I’ve had my eye on a Kia Forte EX for a few weeks, and was going to go to a local dealer to buy one this Friday. But sometime within the last few days, the dealer apparently added a used 2010 Kia Forte EX to their stock. Their asking price is about a thousand dollars less than it was for their new ones. I’m thinking about buying this used car. (They advertise that the same warranty will apply as would if I bought a new Forte, so this really seems worth it even though the used one already has nearly 10,000 miles on it.)
Now, I know all about how to get at the right price for a new car. But I know nothing about getting at the right price for a used one, except to look at Kelly Blue Book. That doesn’t help in this case, because kbb.com isn’t listing any value at all for a used 2010 Kia Forte.
How can I find out how much I should offer for the vehicle?
They’re asking $14,990.
The new one is on offer for $15,900 and I was going to offer $15,400, based on a report I bought from consumer reports.
Will I be selling myself short if I offer $14,490 for the used one? Should I be able to go lower than that?
How can I find out some fairly objective info about this?
Yeah, I’m not a fan of the haggling. Ideally I’d like to just tell them a take-it-or-leave-it number. Last time I bought a car, I didn’t quite make it to this ideal, but I was close. I gave them a number, they said no, and I left. But I called them back and offered fifty dollars more. For whatever reason, the fifty dollars made the difference to them.
I’m okay with being talked up fifty or a hundred dollars or so. But if things get much past that, I’ll start to think something’s going horribly wrong and I’ll want to call a halt to the procedings.
I’d like to go in with an initial offer that’s within a hundred dollars of the real do-or-die buying price at the very most.
Don’t get me wrong. I am a BIG fan of the USED car and old cars as being much more financially prudent than a new car. AAMOF I’ve never bought a new car or even a near new car for that matter.
But a BARELY used car that drops the price a small fraction of the total price?
Seems to me, in that case, you’ve saved a pittance, but GREATLY increased your chances that something major is wrong with that car or that the previous owner REALLY did something stupid to it/with it.
Frylock, make sure you clarify what the dealer is saying about the warranty. I just bought a used Kia, and while the basic 60,000 miles/60 month warranty was transferable, the 100,000 mile/120 month power train warranty was not. That seems to be the SOP for Kia warranties.
We bought a lightly-used 2005 Corolla in 2005 - it was back on the lot because the owner had bought it then decided to move up to something larger. We haven’t had a single problem with the car (knock wood, of course). We prefer to buy used, too - lightly-used was ideal. I’d say you should drop a couple thousand off the price of the used 2010, but you are still basically getting a new car, and it won’t be as cheap as one that’s many years old. I’d offer $14,000 even for the used one, and see where they go from there.
Over a long period of time, you will find that used vehicles lose value at 20% per year. A one year old vehicle is worth 80% of the previous year. Now this is a long term average. It does not apply to a Corvette or other exotic models where they hold their value better. It probably does not apply as well to foreign makes that hold their value. You have to judge that. I’ve never purchased other than mainline American makes like Chevy and GMC where it always applies well.
My rule would put the value at more like $13K. However, it’s not really a year old and you are getting new car warranty, an extreme warranty. Still, I think they would take $14k because any used vehicle has to take a hit on price when it goes out the door.
Ah… you know what? I’ve been making a silly arithmetic error. When figuring the difference between how much I’d be getting financed in each scenario, I was accidentally adding the rebate back in to the cost of the new car. (And then just not thinking clearly about the resulting numbers.)
So… never mind, probably. Not worth the small difference in price.
Especially in times like this I like starting the conversation with this: “How bad do you really want to sell this car?” It kinda sets the tone for the rest of the conversation. Remember, all they can say is “no.”
I bought a hardly used Jeep Wrangler years ago. The original buyer was a young couple. She found out that she was pregnant a week after buying the car. They went back to the dealer and did a tentative trade while the salesman looked to see what he could get for the car. I just happened to come along and made a lowball offer. The couple agreed, and were able to buy their “family” car.