Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

I'm going to buy a used car today, any advice on haggling to get a good price? I am paying cash if that makes ny difference. Any other advice on the process will be appreciated.

Didn't there used to be an automotive forum?

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

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I'm going to buy a used car today, any advice on haggling to get a good price? I am paying cash if that makes ny difference. Any other advice on the process will be appreciated.

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Conventional wisdom says be prepared to walk away if you don't get the deal you want. That's how they know you mean business.

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Didn't there used to be an automotive forum?

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It didn't go over so well.

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

I believe the "I'll pay you $X in cash right now" is pretty standard, where $X is considerably, but reasonably, below the sticker. Obviously start $X below the amount of money you actually have.

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

Is there an accepted "standard" for price below sticker to start at?

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

"I'm going to buy a used car today"......this is a poor mindset if you want to save money. tell yourself (and the dealer) that you have time to make a decision, and that only the best deal will make you want to purchase today.

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

Find out the trade-in, private party, and retail (sticker) prices. (low-med-high, respectively.) Use kbb.com and/or edmunds.com. Trade-in value should give you a rough idea of what the dealer paid for the car, so you can go from there.

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

You will almost always be better off buying from a private party than a used car lot. As others have said in this thread, going into a dealership with the "I need to buy a used car today" is like going to the supermarket hungry, cubed. Here's a few tips, though.

- Use www.edmunds.com for reviews of vehicles, and accurate values of cars.
- Go to www.motleyfool.com and search "cars" for some good advice on buying cars.
- Dealers don't care if you are paying cash. All that tells them is you are ready to buy NOW, which does not really work in your favor. As a matter of fact, they prefer you finance, so they have yet another way to make $$$ off of you.
- Answer the phone when your friend Daliman calls.

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

waslk out at least twice... let them know you are ready to walk away from the deal, and they will give you rock bottom.

Usually people don't have the balls to do it... but about 4 years ago I bought a fully loaded Mustang GT and walked out twice. ended up getting for $5,600 less than the sticker price.

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

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waslk out at least twice... let them know you are ready to walk away from the deal, and they will give you rock bottom.

Usually people don't have the balls to do it... but about 4 years ago I bought a fully loaded Mustang GT and walked out twice. ended up getting for $5,600 less than the sticker price.

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Were the Oakley blades included in that price?

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

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- Answer the phone when your friend Daliman calls.

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I'm working today and left the house without my phone.

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

Haggle until they aren't moving anymore. Then, get up and head for the door, saying "Thanks, but I just can't make that work." They'll move down even more. When I bought my truck, I was outside, in my car, and the salesman came out, banging on my window before I could leave, with a better offer.

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

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waslk out at least twice... let them know you are ready to walk away from the deal, and they will give you rock bottom.

Usually people don't have the balls to do it... but about 4 years ago I bought a fully loaded Mustang GT and walked out twice. ended up getting for $5,600 less than the sticker price.

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Were the Oakley blades included in that price?

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NO, but they did throw in two over-priced hipster shirts.

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

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I'm going to buy a used car today

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you're probably not going to get a very good deal.

try carmax.com. at least you'll know you're getting a good car at a fair price.

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

Make sure you go in prepared with a pricing list. If you know what you want, you can get a used car value at Nada.com and kellybluebook.com.

They dont give a [censored] if you pay cash. The make more money if they get the loan (think kickbacks). If you really care about saving money, do your research first or I guarantee you will get [censored].

FYC

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

Information is key here. The more you know the better price you will be able to get. Know what price you want to pay for the car and don't settle for less. You need to be able to walk away.

There is no reason you should not know everything about teh car before you go in. And I don't mean the type of car, but that exact car. Know the mileage, standard features, extras, etc. Then do research on edmunds.com and other sites to see about what price you should be paying. Get a price in order and accept nothing less.

If you have a reasonable price then you should get it for that price - otherwise move on - as someone else will give it to you for that price.

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

I think the only problem with the walk out is you really have to mean it like i'm not coming back at all unless the price comes down, if you hang around outside or come back in of your own accord they've got you by the balls they know you really want that car. Just tell yourself if the price is not good enough you really don't need the car this moment.

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

I have it narrowed down to two cars at one dealership and one at another. I should be able to run a squeeze between the two and end up with a ride I'm happy with.

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

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I have it narrowed down to two cars at one dealership and one at another. I should be able to run a squeeze between the two and end up with a ride I'm happy with.

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Nice play.

The key previously mentioned was to be able to walk away.

Now you just have to give the salesunit the cocked head puppy dog look and ask " I've got it narrowed down to three, Is that the best you can do?"
the older the car the better this works.

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

Private sellers will usually give you a better deal than the dealers will. However, if you're looking to get something newer, try to get a certified used car. They usually add a hell of alot to the warranty. Ex, I was looking at an '05 Mazda 6... Mazda's standard warranty was 3years, 36,000 miles. Because it was certified, I would have got the remainder of the factory warranty, then up to 5 year 50,000 bumper to bumper, and then when that expired up to 10 years 100,000 powertrain.

If it's an older car, make sure you get atleast some sort of warranty from the dealer, even if its only 3 months 3,000 miles. If you're buyin from a private seller, make sure you take it to a mechanic you trust and have him thouroughly check it out.

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

Weird, I was going to start a thread just like this today. Thanks!

So what makes of cars should I look at? My co-workers advise anything NOT domestic. My g/f, who needs the car, likes Jettas, but will look at almost any Toyota, Subaru, Nissan and possibly Hondas.

She has at most $8k through financing to spend. I have Auto Traders up the wazoo. If I buy from a dealer, should I ever request BELOW KBB trade in value? If a car is listed at $8000, could I realistically ever get it for $6000?

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

Do not get a Volkswagen they are worse than domestics since they breakdown almost as often, but cost a hell of a lot more to fix.

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

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Do not get a Volkswagen they are worse than domestics since they breakdown almost as often, but cost a hell of a lot more to fix.

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Really? We had an older Jetta before and it was indestructable.

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

Some tips:
(1) Buy private if you can. Not only will the vehicle be cheaper, but you won't pay tax either. Typical example: A car for $10k privately you'll probably get for $12k from a dealer with good negotiating. Add tax and you're about at $13,000, or 30% more than the other price. That's A LOT.

(2) Someone mentioned carmax. Do NOT buy here. Prices are around 25-30% more than you should pay because they are "certified". Guess what - that price doesn't include any warranty. You're better off skipping the certified cars and just paying for a warranty if that's what you want.

(3) For pricing, I use Edmunds TMV (true market value), and set the condition to the "average". I find this to be more accurate than KBB.

(4) Do not choose a vehicle strictly on "domestic" or "foreign". In general, yes, the japanese auto makers tend to be more reliable than our domestic counterparts, but it's not true for every model.

Generally, just pick a vehicle with a rock solid engine and you'll be fine.
Examples of good GM (domestic) engines:
- 3800 series engine, no piston slap, been built since the 60's. Not much power for its displacement, but very reliable. Easily a 200k engine
- LS1,7,etc engine. Found in corvettes, fbodies, etc, this engine can do 400hp and hit 28mpg highway. Find me an import that can do that.

Check out Ward's Best Engine list and go with something from there. Safe bets for cars also include Accords, Camrys, Maximas if you want to go import. I like the maxima - it's VQ series engine has made Ward's best list for around 8-10 years (previously the 3.0VG, now the 3.5VQ).

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

What year and model car are you looking for? This will make a big difference on where you should be looking. As others have said, the dealership can be much more expensive than buying from a private party, and is not any sort of guarantee with respect to the quality of the car. Knowing the actual history of the car is very valuable, and many cars at a dealership were purchased at auction making the vehicle's history questionable.

Also, I'm surprised nobody mentioned it, but DEFINITELY get a CARFAX report on any car you look at.

Re: Advice for haggling on a used car?
 

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They dont give a [censored] if you pay cash. The make more money if they get the loan (think kickbacks). If you really care about saving money, do your research first or I guarantee you will get [censored].

FYC

[/ QUOTE ] This is NOT necessarily true when buying a used car. Making money on the loan is much less prevalent with used cars than new ones and when they do it is usually a very marginal amount. I own a used car lot.