Used car shopping

The wife and I are contemplating downsizing her Expedition to either a Buick Enclave or GMC Acadia. Curious to see if you guys have any "go to" tactics for haggling on a used vehicle at a dealership. How do you land on a number you're happy with before you go in? I'd rather burn my eyebrows off with a lighter than deal with a car salesman, so I'm not exactly looking forward to the process

I recall seeing 13COBRA mention in some older thread that he has alcohol solely to deal with his used car salesmen... but I could be mistaken. In any case might be an upgrade from burning off eyebrows.

I see what KBB or NADA lists them at, what I see them for privately (if any at all), and try to come somewhere around there (factoring in that at a dealer, they are making a living so probably can't go AS low as private?). This is possibly not great advice, as I've only bought one car from a dealer. Good luck.

-J

There isn't an art to it. With the internet, prices are much more competitive online than they used to be. I don't run a "no-haggle" store, but I'm also not going to negotiate over a couple grand or anything. I sell used vehicles all over the country. I have a guy driving in from Wisconsin this morning to buy a Toyota Tundra. Sold a F-350 to a guy in Las Vegas last week.

I spend a ridiculous amount of money on online advertising, we don't advertise a price online to make a bunch of money; if I did that, there would be 100 other dealers to call before my phone would ring.

The article I wrote for the frontpage on here goes over how to trade a vehicle, but if you read it backwards it's how to buy a used car.

13COBRA said:

There isn't an art to it. With the internet, prices are much more competitive online than they used to be. I don't run a "no-haggle" store, but I'm also not going to negotiate over a couple grand or anything. I sell used vehicles all over the country. I have a guy driving in from Wisconsin this morning to buy a Toyota Tundra. Sold a F-350 to a guy in Las Vegas last week.

I spend a ridiculous amount of money on online advertising, we don't advertise a price online to make a bunch of money; if I did that, there would be 100 other dealers to call before my phone would ring.

The article I wrote for the frontpage on here goes over how to trade a vehicle, but if you read it backwards it's how to buy a used car.

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when you list a price online, is there typically much wiggle room, or is it set pretty close to your bottom dollar? I guess the trick in my mind is to not get boned while also not going in with unrealistic expectations

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hoamskilet said:

when you list a price online, is there typically much wiggle room, or is it set pretty close to your bottom dollar? I guess the trick in my mind is to not get boned while also not going in with unrealistic expectations

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Click to expand...

We price our cars to sell. I mean, I'm not going to lose a deal over a few hundred dollars, but most of the time deals are sold at the online price.

It's human nature to shop for something at the top of your price range, and want to purchase it in the bottom to middle of your price range. With the internet being so open to both buyers and sellers, vehicles are still selling for the "same" as they always have, there just isn't as much negotiation because of the competitiveness of online pricing.

This is one in particular we're quite interested in:

https://www.truecar.com/used-cars-for-sale/listing/5GAKRCKDXDJ158783/2013-buick-enclave/

We had an Enclave as a rental car we drove to Florida and back a few years ago and loved it. So, really I need to come up with a price in my head that I'm willing to accept. From the browsing I've done in the last week or so, their asking price is pretty fair already. Just out of curiosity I tried looking up the value on another site other than true car and this is what carfax came back with:

https://www.carfax.com/value/results

CARFAX History-Based Value

$24,070
Retail Value
Retail ValueI am buying this car at a dealership.
$20,920
Trade-In Value
Trade-In ValueI am trading in this car for another one.
$22,110
Private Party Value
Private Party ValueI am buying or selling this car myself.
2013 BUICK ENCLAVE

VIN: 5GAKRCKDXDJ158783

• Trim: LEATHER
• Condition: Excellent
• Mileage: 62,071

I always browse Autotrader, ebay, etc. to see what people WANT to get for their cars. Ebay is helpful because you can watch auctions to conclusion.

KBB, NAPA, etc. are helpful guides, but as shown in 13Cobra's post about trade-ins, they aren't super helpful.

I bought my '12 GT500 used from a dealer. The car had been on the lot for over 70 days. The salesman wouldn't even budge $25. Literally $25. He said it was being shipped from the San Diego dealer to their location in OC the next day. I told him to ship it. I then bought it from the OC location for the (new) listed Internet price... which was over $2k cheaper than my original offer.

Figure out your price range and stick to it. Remember that there are tons of other cars out there.

$21,870 seems high to me.

I would have that car on my lot for $20,287 and expect to get that out of it. It brings $18,250 at the auction. Figure $150 for cleaning, $800 for random service/body work/recon. They'd be in it for just over $19,300 or so. So I would think it's fair to make a grand or a little less.

13COBRA said:

$21,870 seems high to me.

I would have that car on my lot for $20,287 and expect to get that out of it. It brings $18,250 at the auction. Figure $150 for cleaning, $800 for random service/body work/recon. They'd be in it for just over $19,300 or so. So I would think it's fair to make a grand or a little less.

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thanks for the insight. That was very helpful. My initial thought before your post was to shoot for 21k

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In negotiating buying a car, you can always go up. Its very very hard to go down once you spit out an initial number. Offer low(without being ridiculous) and leave a little negotiating room l for you to come up a bit after arm wrestling with someone

Looking at cars.com for Enclaves with same equipment and mileage within 150 miles of your location gives you a good look at the market and supply. You will have a better idea of what fair market is.

Ironically, most Used car lots at dealers are the money makers for the entire dealership next to service departments. They get the dough from OEM's for selling new units, but they can make cold hard cash off the used instead of having to kick back to OEM for it.

So be aware, the average dealer used lot has some heavy mark up if you just walk in and look at prices. 13Cobra nails it in the fact you should shop online as those prices are more reasonable.