Buying a used car...CL or a used car dealer?
There are advantages and disadvantages to both. If you buy from a reputable dealer, the vehicles should be detailed, reconditioned and inspected. They also should be full disclosure, meaning if there was damage, it's easily available to find out (Carfax and autocheck available). The downside is that you will have to pay a doc fee and the reconditioning/inspection is factored into the price of the vehicle. The only advantavge to buying private party will be cost. If you buy from an individual, the chances of it being reconditioned and inspected are far less. You have to make sure not to fall for a scam and you have to be sure the person selling the vehicle is the actual owner of the vehicle and it comes with a clean title. I would start with autotrader.com or cars.com before craigslist. Sellers have to pay to post on autotrader.com and cars.com, so the chances of it being a legit listing is far greater. Always get your vehicle inspected by your mechanic before agreeing to purchase anything. Have fun in your Chevy Aveo, Hyundai Accent or base Nissan Versa. Not many newer cars out there in your price range.
Can I sell my car to a dealership (not a trade-in)?
I know Carmax does for sure. Any other dealership you would have to ask them first.
How do I sell my car to a dealership?
Apply and get hired.Get your vehicle salesperson license, at least in California, which requires livescan fingerprints.Get trained how to sell for a few weeks.Practice role play selling daily.You are allowed into the sales floor.Greet incoming prospects, who are colloquially called “an up”.Brush off any statements like “we are just looking”.Establish rapport with the up.Ask broad questions “are you more interested in cars or trucks?”. “I understand you are not here to buy today, but would you prefer to look at new vehicles or our certified preowned inventory.” “Would you prefer darker or lighter color?”Convince an up to test drive something. “I may have something worth a closer look.” “It seems this car caught your attention. Why don't we go for a test drive? I just need your driver's license…”. Return the license following the test drive. Unscrupulous dealers may hold the driver license hostage.Extoll the virtues of a vehicle the prospect emotionnHandle objections why the up does not want to buy today. You get trained for this extensively before you are allowed on the sales floor.Turn the prospect to a more experienced closer if you feel you will not close the deal.Fill in the credit application and use that information to further rapport with the prospect.Play the 4-square payments game and start the process of appraising the trade vehicle.Kill more time with the customer until an F&I manager becomes available. You would go through the owner's manual. The customer is not to leave the dealership.Hand off the customer to your F&I (finance and insurance) manager. They are usually former top salespeople.While the F&I manager takes the customer to the cleaners with a mountain of useless upsells, have the vehicle fueled and detailed for delivery.Hand the keys to the customer.
Why do car dealerships always want to steal your trade from you?
Car dealers are in business to make money, and they additionally have legal obligations as to a used car’s fitness for resale that a private party does not have.If you sell your car via advertising of some sort, newspaper, Craigs list, internet, some car trader magazine, all you need to do is list car details and its price. How do you find the price? Most folks consult guides like Kelly Blue Book, Edmunds, or Consumer Reports. Most people appraise their own car generously and pick the retail price as the figure to ask for. You might not even need to so much as wash your car to sell it!Dealerships cannot buy your car at retail prices. Well, they can, but they won’t be in business long. They won’t appraise your car’s condition quite as generously. They will knock off for every chip and ding, and offer wholesale or below. The below-wholesale allows for the legal maintenance and refurb. Assuming your car can be resold from the dealer’s lot, as opposed to going to an auction or wholesaler, your car needs to have legal brake pads, legal tire tread, wipers, lights, and other safety factors up to standards. Prepping the car to get it front line ready costs time and money. So they buy your car at wholesale, or less, add on hard costs in terms of parts and labor, put it on the line where it accumulates its share of advertising and dealership maintenance costs, and eventually gets sold to someone who drives a hard bargain that leaves a very thin margin.Giving you less money than you think your car is worth is good business from the dealer’s point of view. Consumers might think of it as “stealing,” in which case you are perfectly free to remove your car from a deal and sell it yourself, looking to sell to another person for that amount of money you want for it.
Is $500 a fair dealer trade in value for my 1999 Toyota Camry?
I'm looking at buying a new 2010 Honda Accord or 2012 Ford Fusion to replace my 1999 Toyota Camry. Both dealers told me all they could offer me was $500 in trade in. This sounds like a major rip off. The interior of the car is in excellant condition and the heating, air conditioning and radio works. The car is a 4 cylinder with 117,000 miles on it. The car has the check engine light on. In my state the car will not pass smog with the check engine light on. This repair is called the charcoal canister which would cost $500 to replace and the check engine light would be off. The back bumper of the car is a little scratched on the right. Car sales people tell me that if I sell it on my own I will only get $1000 or maybe $800. My independant mechanic seems to think I could get $2500 if I sell it on my own without fixing the charcoal canister. The sales people at both new car dealers talk to me like I'm stupid and I'm wrong.