Looking to buy first car...used 2008 prius

Make a simple email you can copy and paste over and over again. Remember those are only asking prices, you can negotiate them down to what you feel is reasonable. Do not allow them to know your budget, that will hurt your negotiations

SM-N900P ?

 

Violet,

It is a shame you are not here in Houston. I could sell you our 09 Prius. I just signed paperwork on a new 2013 Prius Package #3 that I will be picking up Monday. The 09 is in perfect working order, has 79 thousand on the clock. The fuelly in my signature is accurate. I get well over 50 MPG with this car driving it the way I do.

11.5K trade in 4K Down and payments for 36 months @ 326. Car is brand new, last 13 on the lot. Has everything I wanted and then some. Even has navigation on it... Now I guess I have a Garmin Nuvi to sell on Ebay...

When you find the car you want buy it. Like I said earlier in this string I looked for a year. The right deal came through today.

To the one who is really in charge. Thank you God Almighty!

 

Ron that is such a good deal for the dealer to buy your car at $11.5k. I guess that's the going rate for the trade in?

I don't think Violet would be able to take your deal. She is financing through a credit union and they have very specific rules to follow when buying from a private party. Her credit union would have to have an office in your city and they have to inspect the vehicle and title before they will approve of the purchase. It has to be under a certain amount of years and miles. They have to make sure their loan is secure and valid.

 

The email you wrote should work. But it will come down to them offering you a $500 discount as a teaser and then ask what your offer will be....as a counteroffer. Then they would suggest you come take a test drive just to get you into the dealership and do their pressure sales tactics.

You have to remember the tax is approximately 10%. On a $15000 vehicle, the sale price has to be $13500 in order for you to get close to $15000 out the door. If the car has current registration, then you won't have to pay for that yet, but if the car is not registered, you would have to pay the registration also, which can be approximately $200-$300.

 

If you buy a vehicle from a car dealer, then sales tax and vehicle registration fees will be added to the purchase agreement.

If you buy a vehicle from a private party then you will need to pay a use tax (which is the equivalent of sales tax, so that you do not evade the responsibility to pay a sales tax by buying from a private party) and registration fees at your local DMV.


Buying or Selling a vehicle Changing Vehicle Ownership

 

The 2010 has 88K miles so the powertrain warranty will have expired. You still will benefit from the remaining hybrid vehicle warranty and California emissions warranty which will cover some portions of the powertrain.

Interesting to see it has nav. The photos look great, I suggest you drive it and see what you think.

The G3 Prius may have more interior noise and squeaking due to the construction of the center console. See if that is a problem with this particular car.

The Toyota service records will only show dealership services performed. Hopefully the car had regular engine oil/oil filter changes. Don't be surprised if the selling dealer does not have any other service records available to you.

 

Violet,

If the dealer won't let you have the car checked out by someone else, I would NOT do business with them. Look elsewhere.

Ron (dorunron)

 

Violet,

Oh don't get me wrong. Everyone likes to get a new car. But not everyone likes to make payments either. But it seems the two go together unless you are rolling in dough.

Words of wisdom for you.

Whatever car you buy, make sure you have extra money in your budget. At some point you will need it for whatever happens to come to you throughout the payoff process. In other words, don't max yourself out. Credit is something that is a valuable thing, but can be ruined easily. Don't let yourself fall behind on your payments. It will hurt your credit rating. A lot of stuff today is based on Credit Rating. Even employers will check that, along with just about everyone else you do business with.

Not everyone can get a zero interest loan. It is only because I have a very good score that I was able to buy the new car that I want now at the interest rate I got.

Hope this helps you now and further on down the road.

Ron (dorunron)

 

Does the selling dealer offer a power train warranty on the car, beyond the manufacturer's warranties? If yes, then hopefully you can identify any existing problems and have them taken care of by the selling dealer.

If no, then the pre-sales inspection by the dealer means nothing and you can certainly require an inspection by a Toyota dealer service tech as a condition of your offer.

 

Violet, read through Car Buying Guide for New and Used Vehicles | CarBuyingTips.com. Don't let the open recalls on a Gen3 bother you. (In my opinion) The earlier recall flashes the brake ecu because some people got their panties in a bunch because they didn't like how the brake feels. The car stops just fine. By now it should be hard to find a car that didn't have this done. A dealer is going to have it done when the car goes into inventory.

The new recall addresses a situation that may cause the inverter to overheat and fail. Again, my opinion, it's an overreaction and it may reduce your fuel economy. Recall work is billed to Toyota so should you buy a car with an open recall you won't be charged by the dealer to get it done.

Have you looked at Carson Toyota? Dianne Whitmire is active here and comes highly recommended.

 

I feel and understand your desire to purchase. Some call it "The Fever". Very common in the car business. Also well known in places like Las Vegas.

Anyway, imo I would pass on the 2010 even though you like it. I don't care what they say about how they inspected it. And the insurance rigmarole, that is a LARK IMO. If that was the case, they would not have let you drive the car off of the lot.

Also, getting someone to go their location will NOT be cheap. Remember, it has been suggested to use a mechanic you know and trust. That generally means taking the car to them and let them check it out. Now if you were to say drive it a hundred miles or so to do that, I don't think any dealer will let you do that. But a good dealer will allow you to take it to a local independent or even Toyota place and have the car inspected.

If they refuse to allow you to have that car checked out other than bringing someone to their location, IMO they probably won't stand behind the car either if there was a problem after the sale. Most cars like the one you are looking at will be sold "AS IS". If you want a warranty, you will have to pay for that too. Plus most of these warranties are NOT worth the money you spend.

Choice #1 is my suggestion based solely on their attitude about not letting you take the car to have it checked out.

Sorry to discourage you, the above are my gut feelings on this deal.

FWIW, anytime I bought a used car the dealer/salesman would let me drive it by my mechanic and have him eyeball it for me. I have done this more than one time. I don't do that on new ones, but used one's definitely.

You would be surprised what they look for, and learn some of the tricks car dealers do to car to make them look "ready to roll".

 

Try not to let the lure of "I want it" over-power your emotions. You need to keep a rational head when buying a car.

It's nearly $14,000, and while it is within your budget, it is a lot. Were you able to negotiate on price? The fact they will not let you take it to an independent mechanic would make me worry, however if you can get it in writing that you can return it if anything adverse crops up in the inspection (that you MUST get) after purchase, that would allay that fear,

Remember also that even though your budget is 16,000 out the door, the less you pay the better - Try for 12,000 or less.

Another thing bear in mind, if they need to fix anything under warranty, that is a 3 hour round trip plus whatever time it is waiting around for the repairs to be made.

Final word of wisdom, regardless of how great this deal seems, there will be another deal tomorrow that will be as good, if not better.

The more cars you look at, the better and more comfortable you will be dealing with car sales people.

hope this helps

 

How many used Prius have you test-driven? The more, the better because you'll start to understand how the cars should behave. If you don't see any warning lights or messages, that is a good sign. However you need to drive the car 30 minutes or longer, on the freeway as well as surface streets. Often a salesman wants you to drive "around the block" and call it good.

Unless the BMW dealer will put in writing their warranty (something like 30 days, 1K miles on the entire vehicle, to fix any issues your inspection reveals) it would be wiser to keep looking.

Or you could say what the hell, buy the car, and hope for the best. I've done a few things like that in my time... Sometimes that works out, sometimes not...

What is the worse that could happen? Maybe you'll find that the electric engine coolant pump has a slight leak, the front struts need to be replaced, or the air conditioner compressor needs to be replaced. Can you afford to spend $1K for repairs on a 10% chance that there is a problem? Then you can take the risk.

Either way, good luck with your continued Prius shopping.