i looked at a car today. its a 95' SE 5speed charcol ext. with black leather. climate control, heated seats, sunroof, bose. and it has 98k miles.
i like the car a lot, it drives really well, has brand new tires on it, ext. and int. are in good shape.
carfax is clean
only problem is that its at a independent dealer. it was a carmax reject car, because of miles being to high(or so they say) and they bought it whole sale from carmax. it only had one owner that bought it new, and traded it in to carmax for a new car. drives and looks in really good condition for the year. they want $6,000 for it, and i think that high, so i am going to try for $5,000. my mom really doesnt want me to get it (BUT SHES NOT PAYING FOR IT) because she says since its at an independent dealer teh car is a POS, and prolly has huge defects. but the people were nice, all polish with a hard core accent, and i saw there mechanic garage, and it looks pretty nice. and mechanics seem competent. it had 6ok miles maintanance.

so should i buy it, even though its from a inde. dealership. its drives real nice though, and 5speed trans shifts real smooth.

thanks, donnie

 

check if there are any leaks..drive it for awhile and then park it and see if theres leaks. also to check if theres anything major worng with the car check the ECU and see if there are any codes..if there are 5 long pulses and 5 short then the car is okay..but if all these things are alrite..then..GET IT>..haha

 

i already drove the car for about 10-15min and then it was parked while i was talking to the sales lady. came out about 40min later and there was nothing.
there is not check engine light on, and i know they didnt disable it, because when the key is turned, but the car is not started, it lights up, but when car is on, it goes away. so it isnt giving a light. should i still check for codes?

 

Yes the CEL could be off but there could still be a stored code. So you should check and see.

But from the sounds of it, it sounds like a good car. What's the mileage on it? Does it come with any warranty from the shop?

 

Have a mechanic take a close look at it. Just because the carfax comes back clean, doesn't mean it's never been hit. I just means it was never in an accident to warrant a salvage title/retitle

 

100%. DO always take a used car with high miles to a mechanic. You don't necessarily have to with a low mileage car, but even that is a good thing to do.

Next: the dealer.
FU*K the car dealer. Are THEY buying the car? No. Don't believe a SINGLE word that comes out of their mouth. 99% of it is BS. As far as I know, CarMax does not sell "wholesale" to any dealers. They take trade-in's that they will not sell to the auction. The dealer may have picked it up at the auction and knew that CarMax took it in as a trade, but even that says nothing. They took it in knowing they would turn it around and sell it at auction and probably gave the owners the short end of the stick.

The short end of the stick:
That car, in AWESOME shape in your area (60103) with 5sp transmission and dual power seats (assumed) in EXCELLENT condition is worth $5100 private party. No dealer should be making a retail sale ($6575 Retail Blue Book ... highway robbery) on a car like this and in fact do not expect to.

That said, dealer trade in value (likely what they may have paid for the car - and more probably less than this) is $3725. You are giving them WAY too much for this car (if you buy it) IMHO. I would go in there and tell them not a red cent over $4300. I'm SURE they paid $3000-$3500 for it and they will be making a nice enough profit if they sell it to you for $4300. Even if they paid $3725 for it, they will be getting a 98000 mile car off the lot (a total bonus) and making a few hundred bucks in the process.

The strategy:
It's important to feel like you have the dealer by the *****. Get educated and you will be confident to walk in with an offer they'll take. You may have to "walk out" a few times (they always ask you to come back in if your price is fair) before you get to $4300, but I think you will get there. Go home and let them call you the next day even ... if they don't call you by mid-afternoon I might be wrong and you may have to go up, but DO NOT go up to $5000 until you have had it thoroughly checked out by a mechanic.

Finally:
I'm convinced the best deals can be had at dealers and not private parties because dealers are more motivated - this could be the deal of the century if I'm right.
And above all ... GOOD LUCK! Another seasoned Maxima being adopted

 

PS - My 2001 5 speed was on the lot with 34000 miles and stickered at $18,900. I bought the car for $16350. It can be done.

 

The carfax for my car was clean too and when buying it I did not bother much checking for accidents signs. Only after driving it for a while I noticed that the door and body color was slightly different that of the pillars and even more when stripping the trunk to rewire the speakers found lots of shattered glass.

Also pay attention to dents and scratches, thay might be not a big deal but the ARE costly to repair at the body shop.

 

i am definatly going to bargain with them on price. but its at an independent dealership, like used car lots. my mom says those places are shady as hell, but its a pretty nice place with a nice garage. should that affect my decision here?

 

Well, man, just be sceptical and as dude above said, 99% what dealer tells you is BS. I have a very negative buying expirience with my Maxima. I paid twice what it was in fact worth. It's been hit in several places, paint job is starting to peel off and engine with transmission giving me troubles. SO don't buy that pretty looks of the place...


huh, I fealt like wracking it yesterday, so dissappointed...

 

I work for a new car dealer, never believe a sales person. They are there to make money by selling cars...nothing more. Best advice I can give you is try to contact the original owner and find out why they traded in the car. Good luck.

 

Hmmm,
I think this message warrants a reply.

#1. I am a dealer. I own my dealership. I have no employees, and my reputation means EVERYTHING. I buy my cars. I want them to be clean, free of any mechanical defects. When I buy a car at an auction, I put it into arbitration immediately. Every car I buy has a comprehensive frame and mechanical checkover before it leaves the premises. I road test them as well. If anything is wrong with the car, the sale is cancelled. Betcha didn't know that, huh?

#2 Two months ago i bought a 95 SE 5spd, dark blue with black leather. 92,000 miles. It was in very nice shape. I paid $5,200 for it at Greater Phoenix Auto Auction, shipped it here for $300, and sold it in a WEEK for $6500. If it is in good shape, the price is fair. Bargain, all dealers expect it. Storm out if you need to. You should know, though, that I had a lady do that to me on a Passat. She made me feel like crap, bagged on the car (trying to make me lower the price), and was generally dissagreable. She came back, and I refused to sell her the car. She was angry, and I told her why I was doing what I was doing.

#3. Not all dealers are corrupt. Not all cops are corrupt. Not all politicians are corrupt. Not all lawyers are corrupt. Not all CPAs are corrupt. People like you feed that errant perception.

#4. Case in piont. All used car sales are as-is, where is, unless the buyer also buys a warranty. I don't sell them, by the way. This is mostly to protect the seller from unreasonable costs after the sale. Anyway, I sold a Maxima GLE recently. Gorgeous car. The buyer called back a couple of days later and said that the cd on the Bose didn't work. I told him that I was unaware of that (which I was), and that all cars are sold as is where is. However, I told him that I would buy him another head unit. I didn't have to do that, but I care about my reputation. I sold a Lexus ES300 to a guy, and arranged to have a new timing belt put in at his request and at his cost. He bought the car, took it to have the belt replaced, and the mechanic found that the tensioner might be going bad. He also recommeded replacing the water pump, just because. The buyer called me and told me there was extra repairs needed. Again, I explained to him that he knew when he bought it, it would need a timing belt (it had 100k and it had not been done.) He chose to do that at his cost, and that I had simply arranged a good mechanic. I explained that the vehicle was sold as-is, and that I could not help him. Three weeks later, he broght his dad in to buy a car from me. Even though I couldn't pay for the adds to the timing belt, he loved the car and had a very good experience with me. Enough to bring family back.

I aALWAYS disclose EVERYTHING that I know to be wrong with the car; if it has an oil leak, they know it. If it shifts hard, I tell them. Bad struts, ball joints, if I know they have a problem, I tell them. People take my cars to mechanics all the time. I dont have any problem with that, because I KNOW I have nothing to hide.

#5 I promise you that there are more dealers like me out there. I know because I have met them. I know there are crappy ones too, I have also met them. Call the BBB, take the car to a mechanic, ask to talk to other customers. If they are good people, they will be happy to assist you in all three.

Sounds like you guys need to come buy a car from me.

 

haha, at least he's honest.

 

well i went back to the dealership, and had a debate of price with the owner of the dealership. she even admitted to me that the car is not worth the $6,000 asking price, but people with bad credit, WILL pay that. i dont have bad credit, and i wont pay that price.

so i tell walk out, and tell he to call me if she considers my $5,000 offer. she doesnt call back, and i have my mom call (shes an autofinancer exec.) she tells this lady straight up, what wrong with the car and whats its "worth". the lady said she goes off of market value, which i will admit, most 5speed max's fully loaded 1995 are going for around 6grand with 100,000 miles. but the most my mom got her down to was $5,700. what do you guys think about this price?
95' SE 5speed
charcol, with black leather, heated seats, sunroof, climate conrol, bose.
with 96k miles. drives looks, and feels good

 

Look around for other cars, but I know 5-speeds are hard to find. If you want to buy it, then get it a little lower than that, maybe around $5500.

Pricing help: http://www.edmunds.com/used/1995/nis...num3.1.nissan* My dad usually buys it between the trade-in and private party price. After a few minor repairs (well, major repairs in my case), it'll be around the private party price (around dealer price for me). I had the following done: axles, tires, suspension, a/c pulley & belt, tranny rebuilt, and I still have more repairs coming

The reason small dealers are in business b/c they give more people loans than the big dealers at insane rates Look around for a few days and then go back if you don't find anything else. It is a nice car though... 5-speed, black leather, roof, heated seats, bose system... Good luck

 

my theory, at the end of the day if you really like the car and are planning on keeping it for years to come...a couple of hundred bucks is not going to kill you. what will if the car gets sold to someone else. If it is mechanically sound and eveyrhting checks out...just get it. You will be happy to drive in it.

 

this really should not mean jack, but...
I have a polish friend whose dad has a similar garage/shop like you say.. I don't know if it's only coincidence, but he's got tons of tools and well maintained cars too. They have like 4 bikes, custom, including a buel and a harly. The kid is really smart and knows tons of stuff about mechanics and the only reason I thought of this is because they are polish too. anyways to make a long story short, they also are mechanically enclined, and their old, well maintained cars with high milage all run like new..

 

Listen, I totally respect you defending yourself. However, this was not made to be a dig to you. I know there are exceptions to every rule and you certainly have proven yourself to be an exception, but you know that when it comes to LARGE, high volume car dealers the experience is very different than when people come to you.

Don't be offended by what I say, it's important to realize your industry. I know that my industry (computer consulting) is the SAME way. No one knows who to trust, everyone is shopping around for price and it is completely thankless if someone has a problem after dealing with you. It sucks, but that's the real.

Anyway, keep doing what you're doing and just win people's trust. I've only met one car salesman I liked. Unfortunately he works at the dealership that I've boycotted because they put a Key Value clutch in my car and won't replace it so I don't get to buy any cars from him. Such is life.