Negotiating Price

[Urban Coyote]

What are other people's experiences negotiating the price on a used subaru?

 

If a 2012 Impreza is listed at the dealer for $16,000 how much can you hope to (hypothetically) knock the price down? 

For arguments sake, the car has 60,000 KM on it, no accidents reported, is the sport trim level and is a manual.  

[Bushwick]

Think the biggest factor is the actual dealership and how much money they have into it. If they took it in on trade for $15k and put $500 into it, you won't get them to budge.

 

If they took it in on trade for $12k, and they put $500 into it, and it books for say $13k and you can find issues with it that the buyer will apparently need to fix, and you have cash, you can try hard-balling them for book or a little less, but expect a "no".

 

You can try and ask "how much do they have into it" and "what they paid for the trade in value". If they say "sorry, we can't disclose that" you can try hard-balling back with something like "look, I'm interested in the car but it books for $xx,xxx with that trim and mileage, and I know you don't have more than $7k into it, so how about working with me here and you'll get a sale for the effort". Or try something along those lines.

 

Market and demand for that model/year/make/trim will dictate how much it's legitimately worth. Know book value going into it and add every option it has, and subtract any defects, then try coming in slightly under that. I don't think dealership sales guys are as swarmy as they were 30 years ago (used car guys are another story) and they realize the bottom line is to sell the car.

 

I'd strongly suggest having an actual back up car to refer to, such as "dealership B has 2013 Impreza with less miles and clean history for $11k, but it's a manual and red, and I'd rather have the blue auto you have outside, so work with me here as you'll make money even if it's sold under book price as I know you don't have more than $10k into it", etc. etc. 

 

I once looked at a 3 year old Cobalt back when they were still being built and it was a trade in on a dealership lot, and the guy wouldn't budge more than like $250 below what was on the sticker, and we had cash and had to walk.

 

I will say though, you might get a better deal on a used lot IF they don't have a ton of cash into it. You gotta be careful though, as all cars go to auction, and quite often they get a quick "does it drive OK" check, and then it gets dumped on the front line in the lot. But if it's actually sound and in good shape with no serious history issues, you can often score a better deal as it was likely a trade-in to a dealership that didn't have room or it wasn't selling, and the used lot bid on it at no reserve, etc.

Edited March 30, 2016 by Bushwick

[Bushwick]

Also, repos end up in used lots all the time, and quite often the used car lot guy doing the bidding gets those for a song, and it was being driven before being repossessed, so usually there's nothing wrong with those unless they were trashed. I'd probably be most leery of ex-rentals as god only knows what abuse they've been subjected to.

 

BTW, I just read about CL scams were people are flying in from out of state, renting rentals, printing fake documents, then selling for a huge discount as if it was theirs, then immediately flying out of the state  to avoid being caught. Apparently people aren't realizing they were duped until they try and register it and find out it belongs to Hertz or whatever. Not entirely sure how that works as the title isn't easy to fake and you'd think the notary would realize it wasn't real, etc. So just be careful if you try and go through private hands.

[Urban Coyote]

Thanks. How do you go about finding the 'book' values of a vehicle? You have to pay for those correct?

 

The two that I'm looking at right now are trade-ins. I can't imaging they would tell you what they paid for it as that's a bargaining card that they would hold. As soon as I know what they paid then I know what I'm likely able to offer for it. Same as telling the dealer what I'd be willing to pay. As soon as I do that they'll try to finance a monthly payment that is good for them....not necessarily me.   

[Bushwick]

It's common knowledge used trade-ins are almost always LESS than what you'd get if you sold it outright. Sometimes it's way less. If you are at a new car dealership, the sales guy may or may not tell you. It's not a new car, it's a trade. Worse that'll happen is he won't tell you. I mentioned asking something like "how much do you have in it?". Pay attention to the reaction as he'll either say "we just looked it over and haven't really done anything to it" or something like "Ah, well we put new tires on it and gave it an alignment". So that tells you they probably have $400-600 into it. 

 

Go in there like a mouse, and they'll act like a cat. Go in like a dog, and chase each other's tails until you get a price you are willing to pay. Be prepared to walk out w/o getting anywhere if you are dead set on saving some money.

 

Kelly Blue Book or whatever book the dealers are using. Used to be able to buy them at gas stations or book stores. They basically list what all modern cars are going for. Online, think you have to pay for a subscription, and you'd have to look it up on your phone constantly. Book is handy, but it'll be out of date in a year.

[Bushwick]

For what it's worth, I worked at a used car lot back in the very early 00's, and kinda saw some of the inner workings. If a used lot has a $2500 car, they probably paid $900 at auction and might have $500 into it, for example. 

 

Mid 00's, my mom went and looked at  very clean, low mileage 96' Ford Escort that was in the back lot of a Ford Dealership that would keep the cars on lot after trade-in for a week or two, and if they didn't sell, they were sent to auction as they constantly got new trade-ins daily, and only so much room. Since my mom knew nothing about cars, I spoke up and hard-balled the guy and he told me what they had in it (total) and how much they were wanting to make on it. 

 

So it's worth asking, and depends on the sales guy really. Used lots however will probably be tight-lipped, but both should be fairly honest about what work they've done to it so you can ball-park how much they have in it. You can always push further and state you'd like receipts of the work which most places shouldn't have an issue with if they have them.

 

Also, trade-in prices are low due to the fact it's their burden to move the car.  Your $16k Impreza was probably scooped for $9-12k

[mikec03]

 

How do you go about finding the 'book' values of a vehicle

Edmonds is good for that.

[Olnick]

Google Kelley Blue Book (KBB) and Edmunds online.  They both have calculators to determine used car values.

 

KBB is basically a dealers' tool--their values will usually be higher.

 

Edmunds claims to show "True Market Value" calculated from actual sales.

 

Between them you can get a feel for used car pricing.

[Urban Coyote]

Thank you very much.....I'll take a look and those and see if they'll be of value to me. I'm searching in Canadian dollars so if these are American currency there may be a discrepancy in car values between the countries. 

[wtdash]

I see you're in Canda - Nova Scotia?- and pay more than us, but Imprezas start @ $18K new down here in the US....so just for grins, I'd compare this used Impreza to their cheapest new Impreza, if @ a Subaru dealership.

 

Also, the Kelley Blue Book I use in the US has 3 values for their online pricing - Trade-In, Private Party (no dealers), Retail (used or new dealership). 

 

I'd work from the Private Party price.

[matt167]

My mom was in that boat in 2012. Looking at used. 2009-2010s. 40sk miles $16-17k plus tax. A new Impreza like she really wanted was $20k. So she bought a 4 year newer car fresh off the truck with 5 miles on it