Purchasing Used Vehicles

brettzky17

I am wondering if anyone can help?
I have been negotiating for a new car and agreed in principle on a deal and put down a deposit of $500. The car was my second choice and now I am having second thoughts. I haven't filled out any paperwork yet. Can I get my deposit back?
Thanks for any help.

stickguy

Yes, you should be able to get your money back. Just explain that you aren't sure, and any reputable dealer will just give you the $500 back.

dbgindy

Minus any expenses already incurred (if any:-).

Duncan

qbrozen

ah. ok. got ya. so we're talking about trying to figure out the right price on a used car you want to buy, right? well, you can still get good info on that trade-in values board. Terry will be glad to help you out with a fair buy price.
check it out:
Trade-In Values

toyota_buyer

Mathias,

I started looking for Prizm's based on the write up on your profile. I posted this same question for Terry on the Trade-in value message board. It looks like you have a lot of experience with Prizm's. Your advice is much appreciated.

I am looking at a 2002 Chevrolet Prizm Sedan 4D, not many options, except for AC and a CD player.

 -- 3 spd Auto
 -- 32700 miles.

I checked the car fax and found the following information. It has been on the dealer lots for a long long time

06/25/2003 30,500 Dlr Inventory.Offered for Sale
  
10/06/2003 Dlr Inventory. Offered for Sale
  
02/13/2004 30,707 Auto Auction Sold at auction
  
03/03/2004 31,676 Auto Auction Sold at auction

I think this vehicle has been at the current dealer dealer since March.

His original listed price was $7999 then he put a sale on it for $6999. Currently he is offering it at $6500. I have driven it and the car does seems to be working well. I am offering him $6000. Should I just take it for $6500?

Thank you for your time and advice.

asafonov

Toyota_buyer,

if I can step in for Dr. Mathias and Terry on that Prizm, I'd say this is a good deal - however, I would stay from a 3-speed, overdrive-less car. We had a 3-speed 96 Prizm for 3 years, and I was very glad to pass it to a relative, even though it was an economical, trouble-free car. Going above 60 mph causes the engine to rev fairly high (because there's no overdrive), which was - to me - annoying. The fuel economy also suffered. If you live in a big city and rarely go on the freeways, this is less of a concern.

c_delicti

If I purchase a used car from a private owner rather than a dealership, what is the lowest offer I can make without being insulting? Is there a percentage rule-of-thumb? (The owner's price being consistent with the used-car value as per Edmunds and the Blue/Black books is a given.) For instance, if the book value is 28,000 and the owner is asking, say, 27,500, can I offer 26,000 or 25,000?

steine13

Asafonov and Terry (over on RWTIV) have got this covered: Great price, if you want it, don't lose it over the $6-6,5 spread, BUT: Make sure the 3sp is for you. I've never even driven one, so I can't comment... a 3sp is fine when it's behind a 305 V8, it may or may not be okay for you in the Prizm.

Other than that, it's a deal. The best part about buying a car like that; it's gonna depreciate like $500/year from here on in if you keep it in good shape and the miles from getting out of hand.

Good luck,
-Mathias

rroyce10

........ It depends on the vehicle, the options, the miles, what figure the dealer hit him with and what book he's been reading ..

         how about some examples ..?

                        Terry.

rroyce10

.... 3 speed auto: no fear.

                      Terry.

lancerfixer

I guess that's what I was asking in my earlier post in the other topic...like c_delicti, what's the lowest I can offer for that S90 without being insulting? It's low miles, but he's had it on his lot for 2 years.

(I throw out my prospective purchase as an example. c_delicti's mileage may vary.)

p.s. I'm really intent on doing this; I may very well run afoul of Mrs. Lance on this one. Should be an interesting week.

jlawrence01

>>if I purchase a used car from a private owner rather than a dealership, what is the lowest offer I can make without being insulting? Is there a percentage rule-of-thumb? <<

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it. No matter how much you offer to a private owner, you run the risk of offending the individual.

A few years ago, I went with a friend to look at a 1-year old Honda Civic with 10k miles. She knew what a new Civic would cost her as she had been to the dealership. She offered the new car price less $1500. The private owner was infuriated and wanted about $3000 MORE than she offered. Needless to say, that was the end of the discussion.

steine13

"She knew what a new Civic would cost her as she had been to the dealership. She offered the new car price less $1500."

And if you want to know why I now mostly buy new cars, there it is in a nutshell. Most private sellers just don't get it.

-Mathias

steine13

I sent this to a friend last week, so I can just cut and paste... it's of general interest for this discussion and points out a few things to look for:

"Just for an update on the '00 Prizm LSi with 73k.
Roof, side bags, abs, cd; everything but alloys.
Car was vacuumed and otherwise dirty; seats a little grimy, nothing too bad. You know the type. Smelled faintly of air freshener -- what do these people do in their cars?

Dent in driver's frt qpanel, cig pack size, shallow but with a crease.
3" long scratch high in driver's rr qpanel -- fairly wide and down to primer.
All VIN stickers, no body/paint work.
No records (why?) but clean cyl head; a little waxy buildup on dipstick, wipes off easily. Fresh, clean coolant and auto trans fluid.

Starts up well, runs smoothly, ac is good. All the little lights come on and go off like they're supposed to. There's a little more soot in the tail pipe than I like, but it's dry soot.

Brakes grab, rub, and do all the other things they do after sitting for 3 weeks in the rain. Calm down after a little use. Tires are bald and at least one is out of round.. some vibration while
driving.

So...
I point at their '04 Sienna and tell 'em; if you tried to trade the Prizm
when you bought this, I'd bet they offered you $3,800 or so and told you to
sell it yourself. He says, kinda sheepishly, "i don't know they'd have given us that much; they never saw the car, we did it over the phone and it
was clear they didn't want it."

So like the good little trooper that I am, I pull out a stack of $100 bills and offer them $4,200 on the spot -- 'cuz it's easily worth that; cleaned up and with tires, I can sell it to a student for $5 in the fall and have me a free car for the summer.

Dang if he wasn't gonna go for it, but SHE wasn't having any of it. So I gave them my card and am not holding my breath. I don't think it's worth
any more than that in its present state."

-Mathias
"I am not a car dealer"

jlawrence01

My brother has a co-worker that has keld on to a Grand Prix for ONE YEAR because he "WON'T TAKE LESS THAN BLUE BOOK" on the vehicle.

Well, at this rate, he'll have a vehicle for when his 14yo daughter is ready to drive ...

rroyce10

........ Didn't I not answer that one ..? .. if I didn't, hit em' with the $8's low low low $9's ~ if I did answer it, than Ronnie and I have too much in common ......

                           Terry.

toyota_buyer

Thank you for the wonderful advice. 3 spd has been a concern for me, since I would need to use this vehicle on the highway for about 500 miles every other weekend. When I test drove it I did feel the engine rev up a lot, past 60mph. I was also looking for cruise control, which the vehicle did not have.

However this is still on the lot and if I can't find anything decent by Thursday next week, I will offer the dealer $6500 and take it. Big positive on this car is that I will save a lot of money and sell it at a decent price 3 or 4 years down the line.

This evening I am going to look at a 97 BMW. Below is the ad from the private seller. He told me it was a single owner car and that he has a carfax on it. He did not have the VIN on him when I called.
BMW 97 318i: All PowerLeather, Sun Roof, Loaded! CLEAN! 60K, Must Sell! $8900.

If I like the car, I will offer $8500 and use it till I run it to the ground. Any advice or suggestions? I know that BMW's are expensive to maintain based on what I see on the message boards. The only car I ever had to take care of was my brand new Honda Accord(2000) which got totalled recently.

This board has already saved me a couple of grand with the purchase of a new 2004 Subaru. I initially came on this board to purchase a second car, unfortunately in the mean time my original car got totalled and I had to replace that(with the new Subaru).

Thanks for all your advice and suggestions!

adjoa75

Hello,

I have been lurking for a while doing research for the Altima I want to buy. I want a 2000 Altima GLE\SE. I have a couple of questions:

1) The GlE has a TMV of $10,394 and the SE is $9,989. What is a reasonable offer to a dealer on each of these cars?

2) My job has a discount program with nissian that offers the following:

Dealer invoice Minus VPP discount (Nissan 1.5%)
Plus dealer added options, Security Plus, etc.
Plus 2.5% delivery fee of dealer invoice after VPP discount has been subtracted
Plus destination and handling charge
Plus marketing assessment as applicable
Minus applicable incentives
Equals paticipant's purchase price

Would I be better of utilizing this program or making an offer? Where can I find that invoice price of a car before hand?

3) What fees should I expect to pay on a use car? Aside from taxes and registration.

Thanks for all the help, this is my first car purchase and I just want to be ready.

driftracer

refers to new cars and you're talking about purchasing used vehicles - you may recieve a discount on a used car because of your company's relationship with the dealer, but it bears no resemblance to a supplier purchasing discount/pricing plan on a new car. You might just look at a new Altima under the discounts - they're usually pretty substantial.

adjoa75

Thanks for the clarification.

seamless

A car I am looking to purchase (2002 volvo xc 70) was a manufacturer's car for about a year (during which time it accrued 21000 miles). Is this a bad thing? I suspect it just means that a volvo exec had it for a year, but I would certainly appreciate info from someone who knows more about this.

driftracer

check CARFAX before you believe that one.

stickguy

Volvo does have cars used by corporate folks that are then made available to dealers, so it is certainly plausible.

driftracer

you're right, but there aren't that many per area, so the concept of it being a "corporate car" instead of a rental return that used to be owned by Enterprise may sound good, but isn't very likely.

CARFAX would prove me wrong, but I've heard the term "executive car" or "factory rep car" used for 40 years, when it was simply another former rental (read: abused) car bought at auction.

stickguy

I don't think there are a lot of XC90s in the rental fleets, but I suppose there might be some. The dealer can easily pull up a history on the car to show the background. I alomst bought one a few years ago, and the Volvo dealer was able to show the history. I can't remember how it was titled, but it was about 1 year old with 25K or so, and had been serviced at the corporate headquarters (which were in NJ at the time).

You are right that many dealers use the term "executive" or "progam" as a synonom for "used car of any type"

driftracer

that's the third time you've posted that, for your info - we've been talking about it - read between your posts.

bowke28

please stop reposting. you do it when you hit the refresh button after you post. from now on, go back to the previous page and refresh THAT before looking for new messages again.

seamless

ahh --- my apologies for the reposts. bowke28, you were spot on. I deleted all the dupes. Sorry about that.

I checked the carfax report -- would a rental place have to get a title? Because the title and first owner report are on the sale after it was listed as a manufacturer's vehicle. Thanks again for the info.

driftracer

just click the "delete" button next to the extra ones.

To answer your question, if you can confirm through a Volvo dealer's service dept that it IS a company car, drop all the info on it at "Real World Trade Values" - Terry has a special place in his heart for the XC90 and see quite a few of them.

Take his number, go in and make your offer, and drive home happy.

kyfdx

How much is your payment on the Altima? It seems you will eat up any savings with transaction costs and sales tax..

How about looking into refinancing the Altima? It will almost always be cheaper to keep the car you have..

If you had a $20K car, I could understand, but I fail to see where your savings is going to come from..

regards,
kyfdx

dianna

Has anyone bought a used car on yahoo from someone out of the country? is this safe. they want me to pay a western union then they will send the car. does this sound ok to do?

di

driftracer

Run this through your head several times - and I dont' care if it's on yahoo, or the bulletin board at your local bank...

They want you to wire them money - someone you've never met, for a car you've only seen a photo of, and they'll send you a car. There has to be a broker or representative involved somewhere before I'm wiring anything anywhere..

Western Union has little or no business verification - you don't have to be incorporated or a NYSE member to get a Western Union transfer - additionally, the transfer fees would be astronomical!

A word of advice - there are bunches of scams just like this going on with ebay auctions, where people contact you outide ebay channels to do exactly what you're describing..

steine13

"Has anyone bought a used car on yahoo from someone out of the country? is this safe. they want me to pay a western union then they will send the car. does this sound ok to do?"

You have GOT to be kidding me.
Of course it's not safe.
Not everyone doing cockamamy deals on the internet is a crook, but what could possibly be the point of this?

There are ~ 500 million cars in the U.S., a good fraction of which are for sale. What on God's green earth do you need that has to be shipped form elsewhere?

Flabbergasted,
-Mathias

CarMan@Edmunds

Hi di. I would bet every dime that I have that this is a scam. I hear stories about people from overseas who pretend to have cars or trucks for sale in an effort to trick people into wiring them money all the time. Another popular scam involves people from overseas offering to purchase a vehicle that is being sold privately. They say that they have a money order, but it is for too much money. They will send it to you and then you need to send them the difference. Little does the seller know that the money order was a fake and they just sent money to a thief. The bottom line is that tons of great used vehicles are for sale here in the U.S., both privately and through dealers. There's no need to open yourself up to unnecessary risk by purchasing a used vehicles from someone who is out of the country. If you don't mind my asking, what vehicle are you interested in? Perhaps we can help you find one here and give you an idea of how much money it is worth right now.

Car_man
Host
Smart Shoppers Message Board

rroyce10

   ........ Unfortunatley , sadly it's become a *Big internet Scam* and it goes on every minute of everyday, it's on eBay, Yahoo, MSN, local sites, etc, etc ...

            "I will give you a $12,000 money order for your $10,000 vehicle, but you need to refund me $2,000 when you give me the title .... I'm the King of Siam and I will offer you $30,000 for your $25,000 SUV because I'm very busy and I'm flying in from London" - I hear it everyday ...

                Like everyone has said: There's no need to open yourself up to unnecessary risk ~ unless you really like pain and brain damage ......................

                          Terry ;-)

mzche

I have been looking for a Dodge Grand Caravan. I was approved through cap one at a 14.9 rate given my 580 fico. I have been looking around and am really not finding much that I like. There is a dealer who is selling a 2003 GC Sport. It has captain's chairs, a rack on top, cd and cassette player, 30,200 miles with the ramainder of the 3/36 warranty. They are charging 17,900. We can get the 7/70 powertran converted into bumper to bumper for 895. Is this a good deal?
     I fell in love with an 02 GC ES. SHe had power everything and was loaded. The cost was 18,900. Is that too much to pay on an 02? They were willing to certify it with an 8/80 power tran, but other than that it only had a 3 month 3000 mile warranty.
     After seeing the fully loaded one that was red---what I wanted to begin with--I can't seem to warm up to the 03. Any

~Michelleadvice?

bowke28

advice...

go to another dealer.

$17.9k for a 1 year old with 30k miles is highway robbery. you SHOULD be able to get it for the $15k-$16k range with good negotiating. same for the '02 loaded.

keep in mind, you can get a BRAND NEW one for not much more, probably equipped similarly to the '03.

ncvol

I have an offer on a 2001 Mercedes E320 Wagon with 44k miles, Starmarked, with E2 package and heated seats, coming off a lease for $28,827. Any thoughts? If there is a better thread for this (besides ones specific to M-B), let me know. Thanks for all responses.

automan227

Post this in the Real World Trade-In Values forum. Terry, the resident car god, will give you a good idea of what its worth on the market.

Please be sure to list...

Year
Make
Model
Options (including if its got something like 4Matic)
Condition
Any Accidents, Paintwork, and anything in between
Where in the country you will be purchasing this vehicle.

AS

ncvol

Thanks

speeddemon2

Need help selling Toyota Camry. I know someone who has a 1989 4 door Camry in good condition that he would like to sell for $1000. Can you recommend some places in the CT, NY, NJ tri state area where it would be best to sell it? Do you guys think donation would be something he should consider?

driftracer

a market for a cheap car, especially if it passes state inspection and registration requirements.

Clean it up, change the oil, put a sign on it for $1299 or best offer and take the first $800-1000 you're offered.

As long as it runs, and hasn't been run over by a tank, it's worth $500-1000.

jlawrence01

Agree with Drift completely.

I was at one the the Chicago area municipal auto auctions this morning. That is where 8-10 suburban governments get together and auction off their surplus vehicles - mostly police and other municipal vehicles. Any car that runs reasonably well - in spite of the age or mileage - generally brings $1000. Of course, those with low mileage and NO rust generally do better.

What I generally recommend is that you get a big "For Sale" sign and place all of the information on a sheet of paper. Tape both to the windows with a price of "$1200 or best offer". Park the car near a laundromat or a temporary agency and you'll be surprised the number of calls that you get.

You want to keep the price around $1000. Once you get close to $2000, you eliminate a ton of prospective buyers who are cash buyers. Also, do NOT get delusions of grandeur about the vehicle - you are talking about a 15 year old car. I have seen a lot of people hold out for more money as they some sentinental attachment to the car. To the buyers, it is just another piece of metal.

speeddemon2

Thanks for both of your suggestions.

browniemiss

for a 2001 Ford Expedition. My husband and I visited the car dealer. He quoted us a price for $22,999 (negotiated to $20,000) miles. He wrote us up a sale form that we had planned to take to our credit union to finalize the purchase. The listed miles on the form says 43000. However, when I visited their site for info on the car, it says that it is $22999 for 33,400.

What do I do?

driftracer

Even if this is a loaded up 4x4 XLT, the thing isn't worth over $20k retail. If it's 2WD, then you're around $18k.

Your FIRST mistake will be paying too much.

browniemiss

Yes, we drove the truck.

I contacted the dealer this morning to ask him a few other questions and asked him again what the mileage was without going into detail. He went to look at it and informed me that it was 34000 miles. It appears that he transposed the numbers. My husband is going to visit the dealer today. If we decide to go with them, we will get a new order written. At this time, we are still shopping around.

browniemiss

Correction..the price was negotiated to $22000. It is a loaded Eddie Bauer, 4x4. I appraised it on this site @ clean and it came out to be approximately a little over $21058. We are thinking that we should negotiate further. Your thoughts?

driftracer

you're in good shape - if not, you need to work on it.

browniemiss

Ok...sunroof...no DVD..:( Work on it, huh?