AJJohnson

As much as I would love a new one, my budget limits me to pre-owned cars as I search for my next vehicle (09-10 Max SV Premium-- ~30k miles)

While I have learned a lot on here about buyer negotiations, terms, and discounts respective to sticker price; there is not much information like this for the pre-owned market. I'm seeing asking prices in the 26k-28k range for the above mentioned car. What are you guys getting off these prices? Do dealers have as much wiggle room with used cars and they do new ones?

Thanks.

04avalon

If i were you I would rather get the 2012 Maxima s with LE package for around that price. The problem with used Maximas, is most dealers like to price them used based on the original MSRP. So I have seen in my area a 2010 Maxima sport, with no tech package and 22k miles for $31,000 which is crazy.

tundradave24

hey there is nothing wrong with a pre loved maxima , i went that route 4 months ago and love it i payed 23k and change for my 09 max sv with 24,000 miles on it , it took some talking back and forth over two days but i felt good with my deal , i live in south florida and the original price the car was listed for was like 26,800 i think , the only thing my car is missing is the navi and the sport package which i didnt care about all i wanted was the monitor package which it has and the sv package . hope this info helps , remember you arent there to make friends be polite but firm and make them win you over . good luck.

Richard66

I paid 28k for a silver 2009 SV Sport/tech pkg 4 months ago with 11,000 miles on it. Included with it was free oil changes for 2 years and an extended 10 year 120k warranty. This car was in absolute mint condition.

20_Maxima_10

I payed 28k for mine my 2010 SV fully loaded with 27,000 miles on her. Certified Pre-owned. I ended up buying out of state because I couldn't find exactly what I wanted and the dealers in AZ wanted like 32k for them.....yeah right.

hlsess

I bought a 2010 Nissan maxima SV with 20,000 miles for 26K plus taxes I found it very hard to find anything decent with low miles below 25K

Ghozt

< in nov of 2010 I got my 2009 SV Sport/Tech with 22k on the motor for 26,500. iuno what some of these dealers are thinking with their pricing...how you gonna charge the same price as a brand new one lol

20_Maxima_10

I think it's all based on the state as well. I found alot on the east coast in my price range. I'm from Seattle but now live in Scottsdale AZ and the westcoast prices seem a few thousand dollars higher.

vr4z06gt

21.5ishG for a 2010 premium, in mint shape, @27,000 with cold weather package, rear spoiler, and splash guards about 5 months ago.

09MaximaSV

I probably paid too much, but I got an 09 Maxima SV with Prem / Tech packages for around $25k, with 41k miles. The car got a great pre-purchase inspection report, the Nissan tech who worked on it said it was pristine, which gave me some peace of mind and paying a bit extra for it...

edgar5453

iTrader: (1)

09 with SV Premium + Nav (also, dual sun\moon roof, heated seats, rear audio climate controls, etc) for 23500 which included TTL. There isn't an option thats not available on this puppy. Originally for 24500 without TTL, but with a little negotiating i got the price i wanted. Only gotcha is it had 55000 miles on it, which wasn't a problem with me since I know the reliability of these engines.

09MaximaSV

That's excellent! Do you have photos?

vr4z06gt

Back to your second sets of questions.

ALOT of it depends on the type of dealer. Your best bet, to keep costs low, is finding a high volume dealer. Some high volume dealers will have less than stellar customer service and you might feel like your just another number. But the reality is that you are just a number to them, and this high volume usually translates to lower prices, suck it up and keep the money in your pocket.

The counter is a good rule of thumb for a lower volume but neighborhood friendly dealer. I spent a few years in the industry while in college. This is just my take on the way the region operated.

There are advantages of going to a Nissan Dealer directly, I didn't purchase mine from a Nissan dealer, such as CPO and financing incentives offered by NissanUSA. Additionally you start to establish a rapport with them, which could be beneficial if you are in need of a little "dealership assistance" in getting warranty work done. This can also be achieved by being friendly with the service department when doing both warranty work and regularly scheduled maintenance, regardless if you bought it from them or not.

My advice is buy from a high volume dealer that has a decent reputation on the quality of the vehicles they sell. Most of them rely heavily, so do smaller dealers but they can't compete on the volume to keep prices as low to cover overhead, upon word of mouth and won't risk selling problematic cars...I know mine wouldn't touch a car that had any accident on it, straight to the auction, or anything that needed major amounts of routine maintenance, if the previous owner neglected these things just imagine how bad off the non-routine issues will be. Then afterwards bring your car to another dealer, preferably a local smaller and more friendly dealer to do your work. They have more to lose with each customer and thus will be more friendly and willing to help you.

Additionally most dealers utilize floor plan financing, it's revolving for any amount they need, the dealer just needs to report the VINS and car info to the bank when they request more funds and banks do audit this semi-frequently and unannounced. The dealer will then need a stock number to go with this when reporting and dealers go numerical order most of the time to keep things simple. You will need to examine their counting methods, just check every once in a while and you will see how the new cars get assigned numbers and find the ones that have been sitting on the lot longer. I mention both of these things because you can usually strike better deals on older cars. Most dealers won't say how old the car is. So you can use this method to judge how old the car is(by old I mean sitting on the lot). Look at how fast the numbers are climbing and you can get a good idea of the volume and thus how long the car has been sitting around. Keep in mind that they also need to finance trades whether or not they are sold on the lot or at auction, so you will not see all of the numbers show up online. So back to the financing, the dealer begins interest payments starting on day one that they request the funds. So every day the car is on the lot is a day wasted. Dealers know this, and thus sometimes take this into account in the pricing of the vehicle. But older cars cost to much money, the interest compounds, so they wish to get rid of them as fast as possible and will be more flexible on pricing.

Another thing to check is lettering. Some dealers will have different letters for auction buys, trade ins, off lease, or prior rentals for their book keeping. Keeping this in mind you can avoid types of cars, I for one will do my damnedest to keep away from a rental. I know how I drive them, imagine how the abuse over all of the prior people renting the car. If it is a trade in you can get a really good estimate of what the dealer owes on the car. Go to NADA and get a value of the car, look at the trade in value. Figure the dealer didn't offer the full value but its a good place to start. Now all reasonable dealers will change the oil and do required maintenance. If it has 'new looking' but low cost tires, odds are they replaced that. Also figure in a tank of gas, maybe brakes and filters. Also there is reconditioning costs, figure 150-200, and other miscellaneous costs that the dealer incurs. Add up these costs and tack that on to the trade in value. In my experience it is somewhere around 500-700 dollars. And you can get a good idea of what they own it for and use that as your negotiating price.

Seasonal affects will play a big part in your purchase. Typically January and February are the slowest months, by A LOT, for a dealer. Most people are too broke after the holidays to spend money on cars. Additionally luxury cars don't sell as well in the winter so there are more deals to be had. This apply for both new and used. You can use this to your advantage to purchase the car at the right time and minimize your out of pocket cost.

SO, long rant short, buy a car that has been sitting on the lot for a long time from a high volume dealer in off season. This is a good place to start. Once in a while you will find that gem at the right price at the right time. This is the exception not the norm, but following the above ideas will help out a lot compared to the average car shopper when shopping for used.

EDIT: OOOHH they have MUCH more wiggle room that new cars usually. There is no money in new cars, they only sell them to keep that logo on the front of the building. Service is a dealers bread and used cars are the butter. There is ton's of markup in the used cars especially compared to new cars. My general experience is the cheaper the car the more the markup in percentage terms. I have seen lower costs cars, such as high mileage civic's corolla's accords's camery's, or 6 or 7 years old, that had 100% mark up. Typically the dealer would buy them for 4-5G, sticker them for 8-10 and settle around 7-8, still netting a nice profit. But more expensive cars, in the 20+ range, typically started the lot life at 20% markup figuring they would settle around 10%, still not a bad profit margin. But figure a car that just showed up priced at 25G actually cost the dealer 20-21G.

ZsMax

I picked up my 2009 Sport/Tech with 21,000 miles for $24,900 back in May.

edgar5453

iTrader: (1)

Added Pic to signature

09MaximaSV

Looks great!!!!!

dr_2010SV

Paid $31,495 (last year) for a fully loaded Crimson Black 2010 SV Premium/Tech with 2600 miles.
Also included were professionally tinted windows.
The best part is the car has been trouble free since purchase..."knock on wood"

TPEAN

we payed 24,500 otd about 4 months ago for a 2010 s with 25k they added leather for us and filled up the tank. I dont know if it was a good deal but the wife is happy

silverstallion

I paid roughly $32,500 for my new 2012 SV with premium package. Sticker was $38,800..give or take a few bucks..overall very happy with the deal I got.

gitsao

Hi new to the forum, I just got a CPO 2010 Maxima SV with 13k miles for 27500 OTD

67 Lamnas

I've been looking at the pre-owned 7th gens also. So far, the best deals have been a red on tan fully loaded '10 SV with premium pkg and NAV for $22,850 with 34K miles. The only thing it's missing is a rear spoiler. It had a door ding and needed tires.

The other nice one I've seen for a nice price is a black '10 SV with premium and NAV for $24K with 33K miles...black on black.....also needed tires.

Just can't bring myself to cough up 10K and my '08

jrobertson427

Hi everyone, new member here..

I just finished the paperwork on a gray on tan fully loaded '09 SV with 28,500 miles for just under $25,000 after TTL.

It's got the Premium and Tech package, Nav, rear camera, dual sun/moon room, backup camera, and new tires

I bought it out of state, so I have to wait for it to get here to me :-(

BlkMax42

I just bought a new 2011 SV Premium, monitor pkg and tech with 41 miles on it for $30,249. Its Black on black, dual moon roofs, spoiler, but no navigation. Sticker price was $39,400. If you can stretch your budget a little the dealers are really trying to move the 2011's.

Good Luck

gitsao

Man, I thought I got a good deal but I guess I really didn't. Oh well, I like the car.

Max2000SE

iTrader: (2)

i paid $30,500 for brand new SV with sport/tech, extended warrant and rim/tire package. so a dealer asking 31k for a used one is insane

Evilgenyus

I paid 22500 for a 09 superblack sv with 16500 miles before ttl and i added a small extended warranty. I don't have any packages but it was the best price I could find dealers wanted more for just the "s" model with more miles.

donmar100

25.2 for a 09 SV Premium with NAV, double moon, rear wing, spoiler and 11,500 miles. All the options +

elguevon

$23k for 2010 SV gray metallic sport/tech w/nav heated seats/steering wheel. 30k miles.

MoltonMania

Paid $24,500 2010 SV Prem/tech Nav., Dual roof, heated/cooled seats, rear seat controls, rear sun shad, oem spoiler, Silver with 16,000 miles. Bought on Dec. 23 2011

rcjunkie

Paid $23,900 before TTL for a certified used 09 Maxima SV (54,000mi. Precision Grey) with sport/tech package...19" wheels, nav, heated seats, steering wheel, cam etc. I purchased extended warranty plan up to 8yrs or 120k. Purchased from a local Nissan dealership.

BTW lovin' the paddle shifters! Glad I didn't go with the Camry SE, felt so boring compared to Maxima.