Are dealers more generous on trade in values when your paying sticker?

My husband had to work on a saturday so I went in and ordered my first pruis by myself. I did all the homework before hand and had it printed out with all the options I wanted and all the extras. He than asked me what I wanted for my trade in....luckly I looked on line to see what my 1997 surban was worth...so it will be intersting when my car comes in what I get for it. I have no idea how long it will take to get my new car, ordered it in June 6th and put down 1,000. They told me they do not dicker with the price, what is listed is what you pay.

Some of my family members are mad at me for not buying a american car...i told them if they would get the same gas milage as the prius I would.

 

Hi and :welcome: This is interesting - I wondered if anyone here from MI was getting knocked for buying a Prius. I think you're right on with your reply!

 

From my experience... not really. I was offered between 8K and 9K for a KBB trade-in value of 10K. After negotiating really hard, I got them to give me 10K, but I tried 3 different dealers and only one of them gave in.

 

I worked for a Toyota dealer for a very short time quite awhile ago (won't say who) and at that time they had a price that they internally valued the trade and that was that. If people were hung up on their trade value they would show more for the trade and discount the new vehicle less. If the price of the new vehicle was more important then they would do it the other way around.

Keep in mind that they always tried to keep from discussing the price and trade value. Instead they would talk down and monthly payment. It was much harder for the customer to tell what they were really paying if only the monthly payment was discussed.

Needless to say I didn't stay there very long.

G

 

I paid sticker, but got an extra $1k on my trade-in. CarMax offered me $1700, dealer offered me $2k, and eventually I managed to end up with $3k on the trade-in with the dealer.

So yes, I would say that I did get a better value on my trade in than I would have if I weren't paying sticker.

 

Not really... my dealer offered $6,500 for a car with KBB of $12,000. So I'm just going to ebay my used car (as I usually do with my older cars).

 

You may get a better trade-in price if you pay sticker, though the dealer is probably going to try to stick it to you on both.

The first rule of car negotiation (well, maybe it's not the first, but it's an important rule) is never - NEVER - NEVER - negotiate your trade-in until you've negotiated the price of the new car.

Come on people, this is common sense. Why do you think the salesman ALWAYS asks if you've got a trade-in when you start negotiating for the new car?

I think even Jabber, a car salesman, admitted it in another thread. If you negotiate both at the same time, you're working with two different sliding scales! Whatever money you "save" on the new car, the salesman is just going to shortchange you on your trade to make up the difference.

It's funny when people post that a dealer offered them less than MSRP - but low-balled the trade-in value. Well DUH!

 

Mirak, yes, I did "admit" that you are working with two sliding scales. However, you missed the rest of the point. Your trade in is worth whatever the market calls for. The new car is worth whatever the market calls for. Just because you negotiate both at the same time doesn't mean you won't get a good deal. Most dealers will show you both numbers at the same time. Decide if the new car and your trade in is a fair price. If not, just tell the salesperson you don't like either price. If they try and work only a payment, tell them you are paying cash.

Most of the time, I know you are trading in a car before I even ask the question.

 

A trade-in is another area of profit for the dealership so never assume that they will be more generous if you are paying MSRP. It is however an area when you have some negotiating power, especially useful when you work with dealerships that have set pricing (generally the case on high demand vehicles).

That being said I really do recommend getting a value estimate in writing before you choose which dealership to work with. Make sure you do your homework (NADA Guides, KBB, etc.), have your car detailed, and bring your service records with you. Get an estimate in writing and be wary of dealerships that refuse to do so. You can expect that if you end up finding your dream Prius a few weeks alter that pricing might change slightly, but it should be fairly close unless you put a ton of miles on it or come back with some new dents.

When I purchased by 2010 Prius IV NV I traded in a vehicle and the quotes that I received from dealerships varied significantly. I had a few dealerships under the Costco Auto Buyer Program that were selling slightly under MSRP, but the trade-in value estimates were low. Im my case it was a much better deal to work with a dealership was selling at MSRP but gave me a much better deal on my trade-in.

I realize that traveling around to dealerships to have your trade-in vehicle appraised is a pain but you may find that some are more generous on trade-ins that others. In my case, there was over $3,000 spread between the lowest and highest quotes I received. In the end I ended up saving $2,225 by working with a dealership selling at MSRP that offered a great deal on my trade-in, over what I would have got buying Costco Fleet price and getting a poor deal on trade-in.

Long story short, don't assume but rather check around. It takes some time but in the end you can save hundreds or even thousands.

 

Of course they do.

 

Sometimes and sometimes not.
I have seen people post that they negotiated the value of their trade upwards even when the dealer refused to negotiate the MSRP downward even though doing either works out to the same thing in the end.
The dealers just wanted to not start a precedent for selling below MSRP so early even though they were willing to still "deal" to make the sale.

 

Would it not be beneficial to get the new car price lower to save a little on sales tax?