Negotiation advice

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Nope got the cash. I will try hard to mention the 2013 coming out and the sitting on the lot.

[MonkeyMama]

MM, I have cash or I can finance. I don't care either way. I think it was a trade in because according to carfax, it's one owner personal for 5 years. Did you say I am going to pay cash or I can finance?

I think they offered us +$500 on our trade-in if we would finance, something like that, because they could not budge on price (it was a dirt cheap "1 at this price" thing so literally they couldn't budge on the price). OF course I asked if they had a cash discount instead. The years I bought cars (2002/2006) no one wanted any cash. I think these days you could pay a better cash card. But on the flip side, they still get extra commissions for selling financing. I hear of stories of people getting better negotiations because the dealer is cash hungry, these days. So it can go either way. I'd just be prepared to negotiate either way. Whatever their motivation is can work in your favor.

P.S. +$500 on the trade-in was pretty substantial in this case because the car was pretty worthless. I have never done a trade-in before, but in this case I got more than I could have sold it for myself. I don't think trade-in is the way to go most of the time. So keep that in mind. If you can easily sell it for $2,000 private party then it might not make much sense to get caught up in the trade-in negotiations. On the flip side, sometimes they offer an okay deal and it saves a lot of hassle.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

So I checked out the car and it's cute. Not the grand touring but the sport base model of the Mazda 5 with 6 disc changer. I don't care, but I am not about to let them try to sell me a "fully" loaded model with none of the actual grand touring features.

The car was in good condition I wouldn't say pristine, but it did not having the smoking smell and no obvious defects.

KBB
Private Party
Very Good $11381
Good $11031
Fair $9831

Trade In
Very Good $9356
Good $8856
Fair $7706

Suggested Retail
$13,731

Edmunds
Sport TMV $8387 - This model
Touring TMV $9442
Grand $9920

NADA
$6950 Rough Trade in
$8050 Average Trade In - I'd say average
$9550 Clean Trade In
$11625 Clean Retail

They were trying to maximize their money and offered me $1k now for my car. According to KBB it's worth $2800 to $3700. I doubt they'd make it worth enough for me to consider trading it in. I listed instead on craigslist for $3500 and will take best offer asap. I sold my DH's car in 1 day on craigslist at a KBB good price so I was pretty psyched.

So they opened with "we don't negotiate" but then they began to negotiate. Turns out my DH wants to see the car before I buy it now (why he had a change of heart I don't know).

I keep coming back to $9k is around what I think is a good price and what I want to spend on the car. Is this reasonable? Laughed out of dealership?

It's been sitting 40 days and they said it's been dropped from $12,500 to $10,888. It hasn't I saw it the first day listed at $10,888. It's a trade in and after 60 days they said they send it to auction. To pressure me into buying it before they sell it to a college kid going off or send it to auction.

[snafu]

I've bought cars at auction, it's fun, dirt cheap and not limited to dealers/curbsiders. They won't get $8,000. at auction so I'd ask which auction, 'you don't mind buying there'...lol. I'd offer $ 8,880. since they are already rolling out 2013 models, another year's depreciation is upon them. You can always go up in small increments. I'd ask for something extra like detailing, floor mats, 20 free/discounted oil changes, upgraded tires...whatever you want.