Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General Dealer Selling Used Contour on Crack

I think that's the approach I take to car buying. I lay my cards out, and have them give me the bottom line. If that bottom line isn't acceptable, I leave. Like when I bought the Contour, everything was based on the payment which I would have on a 5 year loan. I told them I owed $4,000 on my Sentra, had $2500 cash, and told them to quote me a payment for 5 years trading in the Sentra and having that loan paid off. The payment came to a reasonable value considering interest rates and what I was buying, and what was thrown into the deal, so I bought. Some may have gotten the car for less haggling every part, but that small difference isn't worth my time and trouble. I've already run the numbers, so I know what I'll accept.

I don't play games, and I don't tolerate games. I have them give me their best offer, and since I've already researched what I think is good value, I take it or leave it.

I still believe that you are comparing wholesale and retail when using the auction price. If you can buy the car at auction, do so, but from what I see it's normally dealers getting cars to resell on speculation. Therefore, it's not indicative of a price I'd compare to when sitting on the lot.

Depreciation is irrelevant to this discussion. A car is a purchase, not an investment, so the car should be assumed to have zero salvage value at the time of purchase.

You're not emotionally attached to the car? Then don't buy it. You'll live to regret it. I made that mistake once with my Sentra, and I will never do it again. The value of having an emotional attachment to your car transcends money, and makes even an unpleasant commute much better. Of course, don't let the dealer see that.

WMCougar, making deals amicable to all involved has nothing to do with socialism. Socialism is where government controls the deals made. Except for a few exceptions, including cars, we do not live in a bargaining society. It's against our culture to bargain in stores.

I guess my rural upbringing is showing. I just believe it's better to create a long term business relationship where I am a repeat customer than to shave a little money off the price. You treat others right, they'll treat you right, and if they don't subscribe to that, they aren't worthy of my business.

Think of it this way, it's this kind of sharp dealing that is at the heart of the Firestone tire fiasco. Ford tried to get the tires too cheaply (their only fault) and Firestone cut corners to supply them rather than insist on a fair price for the tire they were contracted to supply. An amenable deal would have only cost a little more initially and saved a lot in the long run.

No my friend, socialism is NOT government controlled, unless you consider everyone in the country the government. Socialism is set up and run by all of the people, where the collectiev wealth of the country is the property of all of its people. The government does not control trade or business transactions, it simply takes all profits and distributes them evenly among the people. All people work for a greater good, and share the country's wealth. When a government enforces socialism by controlling the labor force and the economy it is called communism. Socialism is run by the people, communism is run by the state.

I realize that not much of our society is haggle based, because many of our society are too weak of mind to bargain well anyway. As I stated, if you try to haggle in Best Buy, you won't get anywhere. But, the higher up items get in price, the more likely to you are to haggle on the price. High end electronics stores, unlike a more wholesale/bargain price oriented BestBuy, are open to haggling, and welcome it. Same goes with big ticket items like houses and cars.

WMCougar, read Marxist theory, which developed socialism and communism. You have them reversed.

svtcarboy, that is a great way to buy a car and get around the bs. it works on my car lot. i do take the customers offer if it allows me enough profit on the car and if not, i tell him how much more i need to make the sale. usually we come to terms. if not, some one else will come alone that can meet my requirements. or not, then i am stuck with a car that actually loses me money. sometimes that happens. thanks goodness not to often or i would be unable to pay my bills. this is still better than a real job

it is better to beg forgivness than to ask permission

Well, I'm gonna pay off my SVT, drive it until it dies or requires over $1000/year in repairs.

The car dealer is not looking out for my best interest so I'm not too conserned about their well being either.

i know of three '98's with less miles that went for better prices than that.
blue Contour lx, 4 cyl, auto, 4250, 50,000 miles
white Contour lx, 4 cyl, auto, cd, sunroof, 5,500 47,000 miles
black Mystique ls, v6, manual, leather, sunroof, cd, sport/spree package 6,700 30,000

Update:

Dealer is probably still on crack. The car is still there as of yesterday. The CarFax recently run on this (thanks CEG) indicates this car was sold/traded on or before 09/20/01 and hasn't been registered since, moved only about 100 total miles since then.

I did speak with the salesman again last week. He said the price is still $6900, and wasn't too friendly about it. I got worked up driving back to the office and decided to give the Used Car Manager (UCM) a call.

Spoke with Frank, the UCM, and told him I didn't think Doc liked me much and felt he might have been a bit rude. Told him it looked like the car had been there a while (prior to me having the CarFax data) and that I wanted a chance to buy it before he wholesaled it or sent it to auction.

He said he'd give me a call before he did anything and was probably going to do something this week.

I'm not holding my breath or anything, but if it hasn't sold in 6-7 months at $6900, then you'd think they would entertain almost any offer to "move the iron"

TB

I'd not even deal with the salesdork, go straight to mgr, if he even calls.

I say F the dealer, they make money anyways... i really love the local yocal small dealers, my friends uncle owns one, he bought a 94 Mustang GT for 2k at a auction, ended up selling it to some 17yo kid for 8k... rippoff, i saw it and the kid was all happy, he got jipped... dude made a 6k profit...? all i can say, is F the dealers, you tell them the price you will pay, if they dont like or want to budge F them, find someone else...

They'll probably find out how much of a fool they are when no one wants to buy that car. If they send it to auction, I bet you could get it for WAY less than $6900.