I am wondering what everyone's take is on the seemingly less rare occurrence of an Internet sale on a Prius that is $3,500+ below KBB, but with no visible damage in the photos and no claim of a salvage title. I am talking about dealer sales here. Look at this Prius: Used Toyota Prius V For Sale Fargo, ND - CarGurus Almost $5,000 below KBB, and with a bit of negotiating I suspect you could get right around $5,000 below KBB. So why are they listing it so low? Is the car dysfunctional and they are trying to unload it, or are there some ridiculous hidden dealer fees?
Either or both. My daughter got a "good deal" on a demonstrator Civic once because of hail damage. The "paintless" dent removal process is amazing; you couldn't tell the finish had ever been damaged. BUT.............she found out about 8 years later that it had also been rear-ended and the frame was rusting out where it had been bent. The dealership "forgot" to mention that.
its not a trim level 5. no leather 50K miles in two years... thats a lot of miles.. No NAV, has a "maint req" light on
It appears to be trim level 3, since it has the backup camera and Display Audio touchscreen, but no Softex leather.
watch for all the unpublished markups... like dealer prep, deliver, muffler bearings, undercoating... I was looking at a v after my hatch got crushed great deal 18900 for a v V... but after all their prep, recon, delivery, ect. it suddenly jumped to 23K...
Is it common to have some form of fee for the tradein? Like some prep fee for the tradein? The dealer wanted to charge $300 prep fee on my tradein and I said, but you are charging $500 prep fee to the buyer of the car, why the hell should I pay prep fee when you're already getting that from the buyer? I was interested in knowing if that's standard, or if normally there are no fees on the tradein.
if the dealer can charge for it. AND get away with it.... they will... Dealer makes money 4 ways 1. Buying your car for as little as possible so they can mark up the price for sale (remember they are taking a risk on buying a used car) 2. Sell you a new or used car for more than what they paid for it. 3. Financing kickbacks 4. Hidden/dealer markup fees. like delivery, dealer prep, reconditioning, dealer installed options like pin striping, floor mats, tag fees, ect ALL fees are negoiable except for what your state charges in taxes and what you tags really cost. I'm not against the dealer making money. (I come from a GM dealership family) But I don't want them to make their monthly payroll on my sale alone... Cash sales used to be great for making deals. but that has waned somewhat, especially with 0% and 1-2% financing. if you don't like the deal. walk away... if they really want the sale they will call you back. I really wish that there were laws in place that when a dealer lists an advertised price, that it shows the out the door price after all fees, taxes, ect. Nothing prevents them from listing a low advertised price only to mark it up with add-ons.
Don't hold your breath. Laws about things like that are dictated by MONEY and the politicians it can buy. Auto dealers taken as a group wield a LOT of money.
