Sharks and Cavaliers

[FinchUsed]

Alright I've finally got the cash I needed. I have 2 grand for a down payment and I have enough for registering the 2003 Cavalier LS Sport I want. Here in town its SO hard to find any yellow vehicles as they are in high demand. I went to autotrader and I found 2 Yellow LS Sports, 1 of them happened to be a 5 speed. Perfect. The guy wants 10,995 for it. I cannot pay more than 9,500. Another catch... the car is 300 miles away. I am willing to drive down there but do you think it is possible to talk him down to at least 9,500. It's got 32k on it. He would know I must want the car really bad if I am driving 300 miles so that could make it harder to talk him down. Got any advice on how to play this? I've e-mailed the guy so far saying that I am interested and all that rot.

[01Cavy]

Only one way to find out if he'll go down on his price. I'd call him before I drove there though.

[cdru]

You ask him "Will you take $9500 for it?" If he says yes, then you can go look at it to ensure that it is what you want, is in good condition, etc. If yellow cars are in high demand, then he likely wouldn't go down in price if he knows they are demanding a premium. Why would he take a $1500 cut from what he could make if he just waits a while. If it had been for sale for a month, things would be different.

[FinchUsed]

Very true although this is an out of state vehicle so yellow may not be in as high of demand. I guess us hicks discovered there are yellow cars this year. I looked at an 05 yellow that had been on the lot a year so hey, not all of them are going like hot cakes.

[Thor06]

I would say look, I have $9500 for it and a 300 mile drive and see what he says. When my friend was buying his car, the guys that were further away would knock the price down more for us because of the trip.

[travis712]

It depends how long its been for sale. If you talk to him on the phone and say, I would like to come look at it first but your 300 miles away. I have 9,500 cash for you if you would take it. Cash is king.

[bunghullio]

If it's a dealership there is plenty of room left to negotiate. Most likely they're looking at $3500-5000 in profit at $10,995. That's how dealerships work. That way when they act like you're bankrupting them at $9500, they've still turned a tidy profit of at least $2,000.

All dealerships make the majority of their profit selling used cars because it's impossible for the consumer to know what they actually paid for the vehicle at auction, or trade in. Unlike new vehicles, where the consumer can find out exactly what they paid for the vehicles including manufacturer holdback.

The way they make new cars seem more attractive is by the rebates and/or low financing. Or by getting customers in with a "One only at this price" loss leader vehicle. Only to switch them to a used vehicle of the same type (or not) with the features the customer may want, that they didn't realize weren't on the vehicle they initially came to buy. Such as; p/w, p/l, a/c, automatic, remote keyless entry, or a different color than white.

I would first obtain the N.A.D.A. Blue Book and start at a high trade in value for the car. Or just go in, test drive it, show only slight enthusiasm about the car, and follow the salesman inside where he ultimately wants you to be. Don't mention one word about paying in cash. Not one!

Contrary to popular belief, at a dealership, cash is NOT King! Dealerships would much rather finance you as they make more money that way.
They'll bring in the numbers, which will consist of several options that include a down payment and different monthly payments. This is called the first pencil! I don't care how attractive it looks, if you buy the car on the first pencil (or second and third, for that matter) the salesmen are going to be laughing their asses off and high-fiving each other the second you're driving away.
Wait until the fourth pencil at least!!

Better yet, go in to do the numbers with them, and when they come back, just shake your head no, and DON'T SAY A WORD! Let them do all the talking. Then when you can't stand it any longer offer $7,500 and stop. This process will take a couple of hours, minimum.
Stand firm at $7500. Force them to talk you up in price, and DO NOT go over $9,000 "out the door" (tax and licensing included). Even if you have to walk out.
If they know that they've got a sure deal at 9k, they won't let you get far. Especially if it's Tues./Wed./Thurs., OR the last day of the month.

Phew! Sorry that was so long, people.

Now, if it's a private owner, he's already "into" the car for a larger sum. Plus he probably has some emotional ties to the vehicle as well. He's also less likely to price it with a $4200 average profit margin.

Try to offer him something like, $8750 and look for his reaction. He'll tell you exactly what he feels about your offer, and will probably tell you the lowest he'll go is $10k. At that point let him know that you really like the car, will take good care of it, and that you've only got $9500 to spend right now. But it's in the form of ninety-five 100 dollar bills. Inform him that anything under $10,000 doesn't have to be reported to the I.R.S. and that you'll take the vehicle off his hands right now so he doesn't have to spend another one of his Saturdays fielding telephone calls from "buyers" that aren't really that serious about actually buying, or having to miss anymore of his favorite weekend activities because he's being "jacked off" by looky-loos! Then pull out your wad of cash. This is the time where cash really IS King!

Let us know how it goes.

[bunghullio]

My bad. I didn't pay enough attention to the fact that you had 2k plus tax and licensing. I assumed you had all the dough up front.

In this case, you need to work out your financing limit of $7,500
(plus your 2k down, of course) through a credit union. One thing a credit union won't do, is allow you to pay an exorbitant profit on a used car. Plus their rates will be much lower than any dealership's or lender the dealership uses.

I cannot stress this enough!! Obtain your financing through a credit union, or your own bank. Or best of all, Mom and Dad!

[bunghullio]

If it's a dealership there is plenty of room left to negotiate. Most likely they're looking at $3500-5000 in profit at $10,995. That's how dealerships work. That way when they act like you're bankrupting them at $9500, they've still turned a tidy profit of at least $2,000.

All dealerships make the majority of their profit selling used cars because it's impossible for the consumer to know what they actually paid for the vehicle at auction, or trade in. Unlike new vehicles, where the consumer can find out exactly what they paid for the vehicles including manufacturer holdback.

The way they make new cars seem more attractive is by the rebates and/or low financing. Or by getting customers in with a "One only at this price" loss leader vehicle. Only to switch them to a used vehicle of the same type (or not) with the features the customer may want, that they didn't realize weren't on the vehicle they initially came to buy. Such as; p/w, p/l, a/c, automatic, remote keyless entry, or a different color than white.

I would first obtain the N.A.D.A. Blue Book and start at a high trade in value for the car. Or just go in, test drive it, show only slight enthusiasm about the car, and follow the salesman inside where he ultimately wants you to be. Don't mention one word about paying in cash. Not one!

Contrary to popular belief, at a dealership, cash is NOT King! Dealerships would much rather finance you as they make more money that way.
They'll bring in the numbers, which will consist of several options that include a down payment and different monthly payments. This is called the first pencil! I don't care how attractive it looks, if you buy the car on the first pencil (or second and third, for that matter) the salesmen are going to be laughing their asses off and high-fiving each other the second you're driving away.
Wait until the fourth pencil at least!!

Better yet, go in to do the numbers with them, and when they come back, just shake your head no, and DON'T SAY A WORD! Let them do all the talking. Then when you can't stand it any longer offer $7,500 and stop. This process will take a couple of hours, minimum.
Stand firm at $7500. Force them to talk you up in price, and DO NOT go over $9,000 "out the door" (tax and licensing included). Even if you have to walk out.
If they know that they've got a sure deal at 9k, they won't let you get far. Especially if it's Tues./Wed./Thurs., OR the last day of the month.

Phew! Sorry that was so long, people.

Now, if it's a private owner, he's already "into" the car for a larger sum. Plus he probably has some emotional ties to the vehicle as well. He's also less likely to price it with a $4200 average profit margin.

Try to offer him something like, $8750 and look for his reaction. He'll tell you exactly what he feels about your offer, and will probably tell you the lowest he'll go is $10k. At that point let him know that you really like the car, will take good care of it, and that you've only got $9500 to spend right now. But it's in the form of ninety-five 100 dollar bills. Inform him that anything under $10,000 doesn't have to be reported to the I.R.S. and that you'll take the vehicle off his hands right now so he doesn't have to spend another one of his Saturdays fielding telephone calls from "buyers" that aren't really that serious about actually buying, or having to miss anymore of his favorite weekend activities because he's being "jacked off" by looky-loos! Then pull out your wad of cash. This is the time where cash really IS King!

Let us know how it goes.

[FinchUsed]

Good advice although its back to the drawing board. Apparently the car was sold just abit before I called. I miss out and start at square one. I've looked on autotrader and have e-mailed 2 new dealers. The price was unlisted for both so we'll see what they come up with. Plus I needed to know if it was a 5 speed. This is a must for me.

[Mod'd_Cav]

dood...just go down and with a cold asshole attitude look around the car and inspect it...when he says shit or asks you questions or starts rambling about what its got ignore him...look around the car for a good 15 minutes...after you done..stand 2-3 meters away from the car while still looking at it.. stand there for a long while to build his suspense cuz dealers do get excited when they feel they are close to a sale...and finally just say "ill give you 9500 for it"...when he starts saying "no no i cant go that low" reply with "alright..ill just go to another dealer who WILL go that low"...chances are..he'll take that amount.

[FinchUsed]

Well the fact that I drove 300 miles does have me somewhat in a nut hold though. He might think that I wouldnt want to go home empty handed and he is partially right. Although the car is sold so its back to the square one on the car hunt. But keep the advice coming I may get in the situation soon again.

[Chevy4life1985]

Originally Posted by Mod'd_Cav

dood...just go down and with a cold asshole attitude look around the car and inspect it...when he says shit or asks you questions or starts rambling about what its got ignore him...look around the car for a good 15 minutes...after you done..stand 2-3 meters away from the car while still looking at it.. stand there for a long while to build his suspense cuz dealers do get excited when they feel they are close to a sale...and finally just say "ill give you 9500 for it"...when he starts saying "no no i cant go that low" reply with "alright..ill just go to another dealer who WILL go that low"...chances are..he'll take that amount.

What my parents did when we were getting my 03 Cavi LS Sport Sedan was they went in and looked at the car. They got them down to 15000 and the dealer said "Thats as low as i can go". My parents turned said thats to much sorry and walked out. They called us back in 2 days later. Again they only went to 14K. My parents again said it was to much and that they were now looking at a Ford Focus. When they heard that they went down to 12K. Again my parents said it was to much and left. They called 3 days later and said that they would go to 10K. Again to much. They called again and said 8.8K(which is what we wanted). I paid $10,888 /w taxes, reg, inspectoin sticker, and interest of the loan. Not bad for a car with a sticker price of $18,967 and only 100 miles on it. Thats right only 100

[FinchUsed]

Wow only 100 miles. Very nice. My dad said the guy said 9500 would have bought it easily. He wouldnt tell my dad how much the person who got it paid for sure but oh well. I've found some and emailed the sellers but of course they wont email me back. Guess they dont want my money.