Any I lowballing too much?

in this economy, priuses command their own prices and people will pay! You can try for whatever you want, the worst thing that happens is the dealer laughs at you and moves onto the next customer.

 

I always say there are two ways to negotiate.

One is to give your bottom-line price and all your reasons and "stick to your guns." This rarely happens, except by independent sellers who aren't desperate to sell. (Just watch "Wheeler Dealers" for an example).

The other way is to "horse trade." I.e., you start low and they start high and you eventually get to the seller's bottom line. This is the case at car dealers 99% of the time. If you start too low, then just expect them to come back at the original price and the whole process will take longer. Some tactics tht seem to work are (a) say you only can spend X dollars and not a cent more, or (b) start to walk out.

 

Some good tactics there. Also if you speak their language you could get a better deal. :rockon:

 

Look at it this way....if you were trying to trade that Prius in and the KBB was 20K, they would find 100 reasons to offer you 20% less. I would start low and not be worried about it.

 

this really bothers me where a country in which english is the first language, we have to resort to using "homeland" language to "wheel and deal"....not cool

If I went to China I'd be expected to learn chinese or I'd fallback into the night shadows with zero luck of communication. Only here in the US can we allow others to speak their languages with zero reprecushion.

/rant

 

Dear OP,

If it's any help, my 2007 with 35k miles cost $14.7k in December 2010. The values have jumped since then, but maybe saying a friend got that price might help, or at least give you a point of reference.

Pretty sure "speaking their language" was used figuratively by Mac.

 

Actually I literally meant "speak their language," but I also meant it as a joke referring to shopping for handbags and such while on vacation abroad.

I believe most car salesmen across America speak English and only English, so yes, it was a joke. But if you happen to be talking about Iranian car salesman (there are a lot where I live) or someone else, then it's not a joke. Confusing enough?

 

Bits of advice:

1. Before you leave the house know how much you are willing to spend
2. -- Prius inventory is rapidly improving, and fuel prices are coming down. If the dealer is not aware, help him out
3. -- I gather that most of the time dealers will not sell for less than $1000 more than they paid for the car, and list at $3000 - 4000 over what they paid. In your case it means start below 14 -15k, and end up between 14-15k.

fyi:
Dealers laugh when consumers expect KBB trade-in. You should laugh when the dealer suggests people pay KBB retail.

Lastly, in Dec 2010 *new* Prius IIs were under 20k in some areas of the country. If you can wait, I think much better deals are only a couple months away.

Good luck

 

priuses have jumped in value...I've seen used priuses sell for new prius prices recently.

not necessarily true...When I was in the dealer signing the deal on my prius, there was a korean salesman there who only took korean customers who didn't speak english. Now I know this was because of the giant Korean population in the surrounding area but hey:

if you bought your house chances are you had to speak english to buy it so why can't you speak it to buy a car just the same?

I sort of disagree. I think the current gas prices are a "recovery" and just that...gas will go back up again, but who knows when. The economy is still deep in the crapper right now with no real recovery in sight.....but lowering gas prices isn't helping the economy..what's the point in going somewhere if you can't afford to purchase anything when you get to your destination?

 

Short term fuel prices, with a lag of a couple of months, are due to speculation in supply or demand (read: global oil demand), and money movements when currency is volatile. E.g., all else being equal, if Europe stabilizes the Euro then the dollar will depreciate and investors will put dollars into oil.

IMO most of the jump in fuel prices we have seen the first half of 2011 was speculation that political destabilization in the middle east would crimp supplies, not over optimism that the world economy recovery was just over the hill. The political worry is abating -- heck, I bet most americans do not even bother to read news on Lybia.

 

Oh I don't disagree! But we weren't talking about merely buying a house/car/handbag. I was talking about getting a great deal on one because of the common language. Maybe that's what the Koreans were trying to do.

When my grandma goes to a Chinese restaurant she almost always strikes up a conversation with the manager or waiters just out of friendliness. She might ask them what village they were from, if they're studying in school (like to a younger waiter), etc etc. As a result, many times she ends up getting dishes for free or tub of some desert for me to take home. She's not trying to get anything out of it, she's just extremely friendly. That's rarely going to happen with someone who can't speak fluently to the seller/owner.

 

People trying to figure out what a used car is "worth" often have trouble, but it is actually pretty straightforward:

A car is worth what the market will bear;
A car dealer pays the least they can for a car,
and sells for the most they can for the car, but rarely at a loss.

So with that in mind, price the car on the secondary market and add $1000 middle-man friction. A very large (and therefore reliable) secondary market are the Mannheim Auctions across the country. Although individual consumers may not enter the auction or see recent transaction results, local auction agents (licensees) have the information, and it is easy to found an agent that works for $500 - $1000 transaction commission. The large difference between what kbb reports as trade-in value, and the actual going rates through auctions shows how off kbb is in evaluation.

By the way, hertz dumps cars on the auction block every autumn. I looked into buying a 1-2 year old Hertz Prius in 2010 for under $13k total this route. Circumstances unrelated to the deal itself stopped me from following through.

I posted earlier

More accurately, not what the dealer paid, but what the dealer would pay *today*

 

you would actually buy a rental car????? I've done too many things in the past and heard too many stories to ever be compelled to buy a known rental car EVER!!!!

 

^^ Prius, yes.
Most other models, no --- exactly because of people like you.

 

My Prius was a Toyota dealership "rental." Had 10k miles when I bought it. Today it's in amazing condition.

 

buying ANY rental car is like sleeping with a hooker....sure the "job gets done" but you might wake up one day with AIDS

 

^^ Keep that thought, for every time you put your hand on a public door handle.

Anyway, it is true, and odd, that so many people are petty dilettantes where their own property is concerned, and become filthy disrespectful pigs with common property.

 

i do...thats why I won't ride public transportation and I always keep an antibacterial hand gel bottle on me

(I'll drive in Manhattan before I'd touch a grab bar in a NYC train)

 

I'd be concerned about buying a car from Hertz or equivalent, but in my case, mine was a dealership car which was also Toyota certified. There was no external damage such as scratches, door dings, etc. I can also assume it was gently used - most of the people whom it was lent to already owned a Prius so I doubt they drove it poorly. But even if they did, what could they possibly do to it that wouldn't have shown up already? Step on the gas a little harder or floor it once or twice? That doesn't damage the engine or transmission. Park in precarious locations? Again, no exterior damage to show for that.

The way I see it - as long as it was properly maintained, never internally wrecked, and without external damage, it's gold. In the 10,000 miles before I bought the car, I'm pretty confident it was taken care of. Plus I have the extended warranty in case I'm proven wrong so I'm not worried in the least.