Dogman! Since you're a former Maxima lover, help me out. We are going to trade in 3 cars: '02 Passat '98 Century '96 Trooper for two new cars... '02 Pathfinder* AND either '03 Maxima* OR '02 Altima SE (V6) *We want the navigation system in one of the vehicles what are your opinions of the Maxima? -- now as for paying for these, well the top 2 tradeins are owned outright but the Trooper is financed...from Americredit. I have no doubt that it's upside down on the Americredit loan. We're hoping that the 3 for 2 deal will mean that that I won't have to pay too much to get out of the Americredit loan. In any event, we're going to use a little money from an equity loan to pay any difference. I wonder how many points you get for a paid off car loan?
Not that I buy very many cars...but many people say you get RIPPED OFF when trading in vs. selling by ads in the paper and having FOR SALE signs in the windows... DO YOUR "HOMEWORK"...
Multiple trades. These can be done, but be prepared to be lowballed. Luckily you have two paid for trades. Interesting thing about having an auto loan paid off, it may hurt your score. I had three cars financed at one time. Sold one of the cars to free up my finances. My Equifax score dropped 15 points. Guess the scoring system likes the mix of secured items. FWIW
At least here in Kansas, you only pay taxes on sales difference. So, if you were trading in enough cars to cover the cost of the new car there would be no sales tax due!
Really? hmmm so the CRAs would rather we finance $10k just to keep our scores up? geez now that I think of it, she has never had a car loan in her name...the previous cars were under her parents' and this current one she bought with cash.
Hi jonesing - what I can tell you is my MAX was in great shape - and the Honda dealer offered me $4000!!!! - when the blue book to a private seller was $8000K I think its a heck of a lot better to sell the cars in the paper - By doing this I put down $10K in cash on a $36K car. Your two vehicles should do well. I loved my Maxima - and the new ones are a much better car - 260 hp. I just had hit 90K - needed a car I could drive daily at work - so I wanted a sport sedan or sport coupe. I considereds Max and decided to move up - but buying the MAX would not be a bad decision. Its a great car! aarrff - dogman
I agree...Don't Trade! Got burned once like that and never again. Now, on to that Passat. I've always liked them? Is there some reason you don't like it? We went to go look at SUV's today and I was really impressed by the Chevy Trailblazer. The LTZ edition was sweet, and the guy gave us a random price of 32k. Not bad. The new Pathfinders are pretty nice as well.
Edmunds.com has been a great site for my car interests. Try going to town hall > smart shopper > Real world trade values. These guys buy cars at the auction all the time and always seem pretty close on what dealer will offer for trade. Just post car(s) year, mileage, options and condition.
Also, when you are ready to buy play the dealers against each other. Maximas are great cars, but not flying off the lot. If you have multiple dealers see what each of them can do to earn your buisness!
Advice from a previous car salesperson... When you trade, bring in the blue book. If you don't want to buy one, you can xerox the pages you need at the library, they always have them. Then at negotiation time: When you trade in a car, they tell you that 12,000 mi annually is "normal" and they will try to subtract for "excess" mi above that. When they SELL the car, they will tell you that 15,000 is normal. Challenge them with this fact. If they lowball the trade, tell them that you will accept that only if they will sell the car you want for the "tissue" price. (That is the price the dealer paid!) They will balk, of course. Then you point out: Oh, I get it, you want to pay me wholesale for MY car but want me to pay RETAIL for yours! Either we do wholesale for wholesale or retail for retail! Never accept the first price they offer. They will ALWAYS come down to make the sale. Next ALWAYS go at the end of the month. This is when the salesperson, sales manager, and finance manager are 'desperate' to make their quota. And you bet, all 3 are paid by commission. If you do want the extended warranty, tell them you don't want it first. As they try to talk you into it, offer 1/2 of what they were charging you. They will come down on that price too! NEVER EVER buy "undercoating". Oh they will sell it to you and they will actually put it on the car. Dumb, because ALL cars are now treated with undercoating at the factory! Do not upgrade the stereo. You can ALWAYS install a better sound system later and it will be cheaper! Final note: Smart thing is to consider a 'program' car. These are cars that were rental cars. First, they were extremely well maintained. Next, because they are "used" the dealership can build more profit into them ($3000 to $5000) which is very negotiable. You get a 1 year old car in great shape and someone else took the major depreciation hit during the first year! You will spend less time upside down on this vehicle! Next, balk at having them pull your CR. Act like you want to think about it first. When they try to "overcome the objection" start telling them what you know about credit and how you don't want unnecessary inquiries on your report. This is what I did yesterday. The salesman then informed me that they pull EQ (at Dodge for Chrysler Credit). This way I would only lose 3 points on EQ. I told him that I had to think about it and went for a smoke. (He now feels that I am on the verge of leaving and he loses the sale.) I come back in and tell him: This is the deal. You can ONLY pull EQ. No other CR. You may fax the CR to Crysler Credit. They are NOT to pull another CR. If I qualify with Crysler, then we have a deal, otherwise, I'm outta here. They agreed. Later in the FM office, she noted that my current 2001 car note is not on my EQ....wanted to pull a tri-bureau (look at my scores... would you?). I told her flat out NO. She didn't and now the car is in the driveway and there is only 1 Inquiry on my EQ!!!! You have power with knowledge! Hope this helps!
super advice on this thread! I negotiated a new car for my mother last year and she was trading in an old ford crown vic...I went to the net (edmunds I think) and printed out not only the prices for the value of the old car but also the msrp for the car she wanted. When I sat down at the salesman's desk I pulled out the printouts and put them right in front of him...that definitely works. they still tried to jack us around but I told them how much a month my mother was willing to pay and stood firm for a couple of hours...ended up with the sales manger who finally gave us the deal we wanted. I hate to say this because I am somewhat a feminist...and my father at one time was a car dealer...but it is still alot easier for men to negotiate car deals then it is for women...so for the first hour or so of the negotiations I had to overcome the "woman" thing. So if you have a male friend, husband, brother....bring him along. Please don't flame me on this one...I wish I were wrong on it...but I have 25 years as a corporate executive experience making in the six figures...and I still felt "the good ole boys" treatment at the car dealer's... clc
Thanks for the help all! Well first of all I don't have to worry about the good ol' boy thing going...unless you're talking about rednecks ;-) Anyway, my concern about "playing the game" is keeping her briefed--I've read many times that the process is to get the prices for the trade-in, the new car and then financing details taken care of during separate transactions. She keeps "talking out of school" and tells the dealers that we're paying cash! I think we're about to make things even more complicated by considering a 1-2 year old car like SCMom mentioned. That and a couple of dealers have been really trying to push their special lease rates--provided you're Teir 1 credit, of course. I didn't bother asking him what crieteria they use to determine Tier 1, 2 etc. Mom, I think you're right about the end of the month thing: we went to one dealer yesterday and let me tell you, we had no less then 3 salesmen on us like locusts! geez
Go to any dealership in Las Vegas. Before you can even put your car in park, you'll have at least one salesman outside your car door asking how's your credit, and when can you take delivery. I'm not even kidding. About a year ago, gf and I went to a dealership in the "Valley Auto Mall" in Henderson. It was a Honda dealer if memory serves me correctly. Anyway, we get out of the car, and this saleman approaches us, we tell him, "just looking". He steps back but trails s by like 15 feet the whole time we're there. Talk about annoying. Finally, my gf see's a Isuzu Rodeo SUV she's interested in. So, she askes the salesman who has grown an attachament to us "how much"? since there were no prices in the vehicles. He says he's not sure and that he'll be right back. So we wait. Three minutes later he comes back with the finance manager! The FM askes us (I swear) "so, hows your credit?" I was like WHAT! Hold up there big shot. All we want is a price, not a credit report pulled. So, this time I said "I just want to know how much you want for the Rodeo" FM says: "Lets go inside and run some numbers." At this point I turned away, with my gf, walked back to my car and drove out. What a joke. No wonder the turnover rate at dealers in Vegas are HUGE. We had gone to Towbin Infiniti on Sahara a couple of times. First time meet a great salesman, he was friendly, not pushy, was 2 weeks new to the job (probably why he was so friendly) and actually knew his cars. Anyway, it was getting late, told him I'll definately be back, but might be a week or so. Well, it turned out to be two weeks before I could get back down there, and when I did, he was gone. Not sure if he was fired, or just quit, but either way they don't stay long. Okay, I'm rambling.
