Why do I always feel dirty when trading in a car?

Agreed. It's a miserable experience. I tried to do as much of the "haggling" as I could, online with email. I paid cash for my Prius, and I STILL spent something like 5 hours at the dealer?!

One Toyota dealer in my area offers a delivery service... Maybe I should've looked into that. You agree to a price via email, and the sales person has the car towed to your house on a flat-bed. If you like it, just sign the papers. If not, no problem, they just tow it back. No harm, no foul, no penalty.

 

Oh, and yes, they low-balled my trade, too. But I expected it, and to be honest I didn't care that much. ( I got them to come up a little bit. ) I just didn't have the patience or desire to try and sell it to a private party. Too many nuts show up. And they all want to fight about the price.

 

That sounds like a truly awesome way to do business for folks that hate the "experience".. It really does.


And Michelle I feel your pain..

 

I do everything over email or text. I know exactly what I want for my trade in (which they agree with upon inspection) and for the new vehicle. The only reason I go to the dealer is to sign the papers and drive away. The dealers who don't want to do business this way lose my business. I bought our last 5 vehicles this way.

 

And yes, even private parties want to "haggle." Nothing wrong with that. But then you have to go down to the Dept of Motor Vehicles with them to transfer the title; and then I would insist on going to their bank with them to get CASH. And then if they happen to find something wrong with the car, they may come back and harass you, or sue you...

The heck with it! I'll just trade it in and take the lowball loss.

 

Impossible! Out here, you'd be driving around to 50 different dealers to try and find one that would give you "exactly what you want for your trade." I told 4 dealers exactly what I wanted, and they laughed me out of the building! And they could seem to care less if they lose your business…

 

fortunately, my husband has yet to tell mr he's found someone else.

 

Fortunately, I buy cars rather infrequently, but it's always an unnecessary hassle.

I made my deal on the Prius online, showed up to take it for a spin, paid "cash", and it still took over 3 hours. Ridiculous!

 

we'll fix you up. a little seat time in your new gen 4 should help.

 

$4,400 off???

I'm gonna trade mine back in, and start over!!

 

And this time, get the RED one!

 

Pictures and a review, please .

 

If your car is more than 5 years old the dealer doesn't really want it. You're better off selling it yourself. I always do this. To prevent it from becoming a PITA it's good to price it under KBB for a quick no haggle sale. I just sold my 2005 by word of mouth. I had two guys interested. The guy who bought it is a mechanic so it's gone to a good home.

With no trade in you can do amazing things like price by phone or internet quote. The call goes something like this. I'm going to so and so dealer this afternoon to buy model X. Just as a sanity check give me your best price. No, I'm not going to tell you his price. Bought several cars this way.

I bought my 2016 by telling the dealer I wanted to pay $200 over invoice, the KBB good price at the time. Got on the 0% deal to.

 

yup.

 

Feel good and clean...not dirty.

Some call buying a car a game.
Enjoy the game.

Valuing a used car can be difficult, plus selling it yourself can be difficult.
So maybe to ease your mind, the amount you wanted vs the amount they gave you...is that worth not having to deal with potential buyers, title transfer, etc yourself?

 

I feel violated and filthy every time I leave a dealership after negotiating for a deal.

SM-G928T ?