I took my car to the dealer for my yearly free 100 point courtesy inspection. I had visited this particular dealership recently at least 3x's in the past 4 months asking them to find me an 03 6spd SE. They still haven't. After the inspection they give me an estimate sheet with suggested services totalling over $750 dollars. ($185 for a tune-up, $75 for a oil pressure switch, $28 for a new oil drain plug and washer) I decline getting anything done and leave. Two days later I get a letter from them saying there's a strong market for my year Max (97) and they will give me $7000 dollars for it on a trade in. Here's the crazy part when I toyed with the idea of trading it in for a 04 Max they offered me $3.5k now that they've looked it over they offer $7K. My car has 136K miles on it, nothing was put in writing but what do you guys think, (about the market for 97 SE, 5spds)?
BTW, I'm not selling my car, but I am going to find an 03 SE 6spd one of these days and buy it.

 

Wow $7k?!?!?!?!? You don't hear that everyday, especially from a dealer and considering your miles. :shocked:

 

tell them to find you the 03 6spd right away and do the trade. i would anyway.

 

its a tactic...i used to receive them all the time and i worked at the damn place...theres a lot of fine print

 

The offer is good until 28 Apr. My 16 yr old son called first dibs on the Max, thats why I can't sell it. The dealer claims to have "people" looking all over but they still haven't located a Max. Carmax found 2 so far but they were more than I wanted to pay, considering the # of miles on them.

 

Yep, just another tactic to try and get you to buy. I get them that ask em to come down on a specific day due to limited something or other.

 

I've seen it all, it's a gimick. Think about it, if the offer is too good to be true, it is too good to be true. They just want you to show up and get a car. Once you're there, they'll put you thru the pressure cooker.

 

Love the sig, Dennis.

 

Man, your best bet is to sell your vehicle to someone on autotrader, then go to the dealer with the money that youve recieved to use as a down payment...Don't do trade-ins.....

 

Well since you and I have pretty much the same car and miles, I like the idea of a stealer offering you $7k, but I just gotta believe they will figure out the best way to screw you in the end. I would trade mine in for $7,000 if it didn't still run and drive like a new car. OK, almost new car. Not to mention there is not much out there right now I want. Not having car payments is a great thing.

 

It's a tactic. The more you get for trade in your car, the more they may charge for the car you are buying. If you finance, it can get worse. Interest rates aren't as easy as you think. Compouding periods will affect how much you are paying while they only quickly go over that with you at the dealership. They will jack your money as much as they can while they confuse the heck outta you about your finance plans. Even if they agree to take your trade-in, they can recover that money easily with a finance plan "they" propose for you.

If you are going to pay cash, it'll be very obvious that a dollar more they buy your trade-in, a dollar more they put on that car they sell to you...

 

Thanks bro!

 

There aren't too many 5-speed 4th gens out there, and i'm sure there are other people than me that prefer the 4th to 5th gen(vq30dek). So there maybe a little truth to the statement as in there is a demand for them but 7k for a car with 136k miles is a trap!

 

A co-worker showed me a similar letter he received from Mitsubishi. Apparently, there is a demand for the year of Eclipse that he drives. I guess every dealership is trying anything to generate a sale. And with soaring gas prices, there's more rough times ahead for them and for us consumers. I can see myself parking my max and riding a mountain bike to work when we reach over $4 per gallon.

 

Yup, in the end they're just lying weasels.

You've been selected as an instant winner! Click here for your FREE big screen TV!
Do you really think you'll get a TV by clicking there? Same deal, only more confusing for you, which means you get screwed more. If you look for the car yourself and find/record the asking price, then maybe you'll have more of a bargaining tool. And for the love of god, DO NOT FINANCE WITH THE DEALER. In fact, I would just wait until I could pay cash...

 

2003 red SE, looks like an autotragic.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/car/154448450.html

 

Its a tactic. I used to sell cars for lincoln mercury. What you should do is just tell them that your not looking to trade in your car. Get the best price you can and then show the letter that you get 7k for your car. Other wise they just wont take as much money off the car you want if you show them that paper. They will say its a retail for retail sale. You pay retail for their car and they give you retail for yours.

 

That isn't a 2003, it is at least an 04 and autotragic

 

thats an 04

 

I Was Jus Talking About Taking My Car In For That. Wierd!

 

I run the used car dept for a dealer here in TX, that Maxima hits me at $3k. Maybe a bit more if it is front line ready, but even $4k would be a push. All it is is a numbers game. We call it over-allowing. Just roll up the sales price on the new one to offset the difference. Works both ways. If the real number is 5k and I can get you to agree on 4k that extra G rolls into profit. We are some shady bastards! I have an '03 SE w/auto for $15.5k w/or w/out a trade.

 

I got that letter but it didnt say 7K, it didnt have an exact price but I was assured that there would be no money down and a comfortable monthly payment whatever that is :-)

 

Let's focus on what they said needed fixing on your car. I say BS to the quote. For starters, an oil pressure sender unit costs peanuts and takes about 5 minutes to replace. The same goes for the oil drain plug and washer. The washers come with the Nissan OEM oil filter at the stealership I pick them up at.

 

$7k? Then ask them to write you a check for $7k on the spot. Then promise them you will buy another car w/in the week. See how that goes over.

 

Very nice summary of what goes on. It's amazing how many people fall for this stuff--just watch that show on Discovery called "King of Cars." People go in swearing they'll pay $300 mo. and $7,000 down. By the time that dealer is done with them, they're leaving with a pymt of $500 mo. and 10,000 down. Human nature. But it's sad how the avg. Joe can't even do math anymore, just cares about how much down and how much per month. Now kick it up a notch and imagine how people get duped on buying homes, a much larger purchase....

 

LOL, what speed mountain bike?

 

Thanks everyone, your comments were refreshing and in some cases informative. For the record I took my car to my mechanic with the list they suggested. I'm getting most of what they said done plus recharging my a/c, changing my fuel filter (which the dealer said was in my gas tank) its not, changing the oil pressure switch and fixing some annoying leaks for only $350 dollars. Oh yeah I'm also getting a 4 wheel alignment and wheel rotation too. Man I love my mechanic.

 

It is a dealer trick, raise the sticker prices and then give everyone really high trade in prices. If they want to sell a new max for $17K they put over $20K on the sticker then offer you almost double for your trade. Giving them the actual price they really want. They do this commonly when overstocked or are getting alot of new inventory. I mean a 97 max is only worth about 2K for them, and it is not staying at the dealer. They will just sell your max for 2-3K to a small dealer or auction if even that much.

 

I already dug up my old bike helmet for that faithful morning when gas goes over $4.00 a gallon.

I was walking around a stealership the other day, and decided to take a look at the 350Z's...HELL I didn't know they get less than 20 city miles on the gallon, now they seem much less appealing to me...

BTW that 7K for your MAX sounds like a setup, check the MSRP and APR% of what they're offering you before doing anything remotely stupid, I expect them to Jack either of them up to get those 7k back and technically have you give them your car for free while your grandkids still have to payoff the trade-in. Experience (well other people's experience on the matter actually ) has taught me that Trade-In's and Financing are financial Deathtraps in the end you'll end up paying almost 3 times the actual vehicles cost. If you can't put half (or more) of a new vehicles total cost up front @ a dealership they'll find a way to make you their b*tch. If you can't Do some research and look into used vehicles, although I'll admit they can be a pain in the *** sometimes.

This is probably like those 15 dollar checks you recieve in the mail that once they get cashed the company behind them will charge 135 dollars to your account, but anyone stupid enough to belive in "free money" deserves to get ripped off.

 

The biggest things about trades is that they aren't. They say they are giving you money to be used for the newer car. You will still pay taxes on the higher priced car.

If it really was a trade they would take off 7k of a new car and tax you at that trade-in rate. Just think how much five to eight percent is of 10,000 dollars.
Do you think they are taxed on that trade in value of your car that they just bought? Nope. Not the final user. Those taxes are passed on to the next buyer.
Think how much taxes one car brings if it's traded and bought every year. In probably 15 years that car has brought in the same amount of taxes that it originally cost.
Biggest thing that pissed me off working at a stealership is the state will make more money for each car sold than the salesman. Salesman does all the work and the state just sits back and collects.

 

The entire system is fk'd up, not just the automotive market. Something will give someday.

 

I am not exactly sure of what you are implying. You are only taxed on the difference. You pay taxes on the new car less the trade in amount. For example: price of new car is $10k, trade in of $3k, subtract $3k off the $10k and you have a difference of $7k. Thats what you are taxed on.The true trade in amount is what ever the real ACV (actual cash value) is plus the tax credits. A salesman is paid what he's worth. The "man" is always gonna get his. Just have to try and get a piece of the pie before it's all gone!