OT: Buying a car from dealership

As much as I hate to purchase a used vehicle from a dealership, the one I want is nowhere to be found from private sellers. Therefore, I'm negotiating a price with a dealer via email and out of state. They may accept my offer and I plan to pay cash. Years ago, cash was king but I hear nowadays, it doesn't pull it's weight with dealerships much anymore and some actually avoid it because they will think you want to finance which earns them revenue, though, it's all hearsay. In my final email confirming terms, I am at limbo whether to disclose my cash payment or to simply let it pass and if they accept, do I just pick up the car and hand them cash. My concern is being out of state and problems occur. I haven't a problem walking away, but I hate to have extra expense to a return trip home without a new vehicle.

Anyone have dealer experience who can enlighten me this issue?

Thanks

Reply to
Meanie
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Years ago I bought a minivan via EBay Motors. The dealer was in Florida and I live in Virginia. They answered all my questions via email and promised to pick me up at the airport. If I didn't like to car they would take me back to the airport.

When I arrived there was someone there to get me. They took me to a the worst small dealership I had ever seen. The guy who greeted me was the stereotypical used car dealer. I was starting to regret what I had done.

They sent a guy with me to the road trip. I told him everything I thought was wrong with the car afterwards and they told me to get them fixed when I get home and they will reimburse me. All this was in writing. So I drove home that day and stopped overnight in North Carolina. The next morning the car wouldn't start. Someone gave me a jump start and I drove the entire way back home. I stopped at Advance Auto and they diagnosed a bad battery which got replaced. I had a couple other things fixed by the local garage. I sent all the bills to the selling dealer and they sent me a reimbursement check the next week.

Despite the breakdown overnight, the entire process was the easiest time I've ever had purchasing a car. I was very leery of doing business over the internet like that but my wife was big into EBay those days and she assured me it would be fine. We had that minivan for ten more years. I'm not sure I would do that again though. The last four cars I've bought since then have all been from the same salesman at different dealerships. He's always gotten us a good deal and we trust him. That's worth as much as a good mechanic you trust.

Reply to
badgolferman

Can they give you a lien-free endorsed title, a bill of sale, and issue you a temporary license plate to drive home on ?

Will they accept a bank or cashiers check after giving you a full, bottom line, out-the-door, dollar figure ? (Don't do actual cash)

Then yes, you give them the check, they give you the keys and paperwork.

Don't forget to call your insurance ASAP.

Reply to
Retired

Is the full vehicle history available ? as to ownerships & accidents etc. An accident-case should be discounted quite a bit. Some dealers seem to specialize in these "bargains". Daily Rental cars are also discounted. I can't imagine negotiating on a used car before a thorough inspection and a test drive. John T.

Reply to
hubops

A clean Carfax history is provided. No accidents involved. It was a 1 yr

11 month lease, which is common for lease vehicles. My only concern is last registrant name is under Honda Lease and Trust in Minnesota (car is in Fargo, ND). Thus, I'm wondering if it was a company vehicle.

I agree about negotiating without inspection and test drive, but I am unable to find this specific car within a close distance of my home. If I want them to save it, I must lay a non-refundable deposit or travel and risk having the car sold when I arrive. If I can negotiate a deposit return upon anything faulty, damaged, non-working, etc., I would do so, but from past info of another dealer, they don't do that. The plus side is the vehicle is a 2014 with only 20,xxx miles on it and photos of it look great. I have spoken to several people who have purchased vehicles out of state with great success. My insurance provider used two dealers against each to negotiate price and he went out of state as well.

Overall, being the first time seeking out of state and laying down a deposit without viewing is what leads my apprehension.

Reply to
Meanie

The cash price will be higher than if you finance. The last time we bought a car the guy was straighter with me than I expected. He flat out said they did not want my cash and there was an extra $1000 he could toss in if I financed some minimum amount. ($10k I think) He also said I needed to keep the loan for at least 4 months so I took the grand, divided the loan amount by 4 and made the first 3 payments, them I called for the payoff balance. It ended up costing about $200 but that still netted me $800 off. We also got $10,000 knocked off of the sticker in an end of the model year deal. By the time Obama had given me $4500 for a clunker, the IRS gave me a few hundred in tax credits and they gave me $500 for the scrap value of the rusted out truck, I was pretty happy.

Reply to
gfretwell

No need to disclose that you will be paying cash. And it is not hearsay about dealers no liking cash. It happened to me.

We went to a dealer to buy a Toyota when they had an "All in Stock at This Price" sale. No bargaining. The deal was sealed. Until they found out that we would pay cash and that we would not be buying an extended warranty, prepaid maintenance, fabric guard, paint protection, gold package, digital ash trays, glass etching, or any of many other dealer add-ons. They reneged on the deal by making up a c*ck and bull story about the car having been damaged, then repaired, but not being "cleared by Toyota." Almost certainly illegal, but what are you going to do, take them to court?

We returned the next day, made sure we talked to a different sales person and finance office person, financed the vehicle, and paid it off the first month. They had no intention of honoring the published price unless the buyer gave them some more profit somewhere. Their ad price was about $1500 under "invoice," and probably only about $300 over the real dealer cost. We did not get the color we wanted though. 20 years later we still have that Camry, and my wife still talks about how she wanted "Shadow Plum Pearl" not white, even though she doesn't even drive that car anymore.

We had flown down to the L.A. area from the San Francisco area to buy the car because for some reason the Southern California dealers for Toyota and Lexus typically have much lower prices than the Northern California dealers. In 1996, the price difference was $1500, which made it worth it. If we had not bought the car we would have had to fly back.

You could finance it, being certain that there is no prepayment penalty, then pay it off a week or so later and pay only a very small amount of interest.

Reply to
sms

Like you, with me cash is king. OTOH, I've heard (from an attorney friend) that you can stick it to the man by going along with their financing over a long period of time and crying poor mouth at the negotiating table.

They will, I'm told, cut you a better deal as they will get a piece of the financing. So you let them "screw you" on the financing and then instead of making the first payment, you pay the entire principal off. You may get dinged a bit of interest but you should save quite a bit.

My daughter and her husband did similar with their first new car purchase. She played the banker and her husband acted like he was not allowed to speak. (Both are doctors. He's a DDS and she's a PhD)

She drove a hard bargain and they were intending to finance it anyway. Salesman ordered up the car for them, they got the price they wanted and when they went to pick up the car, she looked at the contract and asked "What's this $500 here for?" Salesman told her "Oh, that's your down payment in order to get financing."

She said, "Oh, you never told me that. There's been a misunderstanding. Here's a cashier's check for $12,000. THAT's our down payment!"

LOL!

Reply to
Unquestionably Confused

I'd only purchase locally, if you buy out of state and there is a problem you are probably screwed.

I have a friend who is a car dealer...mainly new...but when I needed to get a car five years ago I told him basically what I wanted and gave him the maximum amount.

Two weeks later he told me he found just the car I wanted and it was "well below" what I had mentioned.

From the specs, it was a few thousand dollars less than similar cars I saw in local ads. so I figured it would be a good deal.

I got there with my check book and the price was about $500 below my max. Then he said there are such and such costs and when he was done with his calculations ...how do you like that...it was five bucks below my max. I of course knew he had that all worked out in advance...but it did end up being a good car. In five years (other than oil changes) it's only needed a brake job.

Reply to
philo

Just check the dates on the history report - it should indicate the return to the lease company - as well as the transfer from the lease company to the dealership .. it might give you some bargaining power - if the dealer has had it for several months ... If the dealer has only had it for a couple weeks and it is a rare, much-in-demand model - you should move on it. The history report , unfortunately, will not help you - in knowing how the car was treated for it's first 2 years .. personal lease or fleet lease ... or daily rental .. Also - from my experience < in Ontario Canada > not all accidents are on the record ... hence the advice from the careful experts - have your trusted mechanic put it up on the hoist and give it a thorough inspection .. The other posts in this thread that seem to be pro-financing - I don't think it applies to used cars ... usually you are locked in with those financing conditions ... new cars - dunno .. John T.

Reply to
hubops

I had a strange experince, earlier this year. Drove from NYS to SC, to look at a vehicle. At a lot a friend reccomended. Got there, the deler said he sold it earlier in the day. We went out back and found a vehicle which was better suited, cheaper, "just came in". I drove it home, and have been reasonably satisfied.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Still have some of the manufacturer's warranty? Given the age and miles it should have little wear. I'd probably go for it. You can probably sell it for about what you paid for it. If nothing else, you got a mini-vacation in North Dakota.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

In all the years I've been buying used cars, I've bought about half of them privately, and half the rest from "brokers" or "wholesalers" I've never had anything go wrong that I didn't expect when I bought it except for one private sale non-running vehicle that was in a lot worse shape than the (mechanic) guy I bought it from indicated - and I had taken his word.. It cost me more than I had expected and didn't last as long as I had hoped - but I still got my money's worth.

It was one of 2 that I purchased farther than 50km from home. The other was an "as traded" from a dealer which my wife is still driving and which has been virtually trouble free. It was a very low mileage

12 year old cream-puff that they had to put front springs in before it could leave the lot
Reply to
clare

What kind of problem do you envision? The car is new enough that it is probably still under the manufacturer's warranty and any dealer can take care of it.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

My daughter bought a year-old used car from a dealer and got over $600 off for financing the car with the dealer - and the terms allowed her to pay it off in full after 2 months. The rate was something like

3 or 3.25%, so not much of a decision.
Reply to
clare

You can buy a new car with nothing down in most cases. I had to tell the dealer the last few times I wanted to make a down payment. I don't want to be under water on a loan.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

.. sounds like a Taurus - front springs were a 10 year hidden warranty .. 2001 & there - abouts .. I shopped for a cream-puff Taurus - not rare - but I didn't find one, when I needed a car .. We have owned 4 Taurus s : 1996 wagon ; 2 x 2001 sedans ; 2006 sedan . and all were ~ trouble free. I scrapped 3 Vulcan engines that were going strong - all with 300 - 360 on them. I would change the oil at 7500 km - and wonder why bother - it wasn't at all dirty .. oh well ... John T.

Reply to
hubops

[snip]

That might be like. . .

The grand prize is an all-expense paid week's trip to Cleveland, Ohio!

And second prize is two weeks in Cleveland!

Reply to
Unquestionably Confused

Neither did the kids. They capitalized on the car dealer's greed. She even beat him out of the transportation charges and dealer prep. They did a dealer swap and got the car they wanted from a dealership about 45 miles distant. She played dumb - even when he told her the transportation charge was from the factory to the dealer - and just kept refusing pay the transport and dealer prep. Why? "Well you already told me the car is just down the road, I can go there and pick it up from them instead of you and save the transportation charge. And why should I pay you to prep a brand new car. The factory should have done that. I'm not paying."

It was not unlike the practical jokes played on telephone solicitors. My wife and laughed so hard. Betting that the sales sap was never so glad to wrap up a deal and get them out of his store.

Reply to
Unquestionably Confused

02 SEL 32 valve (Duratec 3.0) - been a FANTASTIC car so far. Bought it with 53000km on it for $6500 in showroom condition. 4 years ago Put over 20,000km on it the first year. Ready to turn the 100,000km any day now.

I change the oil twice a year, synthetic oil and factory filter. I replaced the tires that came on it with another set of Tiger Paw Touring - won't buy another set of them. The rubber is cracking pretty baddly after only 3 years. I've replaced the brake pads on the front, and just replaced the battery.. Other than that just the typical Ford electrical gremlins - like door lock switches and PATS sensor - and a set of headlights (they yellowed - I sanded and sealed them, and they yellowed again - so I bought a new aftermarket set off Ebay.

I've run across a few more recently with very low mileage and in very good condition - mostly SE models with the Vulcan engine. I've been spoiled by the Duratec - had the 2.5 in the Mystique we had before the Taurus. They are "old man cars" - but I'm not a young feller any more.

It's my Wife's car - I drive the 1996 Ranger I bought privately about the same time with 307,000km on it - again in showroom condition. but needing a clutch cyl.. $1500 plus $900 for clutch and $300 for winsheild - so well under $3000 on the road..

I've put on different wheels and tires and bigger front brakes, as well as replacing U Joints to get it up to the current 341000km.

I also installed AC which it didn't have from the factory, and I replaced the battery (it was9 years old and still starting the truck).

5 speed 4 liter long box standard cab with 3.55 posi, box liner ans cap.

Virtually everything else on the truck is still original including the rear brakes.

Reply to
clare

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