Why would a Toyota dealership be eager for a trade-in when you buy a Prius?

New Orleans?

Is this a new 2006 or a "new" 2005?

Are you sure this isn't a Katrina car?

 

End of the month, salesperson needs to meet quota.

General push to get N.O. back "in business" in other than tourist business.

Good timing on your part.

Mix equally from all three, stir, bake, and enjoy!

 

With as many Katrina cars down there as there are, it may be really hard for them to get used cars that AREN'T Katrina cars and there's probably a huge demand for good used cars with tracable histories for families coming back that have lost their cars etc.

Get him to give you as much as he will on the trade and take advantage of the timing.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SW03ES @ Apr 30 2006, 03:05 PM) [snapback]247665[/snapback]</div>

dealerships make more money off used cars than new.... big delta.

 

He's right, dealerships do make more money off used cars than new, and make more money off service than both combined.

 

You don't mention what year your Tribute is, but if you go to some on-line places to look up it's value, you'll see that the average trade-in on a 2001 Tribute 4WD DX (middle of the road trim package) with 168K is about $6000. So that's the oldest Tribute made and a middle of the road trim package and the normal trade is twice what they offered you. Unless your Tribute has been wrecked or is beat up, then to me it sounds like a typical dealer to me. They are ripping you off.

I'm not a car buying expert, but I ALWAYS go into the dealer knowing EXACTLY what my old car is worth and exactly what the new car costs the dealer. I knew I was going to get screwed on my Prius price - sticker price usually means a couple thousand in profit to the dealer unless it is a luxury car then its WAY more. So, when my dealer offered me $7500 on my 1999 Honda, I said no thanks. Why? because that was the low end of dealer trade value for it. The retail value was $11500. These numbers should also confirm to you what others have said, namely that used car margins are pretty high, particularly on trades.

To finish my story, I kept my car, got it detailed, put it up for sale in the local paper. After two weeks I still hadn't sold it, so I shopped it around to the local used car lots. Two offered me $8000, one offered me $8500. That's a minimum of $500 more than I would have gotten on trade. Still seemed a little low. Then I got a call the next day, met a guy and sold the car for $9500 in CASH. That's $2000 more than the trade after spending $150 for a detail and $40 for newspaper adds.

Not ever having seen your vehicle it is hard for us to judge it's value. If you think $3000 is a good deal, then take it. But understand the dealer is NOT DOING YOU A FAVOR, s(he) is just doing his job. He or she knows exactly what the trade is worth and hopes that you don't. That's how the business works.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BayouBulldog @ Apr 29 2006, 11:08 PM) [snapback]247435[/snapback]</div>

Same thing happened to me but I live in Vancouver, WA. After a week of negotiating with the dealer my trade-in tripled from the original offer. The car I was trading in- 92 Camry LE- had 125K, dents/scratches galore, and needed 2K worth of work. They even knocked off all of the pinstriping, etc- about $600.
I thougth this was odd.
Brian
2006 Prius with package 1

 

Personally, I wouldn't ever mix trades with the deal, it just gives the dealership more room to hide profit. Not to say the dealership and the salesperson shouldn't make a profit, they should (otherwise why are they there?) I just like to know where the profit is coming from. Salespeople think they need to hide this stuff and they don't, most people are fair and realize that everybody needs to make a living, and as long as you're upfront and honest they won't begrudge them their living.

I'd take the car around to places like Carmax and trade it there.

 

I traded a 02 Jaguar X type 3.0 on Friday.

I checked it out through Edmunds Car Appraisal system before going to the dealership. While the car was great mechanically and mileage was in range for an 02, there was substantial cosmetic problems with the trunk from a bad paint job from the first owners.

Even with that, the dealership was within $900 of Edmunds with the car in 'clean' condition which it wasn't with the trunk situation.

Between saving the money on painting it with the hopes of getting it to 'outstanding' condition for a private sale and the money saved by paying the tax on the difference (which is how it works here in AZ) rather than the full price of the car, it was a 'no brainer'.

I knew I was going to pay MSRP for the Prius with no market adjustment or added required packages. If they made a little extra, so be it. I was satisfied. I think they call it a 'win-win' scenario.

The dealership, Avondale Toyota, was a one price/one person operation. No approvals required from sales managers, or "let me see if I can get my boss to sign off on this" type of pressure. The only 2nd person was the used car buyer and they came in with a 'fair' offer right away.

As car buying experiences go, this was about as good as it gets. Deposit paid on 4/19, drove car out on 4/28. In a 'Prius world' that seemed pretty good.