How to buy a truck?

Bird · Nov 15, 2005

( delaying the appraisal of my trade-in )

I've had salesmen at two different dealerships just keep trying to sell me something and refusing to give back my keys to the one they "appraised" until I got loud and obnoxious in their showroom just to get my keys back. Needless to say, those salesmen never sold me anything.

The last time I bought a new vehicle, I spec'd out exactly what I wanted on Ford's website, then sent a request to 3 dealers for a price; no trade-in. The low bidder also turned out to be the only one with exactly what I wanted in stock, so that one made the sale. Everything was handled via e-mail and telephone until I went to the dealer to sign my name and drive off.

Of course the games car dealers play is the reason I've bought our last two vehicles from Carmax; no hassle, no bargaining; they tell you what they'll PAY for your "trade-in" whether you buy from them or not, and have the price of theirs posted on each vehicle; take it or leave it.

guyrj33 · Nov 15, 2005

I did something like this with one car. Started negotiating at 4:30 on a Friday night; dealership closed at 5:00. We left at 7:00.
It was easy to agree on a price for the car, but the price of my trade in took some time.
I spent the last 2 hours talking about everything I could think of that wasn't related to cars. During that time my trade gained over $1.000 in value. 2 hours well spent.

DrRod · Nov 15, 2005

Bird -- gotta agree on CarMax for selling your trade-in. I have gone there twice with friends and once for myself to get a quote and all three times they were significantly higher than the dealer. One of my friends brought in a BMW Z-3 -- the dealer offered her $12K, CarMax offered $14K. Again, time well spent.

Bird · Nov 15, 2005

Rod, I "traded in" a Ford Escort on a Windstar van. The Ford dealer offered me $2800 for the Escort and Carmax gave me $4600. And I once took a Ford F150 pickup to 3 or 4 used car lots to sell outright; best offer was $5,500; Carmax gave me $6,600. And when I bought my little 2001 Ford Ranger, I tried to buy from the local dealer who services my vehicles, but went to Carmax and bought the same year model, lower mileage, better equipped Ranger for $1,500 less than the dealer wanted for his. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

RobertN · Nov 15, 2005

Becuase it is what the dealer buys and sells at that for that 1/3...

If you buy today for $10,000, they'll buy it back 6 months later for $7,000. Then, they sell it off the lot for $9000.

You bought at new prices. When you traded it in, they only gave you low bluebook, or wholesale. When they resell it, they'll sell it at high bluebook, or retail pricing.

kevincook · Nov 15, 2005

RaT,

First, make the shopping process completely separate from the buying process. Look on Edmunds, etc for the trucks you think you are interested in and get the invoice pricing and rebates and dealer incentives.

Then go test drive the trucks you are interested in. Tell the dealers that you are just looking and have no intention of buying on that day. Tell them you haven't decided what to buy yet and there are several makes that you want to look at. This will usually keep them at bay for a while.

After you have decided what truck you want you can then talk to the salesman about purchasing a truck. Start right off with the price you want to pay and exactly what you want for your trade. I don't try to get every nickle out of the deal but I want a very good deal. The dealer makes some money and I don't get ripped off. A few hundred over invoice is reasonable for the dealer. You get all dealer incentives and rebates. You have to be very unemotional. If they don't accept the price say "thank you for your time, I'll see if someone else can make the deal with me". Some dealers just don't want to make the deal but I have always found someone within the first three that will make the deal I propose.

Beware, one of their favorite tactics is to tell you that they need to go talk to the sales manager. They are really just wasting your time. Tell them if they can't decide then you want to speak with the sales manager. If they won't do that, just get up and start to leave......they will come running after you.

If you post what you want here someone might be able to guide you on a good place to find a current good deal. I like to use quirk for a reference point. They usually have good deals posted in their newspaper ads (available under hot deals) and they are legit. Walk in and they will sell to you for that price. No gimmicks.

Good Luck,
Kevin

MossRoad · Nov 15, 2005

I have never purchased a new vehicle 

Why start now! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

But seriously, I've only purchased one new vehicle in my life. The sticker said thirteen thousand something and we got it for eleven thousand something. The credit union did the haggling for us and we took delivery there, not at the dealer. It ended up being about $100.00 more than the best deals listed in the blue book and no haggling. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif I was never taught the 'art' of haggling. I hate it, because someone else always gets a better deal than me, no matter how good I think I've done. Then I want to punch the salesman, or the guy that has to let me know what a bad deal I got. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

So now I buy used vehicles. I research them on the internet and start looking. Some times it takes six months to find something that fits my bill, but it is worth the wait. Sometimes we go to dealers and test drive used cars. If they are asking more than what they are going for in the paper(and they usually are), I shop private sellers. The last car we bought was a used 2000 Impala. It stickered for $26,000 new and we bought it three years old for $13,000. Half the price in three years. It still had two years and 18,000 miles of the five year/ 60,000 mile warranty left on it. I really don't think I'll ever buy new again. No reason to. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Bird · Nov 15, 2005

David, my dad always said to never buy a new vehicle; let someone else take that first couple of years depreciation. However, he did buy a new delivery pickup once for his auto parts store; bought it partially because the dealer was one of his biggest customers. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif And then he once bought a new Buick when a dealer went bankrupt and a bank was liquidating the inventory.

Now for me . . . I've bought 11 new cars and pickups, two new motorhomes, in addition to the used ones I've bought. But I think I've finally learned the lesson; don't anticipate ever buying a new one again. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

kevincook · Nov 15, 2005

For some reason, I usually buy used vehicles for me and new ones for the wife. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Kevin

_RaT_ · Nov 15, 2005

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif My wife and I have never bought new thus the question about buying new. I would like a small Tacoma type truck but the 05 and 06 are unheard of used. I am still debating it. It seems so foolish to buy new, but it also seems to be the exact truck I would like. We will see. Edmunds does seem to be a great place to get solid info from.