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Comments
But it seems like it'd be better to figure out the price of the SUV and work that number and then apply the payments. Dealers love deals like yours because they can hide all kinds of stuff in there and tell you it's just another $20 a month (and throw in another 3 months on the back end). It gets confusing and you want to know the bottom line before you bring out your checkbook! Here's a couple of links:
Low Down, Low Payments
Edmunds' Financial Calculators
I wouldn't get too hung up on the August 2nd deadline either. The incentives may change and the $5,000 Smartbuy incentive disappears on Aug 2nd (unless GM extends it), and the colors/options will change and the '05's will start arriving making your selection smaller, but it's just a car. Detroit is building lots of them every day and the dealer will have another deal for you on August 3.
The sales staff will try to pin you down today, but you have all the time in the world to find a great deal (unless your current ride is on its last legs or something). And if you are willing to walk away from the Smartbuy, the dealer may sweeten the deal even more to get you to buy today.
Steve, Host
Best of luck.
lol, I'm not even sure if this deal is a purchase, lease or some hybrid. I can't operate that way and I've walked a few times when the salesperson tried to sell me a car by focusing on the payments.
I think you should also try the Lease Questions - Ask Here discussion for more advice.
Steve, Host
Ok troops, let's weigh in the deal - the 2nd is almost here!
Steve, Host
How long do you plan on keeping this truck? The balloon payment will be over the blue book value when it comes due. I wish you could do a used car value search of a TB that is 4 years old, to see the resale value, but the TB was created in 2002, so no luck. If you are planning on trading it in before 8 years have passed, I would say do not buy the truck. If you refinance the balloon payment, you will be paying 7 or 8 years on the truck. That is a lot of interest, even at 3.5%.
I walked out the door before TTL with my 2004 LS Ext at around $24,000. A 6 year (72 payment) loan can be had, if you have excellent credit, for 3.5% or less. The payment on that would be about $50 higher than you quoted, and you would pay a lot less interest, and own the vehicle in 6 years not 7 or 8.
I generally frown on smartbuys. They are designed for individuals that can't afford the vehicle any other way. I wanted to buy a Sequoia, but I would have had to do a smartbuy to get one. I could not afford over $30,000 for a SUV. The Trailblazer is not selling well, they actually had to shut down the production of them in May. So, I have a hunch that in the next few months, you will see 2004 TB's on sale for the cheap. I doubt this deal you have been offered will go away, because oil is at $44 a barrell, and will not go down until after the summer. I would keep an eye on as many Chevrolet lots as you can and keep looking at the rebates. I have a feeling they may even go over $5,000 off MSRP.
A bigger down payment will only help you, so keep saving and put down as much as you can. I hope this helps, but if you do a smart buy, you should always plan on keeping the vehicle until it dies (hopefully 15 years from when you bought it). If you don't plan on it, a lease is your best bet.
Good luck.
The LT model is nice, but the LS model is less expensive and just as nice. The Bose system on the LT is not all it is cracked up to be, and the only thing I prefer on the LT is leather seats. The power seats, on-star, 6 disc cd, and a few other items are just added goodies most people can do without. My wife is 5' 0" tall. I am 6'1" tall. I have to manually adjust the seats and mirrors every time I get in the truck, and had to think about the price tag on getting the seat position memory that the Trailblazer offers. It was not worth it.
I guess what I am trying to say is luxury sometimes has to be pushed aside and common sense needs to be used.
I got my LS Ext with a V-8 for $23,800. Without the V-8 it would have been $1,200 less. I put nothing down on it. I pay $490 a month with 60 payments. (4.26% interest) My budget was $500 a month on a truck. If you put $3,000 down, get $5,000 in rebates, you could easily get an LS model down to $22,000 or less. The dealer you are working with is going to push the smart buy because they make money on the deal. You should be able to buy at invoice, and get the rebates on top of that. Get financing before you go, so that you don't have to use the dealers financing.
I am telling you, 2004 models will be even cheaper in the coming months when the dealers are clearing out for 2005 models.
I bought only because the deal was right, and I got what I wanted. Check with several dealers (if you can) and when they get in your price range, buy. If you have a vehicle that works, and you are not desperate, patience will pay off. If not, you can always lease.
I check the board at work all the time. I love my TB, so if you get another offer, and are unsure, just ask. Someone here will let you know if it is worth doing or not.
We're trying to estimate lease payments for a 2004 Chevy Trailblazer. We have the residual % and lease factor. However, to get a more accurate estimate we also need to know what, if any, other lease costs GMAC charges. Does anyone know if there is an aquistion fee or security deposit for GMAC leases?
Thanks in advance!
Financing can be had at credit unions and other banks. Shop around for financing. I got 4.26% at a credit union for 60 months in July. If you have your financing already laid out, you might get better rebates and financing through GM.
around $20K, so you may sell by yourself better
than sell to dealer. I am waiting for to but a new TB EXT 2004 or 2005, I know a lot of dealer
is very tricky, also I have to let you know TB EXT 2005 with leather seat, on star, first and second row seat with 8 way power seat MSP $ 385K.. and GM discount $1650 and dealer discount
final sell price $32900, without negotiate the price. so I am waiting for labor day or after labor day, because I do not think they can sell all, thinking about this GM made a lot of same cat, chevrolet, ISUZU ( Assender), Builk(Rainier), Oldsmobile, GMC all the same type, also stock market is very bad, and oil price is up, consumer does not have that much to buy that
4x4 car GM try to let consumer to finance but don't forget after 60 months you will pay $10K to $ 20K more then cash price, I will suggest negotiate cash price and finace form bank because they always have low rate than dealer.
J
First off congratulations on being on Edmunds. It is your first step to not getting screwed at the dealership.
My wife and I were just starting out and really wanted a Durango. Make and Model could be anything, but we spent hours getting their "Monthly Payment" down. We were so worn out we didn't even really think about things like residual payment, buy out, and what the actual percentage rate was on the lease.
Lets just say we love our car but we are in the 11% range, and have a balloon payment of 17,000 due in a year. Normal residual should have been around 12,000.00. We basically got screwed because we didn't know what we were getting our selves into. Let me just say this. Never ever talk about monthly payment. I don't care if you finance through them. I don't care if you pay cash. Just talk about selling price with fees included. Talk like you want to pay cash. They will be eager to drop the price. Your best bet if you can get it is to finance through your local credit union or bank. Then buy it out right although right now 2004 deals through Chevy offer 6K cash back or 1.9% for 72 months. Not bad, except get them to agree on the price first then talk about finance. That way they can't just slip the 6k back to you as though it was their selling price. In the end for the Durango we payed full asking price for a 2000 model. It isn't bad, but I am kicking my self at the lack of education. Now I just want to dump it and get a Trail Blazer of Explorer. I am not sure which is better. Although the interior of the Chevy seems nicer than the Explorer, but not Quite as nice as the Envoy or Mountaineer, which are just souped up versions of the previously mentioned vehicles. Just think of it this way. Leasing is like renting a car and then you dump it and start over. If you plan on wanting it longer than 3 years then buy it.
Just picked up an 04 Sandstone LT with moonroof. I live in NY, so northeast discounts apply.
Sticker price : $34,305.
Dealer Discount : - $3000.00
Manager "play money": - (3) @ $500.00
Rebate and GMAC loan: - $6,000
-------------------------------------
price before tax : $23,805.
This deal actually cost the dealer $495. but they wanted to beat out another Chevy dealer. Also, there are higher GM Card allowances for 04 models, the TB allowed $2250 off...Finance rate was a bit high at 6.9%...
Good luck.
MSRP is $36,300.
The following is the breakdown of the details:
The dealer took off almost $10,000 discount
It had a few hail dents on the hood but not any on four doors.
several small dents on the roof but you cannot see that
also including $4,000 GM manufacturer rebate
$500 conquest rebate.
I had $4,100 GM credit card
including $3,500 accumulated for seven years
and $600 bonus GM gave me as incentive.
I also had Citibank driver edge credit card
which gave me $1,500.
It had memory seats, six CD player, heated leather seats
two zone automatic temperature control, automatic screen wiper,
On-Star, driver information system, dual control button on steering wheel.
The price I paid was $20,700 before TT&L.
One week after I bought my TB EXT, GM offered some
more rebate such On-Star rebate. I missed that chance
around another $1,000.
I put more than 20K miles on that.
I have had several minor problems so far.
Item 1) Tailgate light was flooded at 3,000 miles.
The whole light housing was changed within thirty minutes at service dept.
Item 2) gear handle came off.
Item 3) back license panel gasket was not properly
installed. These two items were fixed at dealer within one hour.
Item 4) whole front bumper was disfigured very slightly.
it was completely changed with a new one.
It took dealer three days to finish that job.
And I was offered an Envoy as a rental car for three days.
Now it looks perfect.
Item 5) passenger side strut is slightly leaking. not fixed yet.
I am waiting for something that might show up to have them
fixed together at one trip. It is not urgent.
Item 6) the shift between the first gear and the second gear
is not very smooth as I expected and you can feel it very reluctant to switch it
forward and backward. So now the acceleration is not good
enough and on the other hand when it is coasting on idle
it is very reluctant to shift back to the first gear. So that
it will stay around 1100 to 900 RPM at the of 30 miles.
The real idle rpm when it is at stop either at parking or idle driving
is around 600 rpm. Now it is wasting around 5 percent of gas
because the most of the mileage I drive is local and have a lot
of stops and goes. I have talked to two dealers
and had it checked and was told 'no problem. the other
Trailblazers also behave in the same way'.
I have test-driven several TBs and Envoys before and after
my purchase and found them behaving much better than
mine. All I have test-driven are regular not extended version.
Actually or ironically I did not test drive my vehicle before
I bought it, because I thought they should be the same.
Now I know there might be and will be some differences
between each individual unit even though they are mass
manufactured on the same assembly line by same kind of
workers and by same kind of parts.
I feel extremely happy with the whole deal including the price,
its whole design, all those luxury features and warranty service,
because nobody would and could give me such a deal.
With all those features, Toyota Sequoia or Acura MDX
(both have the third row) will cost around $40,000.
Will they give any discount from MSRP? Probably
one thousand dollar. That is it.
Have All those minor problems bothered me? Not at all.
On the contrary, I am really amazed to find actually the
vehicle has so few minor problems considering it has
more than thirty thousand parts.