Dealer says "Edmunds has never sold a car"

Not with Edmunds.

Kelly Blue Book, schedules are set up late in the year for the following year. So things change.

I didn't trade in my Honda at the Toyota dealership; I took it to the Honda dealer, he gave me 4 x what the Toyota folks were giving me as a trade. I could have mde a bit more if I'd sold it myself (on craigslist, as one example), but I didn't want to deal with the plates and insurance for 2 cars, or be stuck with no car waiting for my Prius to arrive.

On the day I got the call my Prius arrived, I took my Honda to the dealer, did all the paperwork etc. Got a ride home on the Honda Shuttle. The Toyota shuttle was sitting in front of my house waiting to take me to pick up my new car.

 

You have to know the current wholesale price for your car. That's usually close to the Kelly blue book trade value, and what a dealer will offer for your car. That way, he gets his money back if he wholesales it. If he offers lower than that, walk away.

 

I would not be afraid of walking out or waiting to you get the deal you want. Nothing is worse than "Buyers Remorse."

 

Wow! He was trying to rip you a big one as Edmunds dealer trade-in is always quite a bit lower than kbb dealer trade-in.

 

Why bother with him, just go to the dealer who has the car you're wanting. That is unless the other dealer is simply too far away. Either way though, find another salesman or dealer to use.

 

Stay strong, when I went to trade in our 1991 Ford Explorer back in 2007 they only offered us $500. KBB had the value pegged at $1700. The vehicle had a few flaws but it was mechanically sound. We already had the sale price of the Prius negotiated, but we walked out only for the dealer to give us a call back the following day offering $1000 for the trade, the wife told me to hold out and insist on $1500. He called back 2 days later saying that they would give me $1000 for the trade and the dealer would put $500 towards the downpayment. Being patient moved our payment from $315 mo. to $285 mo.

 

For trade-ins you should look to KBB, and choose the "Fair" condition price. It doesn't matter if the car is perfect, Fair is around what you should expect. Sell it yourself on Craiglist for the more if you want more, or Ebay if the car has little appeal and you need a wide audience. It only takes a few days to have a car sold.

 

Actually, he's wrong there. Apart from the databases Edmunds maintains on car values, Edmunds itself probably sells more cars than your friendly salesman...they buy the cars they use for long-term testing, and sell them at the end...the long-term wrapups usually summarize their sales efforts.

 

I think that most of us that have bought several cars have experienced the "KNOW IT ALL" Salesmen.

I had one guy tell me that my 2005 Camry Le with 65K on it was worth $5,500 I just laughed at him.. and got a "WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING ABOUT?". I said "I don't want to LEASE My old car to you... I want to sell it! Capiche?"
He said, "Well that is our offer- you know the prius is a hot selling car, and we have this one here... if you want it then you will have to work with us!"
SO I went home and checked online at another dealer's website and they had a "Used car evaluator" and I checked on the value of my vehicle. I used "FAIR" condition as it is always a way to see where the dealer will try to go.
Sure enough the guys thought that they were Captain Morgan because they must have been drunk or something.

SO I checked the inventory online for my area (Using Vehix.com) and found another dealer that had a vehicle listed (that I was not interested in). I Cleaned up and waxed my car- drove it through a car wash... then spray tire black on the wheels, and vacuumed out the inside and sprayed some "New car scent" Air freshener in it. I drove that $5500 car (YEAH RIGHT) to a dealer 30 miles away and feigned interest in one of his cars- It was a Barcelona red (only one he had in stock) and asked him to tell me what My car was worth. He said (Matter of factly) $9000 if you are buying one of mine $8500 if you just want to sell it. HEY, I just gained $3500 for a $6 bottle of tire black, a $5 bottle of air freshener (Both which we had leftovers from) and a $12 car wash... Not a bad deal for $23. SO we discussed further the vehicle he had, it had the right Package 2 options... but it had that darn RED paint... and my Wife had asked for a white one for XMAS. SO I got a copy of the proposal that we were discussing and asked him to find a White one equally equipped. He said that he MAY be able to but that it would cost us for the service. While I was there he two more times said I "MIGHT" be able to get a white one... which made me wonder who had it. Anyway, as I was preparing to leave the Sales manager came over and told me that the company was taking orders for these vehicles and only had the red one as a deal fell through. He would try to trade for the white one that we wanted - HE probably could get it, but again he said that there was a fee for this service. The one they had on the lot they had a $1000 "Market adjustment" tacked onto the price. SO i figured he would take the white one and tack $1000 onto the sticker price and get me to pay that for it also.
Anyway, I left the site, and called my wife just to verify that Red was still a NO GO, since she wanted the Prius so much. I told her I found one, and she said what color immediately, when I said RED- She said FORGET IT!
Well I sat at my desk, wanting to get her the Christmas present she wanted, and remembering my salesman telling me three times that he MIGHT be able to get the white package 2 for me. Then the Sales manager came over and said Probably he could acquire one for us. I knew that there was one around close, or they wouldn't have stressed it so much. Then I asked myself DO I want to pay $1000 (adjustment) for them to get it from the other dealer- or just go get it myself. I decided that I was not interested in making a dealer richer... so I got on the phone and called (4) dealers within 70 miles to the south and west of me.... None of them had the Super White package 2. One had a RED, and One had a Black and the rest were taking orders. I then thought about a city 60 miles east of us ( A big Chrysler town) and I decided to see if they had any Prius available. They had a deal fall through when someone was laid off (A Chrysler employee). SO the Internet salesman spoke with me about the car and told me what it had one it, I eager listened- It was a Package 2. He kept not saying anything about the color... SO I just out and asked, and his first words was a "you may not like the color" I said well we really want a "SUPER WHITE" His reply is I was sure you wanted a green or blue as they are hot right now. I said, NO my wife wants a "SnowBall White car".
SO that part of the deal was found. Then I asked him about the value of my vehicle. He got the sales manager on the line, and they said well maybe $7000. I told him I still had a sales proposal from another dealer and that they offered $9000 after seeing the vehicle, and that is what I expected. He went away to check something and came back and said "We will be okay with that as long as it is not damaged when it gets here". I had given them the VIN so I am sure they checked it (CARFAX?). That part of the deal was complete...
They then put me to the finance guy who said I Can finance anyone.... I said- No thanks I want to use my own bank so I will give you a deposit (on my CC). He said Sure but I can probably do better than your bank. He was wrong. I contacted my Credit Union, and they gave me 5.0% for 5 yrs... when I told him he said there is NO WAY. I can't get below 6% right now for 5 yrs.

SO the entire deal was done expect planning a delivery date (2 weeks ago). We went in test drove it- got introduced to SNOWBALL.... had the tour and show how everything works, signed papers and drove away.

My dealer out there was great except the finance manager who tried the pressure sale for the extended warranty. EVERYTHING ELSE was super and we are very happy.

We have had those that try to change the car you are looking at...
I had one a few months ago tell me Edmunds was wrong, and then I told him I used the Kelley Blue Book for value, and he said it is outdated, then I told him I compared it to the Black book (Wholesales) and he told me then I was wrong. THEY mark things up based on conditions that often times they (As dealers) control themselves. Our local Toyota dealer gets no PRIUS without an order.... Yet 140miles away he brings them onto another lot of his and sells them. WHY YOU ASK? 2 reasons.. 1)In our area he is selling Certified used toyota prius for more than the MSRP of it new.... Making a killing. SO he does not want the New ones on the lot to stifle the used ones sales. 2) Since there are none to be gotten on the lot within 60 miles or so he can do a market adjustment for the vehicles he does get to his lot. Again increasing his profit margin immensely.

The dealer we bought it from Gave us a $500 internet lead discount + a $500 (New customer) discount (as we were referred by another customer) + they ended up throwing in the complete set of floor/cargo mats as we truly didn't care if we got them or not, and they wanted to close the sale. That means they gave us approx $1300 less than Sticker price.... and NO market adjustment added to it....HMMM?

As another writer stated Edmunds sells their Long Term test cars.... They BUY the cars and do long term testing so that they owe the manufacturers Nothing as far as the reviews go. They own the car and they do an unbiased review of what they were sold. Then they sell their property.

 

What car are you trying to sell? Sorry, I might not have caught that.