Realistically, How much below Book Value can you expect to get a dealer to go on a Car/Truck?

Looking into Buying a couple of used vehicles and I've been researching them against tha Kelly Blue Book website and was just wondering if anyone knows How far I can turn the Screws on a Dealer.

Depends - I'll be selling my truck in a month if you want a good deal :) ...

If you are looking at used, dealer's prices are typically the highest. In fact, you want to find a "book" value that includes, wholesale, average trade, retail and dealer retail. The prices between all of the guides are all over the map. Of course at trade in time, they will show you the lowest price book, usually Glaves, and when you are buying the used car, they'll show you the highest dealer retail price they can find. 10-20% can be achieved, but it is hard to truly find the right number.

Don't quote me on this, but one way I have figured out how much they are willing to take for a car is by looking on ebay. I have seen car dealers selling thier cars on ebay. I then went to the car dealers own web site and saw what prices they wanted for the exact same car in the lot on thier site. I typically saw that they were willing to accept a consistent 25-35 % less on ebay than they were on the lot.
These were there starting bid prices, (I did see some discounted buy it now's too).

I actually bought 2 old lady cars from ebay. I did fine, Got 1 with 18.000 miles and another with 9,000 for 1/4 of what the car cost new.
Good luck,
Eric

The one thing that concerns me about a dealer selling on Ebay is that it might be a vehichle they don't want rolling off the lot that they need to guarantee. If a used car manager knows someone will by the shiny 2001 Lexus and after giving 10$ discount he'll make 3 grand, he isn't likely to roll it on Ebay unless he is afraid of owning it...

The other thing with Ebay is that they use it to get people to go to their showrooms...

On a trade in they go by what they call ACV actual cash value.
On my wifes blazer the Blue book said trade in (at their lowest level) was 2200. When I traded it in I was told ACV was 1800. So by my guestimate the blue book was off 18% on her vehicle.

What I've been doing is Looking up a Vehicle on their web-site, looking at what they're asking as compared to the KBB Retail, then looking up the same vehicle's Trade-in value (figuring thats what they paid for it, roughly) to see the difference. I'm figuring there should be a percentage of the Difference that I can target.

Test drove a Nissan Frontier at Lunch.....Nice Truck. Leaning towards one of those or a Toyota Tacoma

Depends - I'll be selling my truck in a month if you want a good deal :) ...

You never know....what are you selling :D

I knew a used car manager who usually started anywhere from $1800 up to $6500 over his cost. He did this to cover himself because he never knew what shop charges would be to make it safe and sound.

If he got a great deal on a trade or auction buy he could be way over his base cost to cover all the times the other new car managers buried him in a trade which happens often...even when the customer thinks they got screwed. The new and used car market is extremely poor right now.

Kellys or Edmunds is consistently way over what dealers offer for trades, especially now. The used car market is flooded with leased cars 2,3,4,and 5 years old with low miles...better than most trade ins.

They offer loan or ACV as MAC said.

As far as buying preowned private sales are higher priced still because people want BLUE BOOK that they couldn`t get at the dealer. You could buy the same model.color, and mileage for rather large differences in prices. Depends what they own it for and how aggressive they are to get a sale.

So....work it for all your worth.

I just bought a 2003 Eddie Bauer Expedition. Right now the market is really slow for used trucks, and big Suv's. With the price of gas, and the lower prices of some new trucks, sometimes it just makes sense to go new. My cousin's husband sells, and he told me to low ball them and see how they respond, that will tell you how firm their number is. I went ot one dealer who had the truck in a different color. He wanted 26900. It had the same options, and mileage plus or minus a couple hundred. I offered him 19000, and my 97 with 137000 miles, and he told me to pound sand. So I searched on autotrader .com, and found like 300 of them in a 75 mile radius. After some emails, I went in to test drive the one I got. They originally had it on the lot at 29900. When I went to test it they had it at 26900. They gave it to me for 21900, then gave me 3000 for my old one, final price 18900. The other dealer still had the first truck a week later when I went in for an inspection sticker with my new one, he was not happy. :devil:

I bought my truck last aug. it is a used 02 Chevy, I traded my 98 Ford.
I looked up the trade on Kelly (I think they are the closest) and printed it out and brought to the dealer with me.
They were asking $21,000 for the Chevy, and the Ford had a book of $6000, they offered me They offered me $4000. I showed them the Kelly print out and they went to $5000 saying I needed new ball joints and had a leak in the exhust.
I did not want to pay more then $15,000 for the truck and they had me down to $16,000
In the end we meet half way and I payed $15,500
But with out that print out I would have been doomed to the $4000 or so.
My truck has a Retail Vaule on Kelly right now of $18,740

If they no want to meet with you go some were else, They are hurting right now and they willing to make some good deals!

I have a year service with carfax, if you find something get the VIN # and PM me I will run it for you and send you the report!

Good Luck!

to stick your bird finger (longest)
into the tail pipe and hope it comes out brown
and not black....which means oils gettin by the
pistons....brown ....and its a decent engine.

Carfaxes sent!!

Got'em.....Thanx that was awesome. Much Appreciated

Carfax is ok but not proof positive


using them for over 8 years now and I personally know some vehicles (customer/friends) potential trade ins had a major accident with full police reports...never made it through the system to carfax. Also checking trade ins and finding evidence of half the vehicle being repainted and signs of body work with no evidence exposed by a carfax.

told them we couldn`t take it for trade here but good luck elsewhere...though any even half decent manager could acertain a major collision by visual inspection alone.

take any used vehicle to a friend/mechanic and have him give a good once over even if it cost you $50 to $100 it could save you thousands in the long run.

even the best brands are hurting now so you should be able to buy new into dealer holdback....so below invoice and some have more margins here as well.look for dealer incentives online. even then not all monies are listed or not offered to customers.

Like some of you have said shop it and work it hard...its really worth it.
Like Bill did.... same vehicle relatively...big price difference.

ex. say one dealer got a trade for $5,500 and the next had to pay $9,500 ( this is a little extreme but can happen) same vehicle, same mileage, same everything..... potentially big $$$ difference.... and work the trade to death and the new vehicle as well.... allow yourself at least a few hours if you know its the one you want...sometimes they just give in to be done with it and then try to make up for it on the next customer.

need more specific tips or info. feel free to PM me.

Good luck,
Mike

The only way a car gets on the carfax is from dealer repair, and state garages. If you take it to Joes Garage, It won't tell you in that case.

So you have to take it for whats its worth. But its a good start!

I think it also has to do with insurance and police reports.

Two I know 1st hand were over $11,000 dealer repair with insurance coverage.... just to let you know there are mistakes and holes in Carfax.

Best bet is to have someone in the business check out the used car thoroughly.... any dealer that won`t let you take it for an afternoon do not deal with them.

I`ve seen a collision accorded to a vehicle that had none due a transfer of registration.... customer was going to sue carfax but his lawyer said don`t bother... the dates of the purchase and registration didn`t match
either.... just be careful is all I`m saying.

Seventeen states do not participate in or turn over information to the "CARFAX" organization. So it really isn't to complete is it.

If you want to find an honest answer about what the average selling price of the vehicle in question ask your bank. They will tell you what the current average loan that is being given on a vehicle your interested in.
Seriously ask your banker.

No system is perfect!! But what is a loan agent going to tell you?? intrest and loan info has nothing to do with how the car your going to buy is running or any of its history.

Something is better then nothing.

Chech NADA.com....Kelly blue book is always high in my opinion....

Shoot me a PM. Cars are my business. Here locally most dealers use NADA New England Edition or Galves for used vehicles. In Nada they use loan value as a rough estimate on what a car is worth in the wholesale market. Sometimes a car will be under loan sometimes over. Galves on the other hand is for those dealers who want to steal a car. Galves values are rotten! No one in New England uses Black Book or Kelly Blue book those are used predominatly to the South and West Coast. Are you looking for a new or used vehicle?

looking for used. We ended up getting the wife hers over the weekend now we are working on one for me. got her a 2001 Honda Odyssey....she's happy so I'm happy.

Now my turn....:hee:

Loan agent telling you what the sales price/average loan is for is only useful on new vehicles, sorry.

good luck :wavey: