I am about to buy a 02 maxima SE. the credit union i tried to go through says the car is worth 15,400. so i am assuming all credit unions use the same calculations on cars, or at least very close. i have read many how to beat a car salesman websites and i kno whow not to get screwed blah blah. but it comes down to these guys have to make a profit....thats why they sell cars. how much is to much profit to give these car salesman. i cant say hey the car is worth 15,400 and i am not giving you a penny more. how much should i give these guys on a car that costs 15, 400. is settling for 16500 too much?

does a y pipe and an intake take away life of the car?i would not be driving the car hard at all. just want extra ponies for when i need them

 

You can't give a car salesman enough profit is what I say... they'll never be satisfied... it sounds like you're being a little too "nice" here... remember, they look at their monthly bottom line, not per car bottom lines... so if they lose money on one car, they'll try get it back on another... I have a friend who used to work as a used car salesman... so I've heard the inside take on this.

You CAN get them to go down to $15,000 if you try hard enough.... if they don't they don't... but its possible. I wouldn't give a rat's @ss whether they have to make a profit or not, I'm buying the car and I want it for as cheap as I can get it. Its all about what I want because I'm the buyer with the cash. Heck I'd start negotiating at $14,500 and let them try to work it up... if it hits $15,400... get it... if not, just tell them you'll walk... if they let ya go, so be it... there are plenty of other places you can get a Max... and there's a huge difference between $15,400 and $16,500....

Also, be very picky, use whatever you don't like about the car as an excuse to bring the price down.... I got my car brand new but told the dealership I didn't want leather or a sunroof and told em to get me another blue Max, but they wanted to sell the fully loaded one, so they gave it to me w/o the price of the leather and sunroof....

 

Not that I know of... I've had an intake on for around 1000 miles now and its fine... I haven't heard of anyone having problems with y-pipes either....

Btw with an intake/y-pipe that's a lot of ponies there that you might suddenly "need"...

 

Look at it this way...they won't make a deal where they lose money, so the trick is to offer less than the car is worth and let them work you up. If you offer them more than they expected they sure as hell won't say "hey, that's a little high...how about (insert lower number) instead?"

But it's your money...give it away if you want.

 

I would stick with the information you gathered from your credit union, also you can check edmunds or kbb for price quotes. As mentioned earlier, you never settle for the first price. Negotiate. For example, seldomly do people pay MSRP for a new car, consumers want to pay between the MSRP and Invoice price. Dealers rarely ever give a price under invoice, just my .02cents. Good luck, keep us posted.


-K-

 

Just wondering: Why is it that when we buy our cars (the very one(s) that we will eventually trade or sell) we try to play games and pay nothing for them, but, when we trade or sell them (the very one(s) that we thought was worthless when we bought) the dealership is trying to rip us off? If they don't give enough we think they're stealing it yet when they do give enough to actually trade they are selling the "worthless piece of junk" for too much. How should it work?

 

1. We never think our cars are "worthless" or even "pieces of junk" when we buy them (or sell them for that matter), we just refuse to buy them at the prices dealers ask for, because we know more likely than not, these prices are inflated to realize a certain profit margin. These prices are also sufficiently inflated to allow for a certain amount of negotiating; buyers always feel better and happier when they think they have "negotiated" a "lower" price.

It is not wrong to ask for a lower price due to certain defects or damages, it depends on how picky the buyer is. They may be artificially picky if they want to bring the price down.

Also, there is higher risk and higher costs to us with dealership purchases, because it is harder to obtain credible maintenence, repair, and accident information, therefore, we may not agree topay the price that the dealer is asking for.

2. I would never trade-in or sell a car to a dealership if I can help it. Unless of course, they give me decent money for it on my purchase.

3. Finally, judging by your screen name... maybe you're offended by all this, but why don't you tell us your perspective and how we can go about getting the best deal on used cars... if you can set the record straight or give us some good insight, its likely that we'll be more understanding...