Negotiating the price of a new car

I tried the "walk-away" strategy at a Chevvy dealership. The salesman wouldn't budge on the stickerprice. I told him "When you come to your senses, call me." I'm still waiting and that was 30 years ago.

I don't buy extended warranties, either.
 

debodun said:
I don't buy into extended warranties, either.
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When I was sitting in the office of the "finance guy" (who is really the add-ons sales guy), one of the things he tried to sell me was Wheel and Tire coverage. So basically, if you hop a curb and damage the rubber or the wheel it's mounted on, you're covered. He was showing me all this on his tablet.

The graphic for this Wheel & Tire insurance showed all sorts of front-end parts with arrows pointing to them and repair costs cited: shock absorber, control arms, springs, a whole bunch of stuff. I asked him "Doesn't this only cover the rubber and the wheel it's mounted on? What's with all these other things costing hundreds of dollars? They're not covered!" His reply: "Yeh, I hate that graphic."

It is beyond deceitful. I wish I had thought to take a pic with my phone and let him sweat the implied threat.

The regular sales guy tried real hard to sell me the Paint & Interior Protection Package. I said "This car has coated leather seats. Exactly what kind of protection are you going to put on those?" He says "I'll get back to you." Yeh, right.
 
I guess the worst part is sales agent's smug attitudes. They make you feel as if they're doing you a favor by even talking to you. They know they have to get the most possible, you know it, too, but feel there's nothing you can do about it. I am a "bottom line person" and "get to the point". This haggling and niggling over prices is a complicated game where the rules keep changing.

I've invested so much in that car, that every time I have to get service or needs new part, I feel I have to keep it that much longer to get out what I have invested in it. By that time, something else happens. I've been driving it 3 years now without air conditioning. The service "advisor" said it was the compressor and would cost between $800 and $1000 to replace. That's more than the wholesale value!
 
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when you buy a new car (dodge charger ) and trade a cadillac(2011) for 8 thousand dollars-does the dealer keep the 8 thousand or does it come of the dodge
 
debodun said:
I guess the worst part is sales agent's smug attitudes. They make you feel as if they're doing you a favor by even talking to you. They know they have to get the most possible, you know it, too, but feel there's nothing you can do about it. I am a "bottom line person" and "get to the point". This haggling and niggling over prices is a complicated game where the rules keep changing.

I've invested so much in that car, that every time I have to get service or needs new part, I feel I have to keep it that much longer to get out what I have invested in it. By that time, something else happens. I've been driving it 3 years now without air conditioning. The service "advisor" said it was the compressor and would cost between $800 and $1000 to replace. That's more than the wholesale value!
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Deb,

If you really like your car take it to a reputable dealer or mechanic and pay them to look it over as if you were going to purchase it. If they give it a relatively clean bill of health then polish it up and keep driving it.

I wouldn't worry about the current book value if you can put a few thousand dollars into it and still have dependable transportation it might be better than spending twenty thousand dollars or more on a new vehicle.
 
I do like my car even if it 18 years old. Aside from auto tranny, it doesn't have the bells and whistles the newer models do - things I probably wouldn't like or use - GPS or auto door locks. There are some things I have now I don't use like a tape deck and cruise control.
 
Meals-on-wheels requires a lot of stop-and-go driving. Not something in which cruise control would be very helpful. Also the automatic locks would be a bother doing meal delivery. I had the car when I was working, so put about 250 miles a week on it. Doing meals is about 50 miles a week. Total on the odometer now is 130K+.
 
debodun said:
Meals-on-wheels requires a lot of stop-and-go driving. Not something in which cruise control would be very helpful. Also the automatic locks would be a bother doing meal delivery. I had the car when I was working, so put about 250 miles a week on it. Doing meals is about 50 miles a week. Total on the odometer now is 130K+.
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Gotcha. I wasn't thinking those features would help (except for maybe GPS/Navigation to new M.O.W. addresses), I was really asking about your mileage. I will say that I have driven trucks since 1989 and got a small SUV that came fully-loaded with tech gadgets I would not have asked for, and I'm making full use of them. The reason I even bought a new car was because my truck has the same mileage as your car. At that point, confidence in reliability begins to decline.

If you can live with a low-mileage used car, all indicators are that the bottom is soon to fall out on prices...but that drum has been beating for a couple of months.

-April's sales were down 34%
-Rental car places are liquidating chunks of their fleets because The Virus has killed travel/rental car business
-Hertz is on the verge of bankruptcy and may be mass-liquidating their fleet

One analyst said "Even when the used car market begins to bounce back, the ability to sell all of these cars at their market value may be a question of years, not months." The question is whether or not this will be seen in prices. It has not, yet. Wholesale used prices (auto auctions) dropped nearly 12%, while retail prices have only come down about 1%.

Again, lots of experts have been waiting for the price bottom to drop out. It's not happened yet. I find it interesting that the feeling is that demand is merely deferred and not lost, but when people have been out of work for so long, I don't know who the sellers think they're going to extend financing to. And no one really knows how (or if) this might affect the new car market.

If I were you, I would watch things through the end of June to see if fire-sale deals are coming (if you can.) If prices have not fallen by then, the market likely has decided to sit on inventory and just ride it out.

Of course, this is all going to affect the value of your car when you sell it.
 
debodun said:
I did a couple of trade-in values on various web sites. Here are the results:

View attachment 105977View attachment 105978

I am willing to bet no dealership will give me anywhere near those values.
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Whatever they give on one line, they'll take away from another.

If they sense your hot button is trade-in value, they'll throw a $4,200 figure at you, while jacking something else up that you're not so focused on.

It's all bottom-line.

I gotta tell you that I'm on a Mazda owners forum (I joined when I bought my car.) Hatred of dealers is a perpetual topic over there. I'm involved in one such conversation as we speak. So don't fret this too much. Take care of yourself through it, get a car you'll enjoy, and don't look back.

Look thru the windshield, baby, not the rear view mirror.
 
debodun said:
People ask me what I am saving my money for at this late stage in life. Well, you never know in what catastrophic circumstances I might need it. Even a billionaire doesn't want to spend anymore that they have to. Thanks for all you input, Sticks.
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For what my advice may be worth, you are welcome.

I am the same as you, financially. I'm fortunate that--before I bought this car--I was living off of Social Security and even setting a little aside from it. My car payment is costing me a little from savings each year, but not all that much. I really don't have things I would be spending my money on...a new outbuilding for my tractor and some new bird feeders! And I like the security of having it "just in case." A big part of my life was spent without that security.
 

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