I’m buying a used car and need advice regarding dealing with dealers. Specifically, I need to know how low I can expect the dealer to go. The vehicle I’m interested is a 98 Civic EX. The Blue Book is $18,600 retail and $14,900 trade in. What do these figures mean as far as my bidding strategy is concerned? Do you have any insight into the psychology and the ritual which exist around a used car purchase. What kind of games do salesmen typically engarge in? I’m aware of the “I’ll have to talk to my manager” routine, but that’s about all I know. Advice from former or present used car salespeople is especially appreciated.
Forget about the Blue Book, and forget about the invoice price. The dealers figured out long ago how to work around them. Go to http://edmunds.com instead. They’re significantly lower.
If you’re going to use Edmunds, print out all the info, and bring it in to the dealership with a calculator so you can figure out the cost of the options and mileage. I suggest going to a high volume dealer; generally, the sales mooks won’t screw the well informed buyer because they get enough suckers walking through the door in the first place.
A couple of years ago, I bought a 96 Chevy Corsica V6 for $8500. The sticker said $12000. IMHO, it definitely pays to be a hardass.
I forgot to add that Edmunds suggests that you should expect to pay +/- 10% of their quote. They list $12,668 for the sedan, but even figuring im mileage and options, it still beats the hell outta 18 large.
Great info:
http://www.carbuyingtips.com/scams.htm
& not to be missed:
http://www.edmunds.com/edweb/editorial/confessions/part3.html