Tryin' to swing a Prius for my momma in Pburgh...

You need to ask for the fine print of the warranty. I was in communication with a dealership that was offering a warranty like that, but there were lots of hidden things. You have to get all the work done usually at the dealership, you must have copies of everything, and if you are unable to produce the papers they can cancel it. Also the warranty usually has a $100 deductible, so if you have a fuse blown on your accessory plug, then it will cost $100 bucks.

Right now, trade-in on SUVs are very low. If you can do a private sale, you will get more, but that is a hassle to some people.

You will have to get a quote from the dealership.

 

about the interest rate part, accept nothing more then 5.25% interest. anything
more is a rip off. shoot for 4% in my mind. there is no special interest rates that
i know of. i guess it is up to the dealership if they agree to something like that.
maybe people here have gotten better but was there a special at the time? my
credit rating was quite good.

 

There are people who don't mind high mile cars. If the car is in good shape, it might sell. Currently demand is high for the Prius, I would go to the dealership and see what the waiting list is like and if they are sell at or above MSRP. You could always put a deposit down and then try and sell the VUE while you wait for the Prius.

 

120k miles is a deterrent, especially for a dealership, it will depend on how their used car department feels about the value, and how desperate they are to sell you a new car. Private sale would be better, to give you closer to book value, if dealership low balls you.

Check out their warranty offer, it may not be as good as you think, as stated before.

And finally, never ever go to a dealer without finding out what banks and or credit unions would offer you for interest rates. Example, I got my credit union to give me 4.99% when the average bank rate and even my credit union was offering around 5.99%, good credit power. The dealer wanted to give me 7.5%, then when I told them no, my credit union was better, they countered with 6.25% and expected me to go for it, I laughed and told them no until they finally realized I wasn't stupid.

 

Very good advice. You can also go online to bankrate.com and check out what is the current rate.

 

I guess you could try and talk them up on the trade in price. Have you been to the dealership to see what kind of trade-in they will give you?

 

I've read (around here, probably) that dealers are offering ~half the book value on SUVs.

 

I went to the dealership in March and get them to agree to $25,000 for my SUV trade, book on trade in was $21,995, private party was $25,300 and retail was $28,200. Got the car at the end of May and they stuck to the $25,000. I looked at the dealerships website and they have the car for sale with a price of $23,995. I got pretty lucky when I started my search, now trade-in prices for trucks and SUVs are sinking.

 

If you are worried, perhaps you are better suited to just trading it in with the dealer. Less hassle. I know nothing about Saturn Vue but if you could sell it privately for $5-6k, then dealer might offer you $2-3k. So you might be 3 thousand $ ahead with a private sale.

Traditionally dealers, would offer you an almost fair price, but make you pay full list price for the new car. These days they'll try to get you both ways, especially trading an SUV for a Prius. What's the gas mileage on the Vue ?

On the plus side, the Vue is only 5 (almost 6?) years old. Yes, 120k will put some people off, but $5-6k prices (or whatever a fair private sale price is) will have others looking. I was shocked to sell my 14 year old sports car with 120K 2 days after putting it at the end of my driveway with a for sale sign. Of course the price was 16% of what it was new, and I got lucky with an 18 year old about to learn about car and gas costs...

 

If you can sell for a decent private sale price, SELL ! Then rent a car or make other arrangements.

If renting a car isn't worth it for the premium a private sale gets, then just trade with dealer.

Yes, dealers will have maximum age and mileage and condition limits for cars they will sell on their own lots. If your car doesn't meet those limits, they sell it at auction and "Crazy Joes Used Cars" gets it to resell. So you'll get even less than the auction price from the dealer in this case.

 

Dealer offered me $2500 for my trade .... similar to yours. I sold it privatly for $4500. Selling yourself is so much better!!! Go to your bank and get your financing arranged ahead of time. Compare that to the dealer's rate and go with the cheapest. If you have decided on a Prius ..... get on the waiting list ASAP.

 

I would be VERY concerned about something that's seems too good to be true.

Check the fine print on this "lifetime" warranty. No dealership could take that kind of hit (fix every problem on every auto sold for the life of the customer!) unless they either:

1. Work in the price somewhere else
(or)
2. The warranty is VERY limited

Edit: Here's the published warranty info which states that it covers limited drivetrain only (factory warranty is 5yr-60k). Also, the warranty work can only be done at Greensburg Toyota - you can have your regular maintenance work done anywhere though. I'd really love to see the fine print on this puppy!

Lifetime Powertrain Warranty | Toyota Greensburg PA


... Brad

 

You really need to talk to someone in Pennsylvania who knows your state's laws. Here, dealers will take cars with 125K miles, or more on them, as trade-ins but they never give very much for them. The reason is very simple, by law they cannot sell those cars on their lots. The only thing that they can do with them is sent them to auction, where they may or may not sell for a decent price.

You should look into that. Another option would be to take it to someone like CarMax. They claim that they'll buy your car even if you don't buy one of theirs. I don't think that there are any in Pennsylvania, but there may be one in a surrounding state.

I’d also remember that it might take longer than you expect to sell the car in today’s market.

Good luck!

 

Yeah, sounds good. Consider just sticking For Sale signs in the windows and see if you get any interest. Nobody can force you to sell your car just because of that...

If $7800 is fair private sale price, consider asking at least $8,000 for it. If someone offers you $7800, then you have $2000 extra to rent a car until the Prius comes. Really, I don't know Vue MPG, but if it's an SUV, try to sell ASAP.

If $7800 is fair private sale price, then $5800 from dealer isn't too bad, but feel free to try and bargain him higher for your trade.

Someone mentioned CarMax and thats a good option but I've heard they aren't taking SUVs now, unless perhaps they are mini-SUVs with good MPG.

 

We have sold many cars privately. The only thing that matters is the price. Your mileage might be high but for a car 5-7k, thats expected. I would ask KBB.com's private party price and "DROP" the price a few hundred at a time (maybe every 5 days) until you get phone calls. the Used car market will always purchase a car/truck at the right price. Even if you get less then kbb trade-in price, you still would do better then the 2-3 k the dealer would give you.
Good luck. Use Craigslist if you have a chance or autotrader.com. We have sold 3 cars via craigslist already.