Posts: 7
in Chrysler
Hi all,
The current incentives and the pending arrival of our 2nd child made us move to our first minivan, and we chose the Town & Country Limited. We're taking delivery this evening. My wife seems to love it.
With options (tow prep, cargo organizer and rear audio), MSRP was 37,180. The dealer claimed his invoice was 34,544. I negotiated down to 33,244, or nearly 4K off the sticker. Another 4500 in incentives takes us down to 28,744 + tax/title. It took me one visit and to the dealer and another day of going back and forth with the salesperson/salesmanager over the phone to get to this price. I couldn't find another dealer withing 100 miles that would come close to the price, with one asking who I was buying from so his boss could buy a couple.
The sales manager and sales person seem just fine, I've been treated well and they don't seem very bent on the deal at all, so I'm assuming they made a fair profit. Anyone get a better deal than this?
The current incentives and the pending arrival of our 2nd child made us move to our first minivan, and we chose the Town & Country Limited. We're taking delivery this evening. My wife seems to love it.
With options (tow prep, cargo organizer and rear audio), MSRP was 37,180. The dealer claimed his invoice was 34,544. I negotiated down to 33,244, or nearly 4K off the sticker. Another 4500 in incentives takes us down to 28,744 + tax/title. It took me one visit and to the dealer and another day of going back and forth with the salesperson/salesmanager over the phone to get to this price. I couldn't find another dealer withing 100 miles that would come close to the price, with one asking who I was buying from so his boss could buy a couple.
The sales manager and sales person seem just fine, I've been treated well and they don't seem very bent on the deal at all, so I'm assuming they made a fair profit. Anyone get a better deal than this?
0
Comments
" Did I get a good deal?"
If you are happy, you got a good deal...move on.
Someone will, no doubt come here and tell you you paid too much.
Someone else will tell you you did fine.
Trust me, someone, somewhere else no doubt bought the same car you did for less.
Just enjoy! Life is short...
I wouldn't get too greedy here. You're at almost $9000 under sticker. Good luck finding that kinda discount on any other minivan. I say buy it and drive happy.
;~} !
To everyone else - thank you for your comments. I took my wife down and signed the paperwork this evening on her new and first minivan. She's very happy, although she's not so happy to have to give up her BMW 528. I'm not so happy about giving up my SUV for her minivan, but I am very happy to be inherting her BMW 528 :-)
In all honesty, I enjoyed this transaction. I felt the sales manager and the salesperson treated us very professionally and fairly over the two days we dealt with them. I feel we got a very fair price, and even if someone came along and said I paid 1500 too much I'd say, "oh well." I could have gone across town and gotten $1000 less, this I know, but I wasn't about to deal with those people. (They advertise $1000 off your best deal, guaranteed, and yes, they are one of the biggest dealers in the US).
So, I'm happy, we're happy, I was just wondering if you all thought I got a really good price. Sounds like I did. I've bought 11 cars now in my lifetime, including 8 in the over 20K category (3 over 30K and 1 over 40K), and I'd rate this the second best transaction in terms of the dealership and the speed of transaction. Once we struck a price over the phone they faxed an app, which I faxed back, 2 hours later we were approved for our financing so no 'spot deal' required. I gave the sales manager my down payment figure, he gave me the monthly payment price which matched what I had calculated. I told him we were coming down that evening with our 1-year old so please have everything printed up so all we have to do is sign, and I didn't want the warranty or protection plan for the van as I was getting both third party. We got there, the salesperson held the door open for us, we signed the paperwork at his desk, no upsale on the warranty or anything, in 10 minutes we were done. We had to wait a few minutes for the van to be pulled up, but it wasn't long, it was clean, gassed up and ready to roll. He answered our questions about features/functions and was very knowledgable. We were there and gone in 30 minutes at the very outside. VERY impressed, and the next time I need a new car, I will start with this dealer. They weren't big (they had maybe 8 town and country vans TOTAL in their inventory) but they were great to work with.
Oh, and for the record, my BEST experience was with a BMW dealer on our 528. Did the whole deal over the phone. Was treated like a king when we got there. Got a tour of the whole service center, the whole campus, met the sales manager and general manager. Diet sodas, snacks, the works. When you spend 48K, I guess you should expect it. That car has close to 100K on it, and it still runs/feels brand new (she's a 97). That's another story.
Do you REALLY think you could have save another 1000.00 from the sleazy dealer?
I mean, 1000.00 is a lot of money.
I kinda doubt if that would have been the case. I'll bet there was a lot of fine print and qualifiers.
Too much money to be real.
I'm sure you did well...enjoy!
A couple phone calls, 30 mins at the dealer, and you save $9000. If only all transactions were that easy and benefical. I hope you give the dealer all perfect scores on their survey. Sounds like they deserve it.
Thanks all for your comments. You confirmed what I suspected - I got a very fair deal and was well treated. I can't ask for more than that. This dealer restored my faith in the car buying process.
2004 T&C pricing is now live on site though:
link
Steve, Host
Remember, the 04's are coming out soon, we are in a bad economy, minivans are not hot sellers in general (compared to SUV's), and there is tough competition out there with the Odyssey and the newly redesigned Sienna and Quest. Bottom line, you should be able to do better unless you are in a region where T&C's sell well.
If you fit the bill, please respond to jfallon@edmunds.com by Friday, September 5 with your daytime contact information and a few words about your experience.
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Review your vehicle
Dealer #2, local metro area dealer, would give us $5,030 off a MSRP of $31,000+ for a LX, no mention of trade in assistance, after I mentioned it then he said they could take an additional $500 off for a trade assistant bonus.
Dealer #3, local metro area dealer, would give us $3,370 off a MSRP of $29,000+ for an EX, he said they could take an additional $1,000 off for a trade assistant bonus.
3 different dealers each with a different number, $500 , $1,000 and $2,000
DaimlerChrysler 2004 Minivan Buildout
DaimlerChrysler has announced an early buildout of the 2004 Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country. Production for theses vehicles will end in December 2003. Final Fleet Order Date for all DaimlerChrysler minivans is 10/17/03. Orders may be accepted after that date on a "will try" basis.
Production of the 2005 model year Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country will begin in January 2004. The 2005 models will feature:
· New front fascia and grille.
· Optional UConnect wireless phone operation.
· Optional side curtain air bags for all three passenger rows.
· Fold-flat third row seat.
Ordering information for the 2005 models will be available in the near future.
How did you find the article?
Steve, Host
http://www.napleton.com/nfg/nfgweb.nsf/0/698f3b7ff7e37ace86256dbb- 004c730d?OpenDocument
http://www.arifleet.com/pnews/2003/319-fn.doc
http://www.allpar.com/model/upcoming.html
What should I expect the dealer to come down to on the Lxi and what should I expect for my trade in?
Mileage: 13,122 miles
Body Style: Mini Van (LWB)
Exterior: Butane Blue
Interior: Taupe Leather
Transmission: Automatic
Engine: 3.8 L 6 CYL.
Factory Rear Video/DVD System
Taupe Leather interior
Heated Seats
Power Sliding Doors and Lift gate
They were originally asking $24,568, I offered 22,500.
The dealer is now asking: $23,809 plus tax doc fee.
For example, I had a '96 DGC-LE with pretty much all the options for that trim w/o leather. It had 107,000 miles. It was truly in very good condition with all maintenance records. It needed a brake job (~$400) and it had a leaking valve cover gasket (~$175). I tried to sell it for about 4 weeks - got 2 calls and no lookers. Dropped the ad price all the way to $3,750 and still no offers. I went to some wholesalers and the most I was offered was $2,000. I got $2,500 for it trade-in (as is) with my '03 Ody purchase. One reason I bought a Honda - I was really sick from how little I could get for my DGC although it did serve us well for 7 years. All my previous used car selling experiences were Toyo's where they sold fast and for a good price ('84 Celica, '88 Celica, '89 Avalon, and '01 4Runner).
Good luck.
For example, I had a '96 DGC-LE with pretty much all the options for that trim w/o leather. It had 107,000 miles. It was truly in very good condition with all maintenance records. It needed a brake job (~$400) and it had a leaking valve cover gasket (~$175). I tried to sell it for about 4 weeks - got 2 calls and no lookers. Dropped the ad price all the way to $3,750 and still no offers. I went to some wholesalers and the most I was offered was $2,000. I got $2,500 for it trade-in (as is) with my '03 Ody purchase. One reason I bought a Honda - I was really sick from how little I could get for my DGC although it did serve us well for 7 years. All my previous used car selling experiences were Toyo's where they sold fast and for a good price ('84 Celica, '88 Celica, '89 Avalon, and '01 4Runner).
Good luck.
shued: I think you are mixing up the LX with the LXi. The LXi is a higher line then the LX. I believe that lists in the mid to low $30's.
Car: 2004 T&C Limited FWD
Color: Stone White
Options: Power Moonroof
Miles: 9
Area: Cincinnati, OH
Base MSRP: $37,700
Options: $895 (moonroof)
Dest Charge: $680
Total MSRP: $39,275
Paid: $35,394
Less Rebates: $5,000 (3,500+1000+500)
NET: $30,394
plus: Tax, tile, doc fee (100)
Traded in my 98 T&C LXi with a whopping 92K miles on it, but we didn't discuss that until after the new car price was agreed to. (Got $6,300 which is bit low, but I'm happy).
This is my third T&C (previously had a 94 and 98) and I'm looking forward to years of enjoyment out of it. Hope this helps and good luck with your own purchase.
It has 31150 miles and was a prior lease vehicle (ran carfax on it.)
It has the tow package and engine block heater for options and a full third row seat (I hate the 50/50 split because the middle person is hating life due to the hinges) plus it still has the eight way passenger seat (deleted in 2003.)
The best part was the dealer. There was ZERO pressure from them. For the test drive, they handed us the keys told us to have fun and come back when we were done. When we got back, they let us decide with no input from them at all, when we said yes, there was no pressure tactics or anything. He got us financed in less than an hour at a real good rate. We waited over the weekend for them to service it but told David (the salesman) that we could not pick it up until next weekend due to my work sked (the dealership was about 60 mi from my house and they closed at 5:00.) He said he would deliver it on monday and sure enough, monday evening there is a rollback truck in the driveway with our new van on it that was fully detailed and serviced with registration and plates done already (no extra detailing or service charge even for the foglight that burned out when they were loading it up, which they replaced before they left the lot to drop it off.) Barlow Motors in Vernon, CT defiantly gave us the best experience we have had when buying a vehicle.
Steve, Host
Bought a 2004 Platinum/Touring with a total price of $35,890 and no charge DVD for a net MSRP of $34,995. The Platinum/Touring series seemed very close in features to the Limited but was about $4,300 less and we didn't see $4,300 in value for the extras the limited had over the Platinum.
We paid $22,500 plus traded a 1993 Caravan with 99,000 miles, dealer said it was worth $600 yet we saw blue book and edmunds trade-in values of about $1,500. Using $1,500 trade value we felt total discounts of $11,890 off of top line list was not too bad so we bought it, figures out to a discount of better than 33%.
If the 2005 vans would have not disappointed us we would have held off as the 1993 van ran just fine, we just didn't want to have the Stow n Go seats as the only seats available as we understand they are the standard seats on the nicer 2005 town and country's.
Thanks.
No, ours was not an advertised special, the T&C advertised special was for a MSRP of $27,490 and a newspaper ad price of $18,964, for a total discount of $8,526.
We inquired about the price they would sell a Touring with a MSRP of $33,505, they said they would sell that one for $27,218,(giving us a discount of $6,287) they would allow $800 for trade value for our van plus wanted $26,418 cash. (my error in my original post, as it was another dealer said our trade was worth $600). We laughed at that, their first offer, and showed them their own ad that discounted the $27,490 van by $2,239 ($8,526 - $6,287 = $2,239) more than they were offering us yet we were buying a $6,015 more expensive van. We also had 10 ads from other dealers in this and neighboring metro areas that showed T&C vans discounted by $9,500 and $10,000 and $10,500, some ads said $500 below invoice and customer keeps all rebates, some ads said $1,000 and now even $1,500 below invoice with customer keeping all rebates.
We told them we felt $21,000 cash + trade-in van was fair for a $33,505 - 2004 T&C Touring, they asked us were we came up with $21,000? We said we didn't know anything about vans but the pricing info we got was from all these different ads, and then we started listing off all the various rebates the ads mentioned, we said we felt our offer was reasonable, but if it was not it would only be because the ads we based our offer on must have been misleading.
After some time when they tried to get us to increase our offer (which we said we originally only planned to pay $20,000 so we were already $1,000 more than we wanted) they also tried to get us to accept less options, like removing the center console, we held firm and then after more time they said yes they would sell us the van with a $33,505 MSRP for $21,000 cash + our old van. After I looked at the new van I noticed they were quoting for a van without leather and I wanted leather. A Platinum series in a different color was available that was $1,490 more MSRP but included a free DVD priced at $895 for a gross price of $35,890, the increase in MSRP + the "free" DVD was $2,385 and we offered them $1,500 more to get to $22,500 cash + the 1993 caravan. The DVD was wanted by our children and was included in the Touring model we priced and was included no charge in the Platinum Series, only we got the DVD for no charge by moving up to the leather seated Platinum Series.
We felt the price was fair and it was $1,500 less than another dealer said was his lowest offer he would sell at, so we took it.
Only thing we can think of if the discounts are out of line was that our trade-in van, a 1993 caravan with 99,000 miles was worth more than the $600 or $800 the dealers said they would allow for it or more than the $1,500 that kbb and edmunds said was a fair trade in value for it, who knows? They kept showing us all kinds of numbers and we were getting confused so we just focused on how much cash they wanted.
Interesting thing was after the paperwork was printed up for us to sign, the 1993 caravan that we traded in, the one that the dealer said they would allow us $800 trade-in value for, they listed it on the purchase contract as having a trade-in allowance of $6,995. We thought it was worth more than $800 and figured the kbb and edmunds price of $1,500 was fair but we know it wasn't worth $6,995. We made a comment to the salesman on how we were surprised that the 1993 caravan went from being worth $800 to $6,995 in 1 day, said if we knew they were worth so much we would have traded in 3 more of them and got the new T&C for no cash, he didn't say anything to that.
Also we noticed that the various ads showed discounts for, loyalty and conquest and farm bureau and military and college grad and mail certificate and national and TDM (whatever that is)and trade-in allowance and such, but the dealer didn't ask us what rebates applied and didn't seem to care which ones we may have qualified for or not.
Good luck to you with your new van and best to you.
Steve, Host
I haven't seen any sales numbers recently, but my gut feeling is that car sales are down. And the '05's are hitting the dealers. Then again, interest rates remain low, and the consumer bubble is still going strong, so maybe the vans aren't piling up?
Often the end of the month is a good time to deal, so you may want to push hard in another week or so. Good luck!
Steve, Host
Looks like you beat Edmunds TMV. However, once you put a trade in vehicle into the mix, you never really know how good a deal you got unless you can determine that the trade in they are giving you is reasonable. Best way to deal in this situation is initially make your best deal without a trade in, then bring up the trade in as the last item. Then you will be able to figure out what they are offering on the trade in by the difference in price.
With the loan my credit rating has afforded me, I will be sticking with the base model T&C or the Caravan SXT(SWB's both). I would love the 3.8l but can't afford the models it comes in. With the program and incentives, I should get a decent ride for around 19500. I need to hop into both models and see how the two compare to each other in a test drive. I have a feeling the T&C will feel more luxurious(of course) and the SXT more sporty. I'll just have to see which one wins me over.
Ohh - considering an extended warranty. Their cost is negotiable, anyone know how much I should pay for one? 3/4 retail, 1/2 retail or what? Maybe state the transmission issue and ask to get it free or else I'll buy a Toyota???
Which is the better choice?
2005 Touring 3.8 L engine, 29k package, no added options
with the employee plan and $1000 down
$21860 out the door, got 4.19% financing through Chrysler Financial. Payments are $405.24 for 60 months.
THat's a good deal! Did you have a trade in? Are you an employee of Chrysler? What sort of discount does that give you?
Thanks
Andy
A reporter is hoping to talk with folks who have recently struck deals like yours. If you are willing to share your story, please provide your daytime phone number to me at jfallon@edmunds.com asap no later than 2pm Eastern on Wednesday, May 18, 2004. I'll make it worth your while with a free Edmunds.com t-shirt.
Thanks,
Jeannine Fallon
PR Director
Edmunds.com
This is andy1. Here is the deal I got for my 2004 T&C touring so maybe this will qualify for your report, maybe not. It was $31815 list,new with warranty. They wanted to move them off the lot so they offered 23486, final price 23000. No trade in, no rebate. I put 4000 down. It looks like when people say "out the door" they mean the price with whatever down payment they paid, so if you figure that in the price was $19000. Financing with Chrylser at 4%. In my case, timing was everything, as just the Friday before (this was a Monday) the offer was 24315.
I think I got a great deal. I dont want or need fold in the floor seats so I dont miss that feature of the 2005s. I agree with most of the reviews about the lack of some fairly standard features, but again, most of them I dont really need. My kids are grown so this is my car - I am 51 and this is not for my wife, my kids, but for me. For my wants and needs it is almost perfect.
I looked at mid-size SUVs, other minivans, and crossovers such as the Malibu Maxx, and the T&C fit me the best. I would have liked the 2005 Sienna, but the outright deceptive pricing from Toyota quickly drives that way out of reach in terms of price. To get even basic features you are quickly looking at $26000, and the $23000 I paid for the T&C stretches my budget as it is. I also had a good offer for a used Odyssey, but my son, who is bigger than I am (I am 6'4") could not fit in the front passenger seat due to the depth of the glove compartment. So the deal I got on a new T&C worked out well for me.
After the first 500 miles, I think I love this car. I just hope the reliability reports are wrong in my case! Its black with black and grey interior so the "soccer Mom" thing is alleviated quite a bit. As my wife said, "You want something that you can haul your stuff, your family, and your dog...all at the same time." With this car, I think I have it.
So if this qualifies, let me know.
And thanks again to coachtd and dusty.
1. What is 2004 higher
2. For a identically equipped Limited Van (ignore the lack of stow and go on the 04) , how much cheaper will the dealers sell the 04 vs the 05 be at this time?
3. Since this vehicle depreciates at least $6000 in the first year, would you agree that the 04 needs to be that much cheaper relative to the 05?
Thanks
I bargained for a $2250 discount and a free Mopar trailer hitch with installation (a $500 value), and received a $1000 CFC rebate and a $1000 consumer rebate. Total cost before tax was $23,740