Any Car Negotiation Advice???

[Redskins8588]

Looking at buying a 2006 Honda Pilot with 60,000 miles and it is certified by Honda. Anyhow I am pretty much set on a Pilot I have 3 children and their ages are 5 to 10. I need more space, I currently rock a Hyundai Santa Fe. I like the car and I am not going to trade it in, its paid for. So I did my home work and looked on Kelly Blue Book, NADA, and Edmund's. They range it between $19,950 - $22,580. They sent me an offer at $18,545, already $1400 under the low limit. I want to go lower, more like $17,500 to $18,000. What are the odds that I can get that much lower?

Any tips on this would be greatly appreciated....

[tryfuhl]

Hold out. Doesn't seem like you're in a rush to make the purchase. They need to know that you don't need the vehicle but you're interested if the price becomes appropriate.

Put in your offer and they may reject it, if they can't move it in a week or two they may call you with an offer. Tell them that you're not ready to play games etc.

[SolidSnake84]

It depends on how the Honda Pilot sells in your particular area. If it is a top selling unit, then the dealership has the edge on the price. But if sales for that particular vehicle are sluggish, then you have the advantage. You can easily find out. Purchase something called "the black book", or hook up with a friend that works at a car lot or something.

Black Book
Basically, the "black book" is what 95% of car lots use to judge trade in/sale prices of vehicles. The dealership that I work part-time at uses it as well. I dont know the exact science of it, but the book is basically a car bible that shows the prices of cars based on your area. The book is also updated once a year to reflect on economic situations, inflation, etc.. They have it split into a couple different regions. (North East, South, Midwest, etc...) The prices are very accurate too. check it out and good look.

[mooby]

Yeah the Black Book is what my used car sales manager uses at the dealership I work at. It all depends on that book because I know at my dealership my manager would never go under the price listed in the book. In some cases the price going on the lot may be much/slightly higher, so you might have some wiggle room, but you'll find out soon enough if that's the case.

[mooby]

Originally Posted by Redskins8588

Looking at buying a 2006 Honda Pilot with 60,000 miles and it is certified by Honda. Anyhow I am pretty much set on a Pilot I have 3 children and their ages are 5 to 10. I need more space, I currently rock a Hyundai Santa Fe. I like the car and I am not going to trade it in, its paid for. So I did my home work and looked on Kelly Blue Book, NADA, and Edmund's. They range it between $19,950 - $22,580. They sent me an offer at $18,545, already $1400 under the low limit. I want to go lower, more like $17,500 to $18,000. What are the odds that I can get that much lower?

Any tips on this would be greatly appreciated....

Also didn't mention this before but since you're looking at going about 500 to 1k lower it might be doable. Not sure what the taxes/tags/freight/processing fees are like in PA, but here in VA we have some wiggle room. On used cars we charge a tax, tags, reconditioning, transportation, and processing fee. I sold a used MR2 Spyder on Sunday and one of the reasons I was able to get a deal done is we waived the recon/transportation fees (about 500 bucks total) so it might be doable. I know since you're in PA and everything you might be looking at different fees from the dealership and such but like SolidSnake already said it also helps if you're trying to buy a car that has been on the lot for a while and doesn't sell. If a used Pilot is a good/hot seller for that dealership odds are slim they'll lower the price for you.

[Terpfan76]

Do you have your own financing set up? When I bought my Charger 2 years ago, we had a deal set up that I was pretty happy with. When I went in to sign the paperwork, the payments had went up. They told me that my credit was 2 points lower than what I needed for the interest rate they had told me I already qualified for. Just keep an eye out for that sort of thing as my payment ended up being about $25-30 a month more. Yeah, I know that's not a lot, but it adds up.

[Redskins8588]

Originally Posted by Terpfan76

Do you have your own financing set up? When I bought my Charger 2 years ago, we had a deal set up that I was pretty happy with. When I went in to sign the paperwork, the payments had went up. They told me that my credit was 2 points lower than what I needed for the interest rate they had told me I already qualified for. Just keep an eye out for that sort of thing as my payment ended up being about $25-30 a month more. Yeah, I know that's not a lot, but it adds up.

I already have financing in my back pocket that they do not know about, my thought was to see what they can do 1st then if its not better than mine I have that to fall back on.

[cpayne5]

Buying a certified car, you're buying a car with an extended warranty built into the price. If you want to pay less for the car, ask them to price the car without the certified status. That should save you some money.

[mlmdub130]

Originally Posted by Redskins8588

I already have financing in my back pocket that they do not know about, my thought was to see what they can do 1st then if its not better than mine I have that to fall back on.

if you have a paid off vehicle and you have private financing then i would just wait until the deal comes to the price you want, i mean it sounds like you are in no hurry at all to make the purchase. and i would be willing to bet the dealership needs to sell that car more than you need to buy it you know what i mean.

[firstdown]

Go low like around $16,500 and work up. They might luagh at you but they may also say yes. You can always go higher but you can never go lower after making an offer. Car sales are slow so you have that going for you. Have you looked in the private market because you can usually save money that way and just because its cerified really means nothing. To me certified just gives them a chance to cover up abuse and neglect. I rather see a car before they get to clean it up and change the fkuids. After they change the fkuids you cannot tell much by looking at new fluids.

[TheMalcolmConnection]

Sorry FD, but fkuids two times in a row made me LOL.

[cpayne5]

Originally Posted by firstdown

Go low like around $16,500 and work up. They might luagh at you but they may also say yes. You can always go higher but you can never go lower after making an offer. Car sales are slow so you have that going for you. Have you looked in the private market because you can usually save money that way and just because its cerified really means nothing. To me certified just gives them a chance to cover up abuse and neglect. I rather see a car before they get to clean it up and change the fkuids. After they change the fkuids you cannot tell much by looking at new fluids.

A visual test of the fkuids is a very poor indicator of its condition. If you want to know the true condition of a fkuid, send it off to a lab for an analysis where you will get a detailed report that has actual meaning.

[SolidSnake84]

looking at transmission fluid, before a change, is a VERY good indicator of what is going on. Fluid that is almost black is a sure sign of heat buildup. Gritty particles in the fluid also are telltale signs of problems. Most tranny fluid that is nearing the end of its service life will be light brown in color.

When we got my wifes car, a mitsubishi mirage that had 155,000 miles on it, the first thing i checked was the transmission fluid. It was light brown and needed changed. We changed it 2 times to get all the old fluid out, and now, 5,000 miles later, it is still brand new red. Fine shifts and all that. Had the fluid been black, i would have never got the car...

[TheMalcolmConnection]

Originally Posted by cpayne5

A visual test of the fkuids is a very poor indicator of its condition. If you want to know the true condition of a fkuid, send it off to a lab for an analysis where you will get a detailed report that has actual meaning.

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahaha!

[cpayne5]

Originally Posted by SolidSnake84

looking at transmission fluid, before a change, is a VERY good indicator of what is going on. Fluid that is almost black is a sure sign of heat buildup. Gritty particles in the fluid also are telltale signs of problems. Most tranny fluid that is nearing the end of its service life will be light brown in color.

When we got my wifes car, a mitsubishi mirage that had 155,000 miles on it, the first thing i checked was the transmission fluid. It was light brown and needed changed. We changed it 2 times to get all the old fluid out, and now, 5,000 miles later, it is still brand new red. Fine shifts and all that. Had the fluid been black, i would have never got the car...

Eh, not really.

Different fluids break down is various ways for various reasons. If you want to know the truth and not take a guess, get it analyzed.