Car Dealerships- i just... (1 Viewer)

efil4stnias

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Wife wants QX 60. found one locally - went to test drive. Fantastic. So they take ours for a spin to get trade in value.

after 20 min, he sits down and says $9k. ( KBB anywhere between $10,200 and $12k ) Retail i see them go for low $15k to 19k ( same model/trim/mileage ) I looked at him directly and said thats insulting. I know they have to make $$$ but this was 3k below high end and 6-8k below retail.

We left and went to CarMax who just sent us trade in offer of $14k

thats a 5k differential. How in the world can these two be almost 50% different? Can someone please help me understand or is it simply the dealer was going to low ball me to make as much on the resale as possible? ?
 
Wife wants QX 60. found one locally - went to test drive. Fantastic. So they take ours for a spin to get trade in value.

after 20 min, he sits down and says $9k. ( KBB anywhere between $10,200 and $12k ) Retail i see them go for low $15k to 19k ( same model/trim/mileage ) I looked at him directly and said thats insulting. I know they have to make $$$ but this was 3k below high end and 6-8k below retail.

We left and went to CarMax who just sent us trade in offer of $14k

thats a 5k differential. How in the world can these two be almost 50% different? Can someone please help me understand or is it simply the dealer was going to low ball me to make as much on the resale as possible? ?

dumbarse lost a sale/trade. Wereally shouldn’t be negotiating on cars much at this point with the amount of information that is readily available.
 
Here is the thing about dealers. They are never going to pay you what you can get at private sale. Mostly because if they want to sell it on their own used car lot, they want to maximize profit and, since a dealership has a lot of overhead, they are going to need to get the car as cheap as possible. And, if they aren't going to sell it on their lot, they sell it to wholesalers who will also want to make a profit. That's particularly the case if your car has over 100K miles on it. People don't want to buy those on used car lots so they sell them to wholesalers who pay less than the average buyer.

The only way you are going to get a decent price on a trade in is if you make it clear that there will be no sale if they don't give you the price you want on the trade in. But, even then you better be ready to walk because they might not do the deal because their profit margin on sales isn't as high as you might think. They make most of their money on people who don't know any better about price and don't do their research online.
 
Just another Carmax fanboi chiming in.


I’ve bought my last three vehicles from them.. My experiences there have been great and hassle-free, as has pretty much everyone else i know who’s bought from there.. A friend of my father’s just bought a car there for his daughter; he’s a mechanic and said he would not want to be in the used car business becuase it’d be extremely difficult to compete against Carmax.. as in efil’s case, they usually offer several thousand more for trade-ins than other dealers do, yet i dont find there prices to be much higher than other places.. i dont find them to be the cheapest, but i dont mind paying a little more since every vehicle i have bought there, though anywhere from 2-5 yrs old, was indistinguishable from a brand new vehicle.. the thing i like best about Carmax is that, since I’m picky about cars, you can go to their website and find the exact model, features, color combo etc that you want , wherever in the country it’s located.. for a few hundred extra dollars, they will ship it to the store nearest you, or what ive done in the past is buy a one way plane ticket and drive the vehicle home... there are newer companies like Carvana popping up where they will sell you a car sight unseen and then deliver it to you- but i like the brick & mortar aspect of Carmax b/c i like to be able to be able to see the vehicle, sit in it and drive it before i buy, although I’m sure Carvana has a lenient return policy.
 
Just another Carmax fanboi chiming in.


I’ve bought my last three vehicles from them.. My experiences there have been great and hassle-free, as has pretty much everyone else i know who’s bought from there.. A friend of my father’s just bought a car there for his daughter; he’s a mechanic and said he would not want to be in the used car business becuase it’d be extremely difficult to compete against Carmax.. as in efil’s case, they usually offer several thousand more for trade-ins than other dealers do, yet i dont find there prices to be much higher than other places.. i dont find them to be the cheapest, but i dont mind paying a little more since every vehicle i have bought there, though anywhere from 2-5 yrs old, was indistinguishable from a brand new vehicle.. the thing i like best about Carmax is that, since I’m picky about cars, you can go to their website and find the exact model, features, color combo etc that you want , wherever in the country it’s located.. for a few hundred extra dollars, they will ship it to the store nearest you, or what ive done in the past is buy a one way plane ticket and drive the vehicle home... there are newer companies like Carvana popping up where they will sell you a car sight unseen and then deliver it to you- but i like the brick & mortar aspect of Carmax b/c i like to be able to be able to see the vehicle, sit in it and drive it before i buy, although I’m sure Carvana has a lenient return policy.

Well the car we are trading came from carmax Baton Rouge. The ONLY reason we drove to this dealership was they had the exact model she wanted. Carmax had none locally. They have the same and now we will get shipped down.

It's just infuriating to have someone tell you "you don't know" as I'm sitting on my phone with KBB pulled up as he continues to lecture me about his tenure, experience and the number of cars he buys/sells.
Welp - 1 today.
 
iw, I recently sold a car to a local dealership for 3k more than the Carmax offer I received. I kept track of it and the dealership sold it for ~5k more than they paid me within a week. Pretty good deal for them.

I had it listed on autotrader for 6 weeks with very little activity (basically people offering me 7-10k less than list price) before shopping it at dealerships.
 
Carmax totally lowballed me but it was back in 2008. I sold my car on Craigslist for $4k more than they offered. I recently bought a used truck and got more than I expected on my trade-in from the dealer.

Also, there are multiple dealerships in my area that advertise they will beat Carmax by at least $500.
 
can't help you with the why
i'm just chiming in to say i (so far) had a very good experience at Ray Brandt Kia

Well I guess it depends, I remember some 7 or 8 years ago getting into a heated discussion with a salesman there because he refused to tell me the price of the damn car. Tried to tell me I was concentrating on the wrong thing and if I was just listen he could explain how the monthly note was what I really needed to know so we should start there.

One of the rare times I've lost my temper in public. Needless to say, we didn't buy from them.
 
It's just infuriating to have someone tell you "you don't know" as I'm sitting on my phone with KBB pulled up as he continues to lecture me about his tenure, experience and the number of cars he buys/sells.
Welp - 1 today.
Sounds like I’m glad I wasn’t in that car with you two.
 
Wife wants QX 60. found one locally - went to test drive. Fantastic. So they take ours for a spin to get trade in value.

after 20 min, he sits down and says $9k. ( KBB anywhere between $10,200 and $12k ) Retail i see them go for low $15k to 19k ( same model/trim/mileage ) I looked at him directly and said thats insulting. I know they have to make $$$ but this was 3k below high end and 6-8k below retail.

We left and went to CarMax who just sent us trade in offer of $14k

thats a 5k differential. How in the world can these two be almost 50% different? Can someone please help me understand or is it simply the dealer was going to low ball me to make as much on the resale as possible? ?

New car dealerships know when a customer walks in, they are there to buy, not to just look. They always are going to go low on a trade in. They make more money from trade ins, then anything! It is amazing. This is 90% of the time. They have the data. That said, always work the price of the car you want to purchase first, before negotiating the trade in. NEVER divulge you have a trade in, until after you are good on the purchase price of the new car. Then you negotiate with the finance manager on the financing terms. It is a 3 step process. And there are independent rewards for all 3 phases to the respective employees. Do not treat the trading/buying/financing of a new car as an all in one deal. You will get hosed. This is from someone that has a close connection in the business. And you must have the discipline to get up and walk away at any point where you know the deal being offered, is a low ball deal. Dealerships know if they do not get you, they will for sure get SOMEONE! Do not be the “someone”.

Oh, one other thing. When buying, ask the sales person, when the new car arrived on the lot. The longer it has been on the lot, the less wiggle room they have on the sales price. If it has been on the lot for less than 30 days, you have a better chance of getting a good price.
 
New car dealerships know when a customer walks in, they are there to buy, not to just look. They always are going to go low on a trade in. They make more money from trade ins, then anything! It is amazing. This is 90% of the time. They have the data. That said, always work the price of the car you want to purchase first, before negotiating the trade in. NEVER divulge you have a trade in, until after you are good on the purchase price of the new car. Then you negotiate with the finance manager on the financing terms. It is a 3 step process. And there are independent rewards for all 3 phases to the respective employees. Do not treat the trading/buying/financing of a new car as an all in one deal. You will get hosed. This is from someone that has a close connection in the business. And you must have the discipline to get up and walk away at any point where you know the deal being offered, is a low ball deal. Dealerships know if they do not get you, they will for sure get SOMEONE! Do not be the “someone”.

Oh, one other thing. When buying, ask the sales person, when the new car arrived on the lot. The longer it has been on the lot, the less wiggle room they have on the sales price. If it has been on the lot for less than 30 days, you have a better chance of getting a good price.

It seems to me it would be the opposite. The longer a car has been on the lot, the more a incentives a dealer will give to get it off the lot, especially when trying to clear out the year end inventory to make way for new incoming models.

I mean, if I'm running a dealership, good deals on cars sitting on the lot and full price on more popular vehicles.
 
New car dealerships know when a customer walks in, they are there to buy, not to just look. They always are going to go low on a trade in. They make more money from trade ins, then anything! It is amazing. This is 90% of the time. They have the data. That said, always work the price of the car you want to purchase first, before negotiating the trade in. NEVER divulge you have a trade in, until after you are good on the purchase price of the new car. Then you negotiate with the finance manager on the financing terms. It is a 3 step process. And there are independent rewards for all 3 phases to the respective employees. Do not treat the trading/buying/financing of a new car as an all in one deal. You will get hosed. This is from someone that has a close connection in the business. And you must have the discipline to get up and walk away at any point where you know the deal being offered, is a low ball deal. Dealerships know if they do not get you, they will for sure get SOMEONE! Do not be the “someone”.

Oh, one other thing. When buying, ask the sales person, when the new car arrived on the lot. The longer it has been on the lot, the less wiggle room they have on the sales price. If it has been on the lot for less than 30 days, you have a better chance of getting a good price.
this all sounds plausible and probably very sage advice
but DANG is that a nuts system
 
Sounds like I’m glad I wasn’t in that car with you two.
It was an office and yeah my wife was squirming. As he kept going, she could tell I was getting visibly agitated and I made no bones about it. I made sure he could pick up my body language and facial expressions while still being polite yet irritated.

I just find it absurd that this game has to be played when there are soooo many options for buyers today. I wasn't looking to get 40% more on my trade. I would have pulled the trigger had they been 500 over what I owed. But they made a conscious decision to low ball me by 2k (low end) and 4k what I was expecting. At that point, there was no good faith negotiation to be had. He had his number and I had mine. Spending another 30 min in there would have left me wanting my 30 min back.

I guess it is something that is engrained in the culture of car buying.
 

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