Anybody bought a used car recently?

[Anonymous]

We are looking to buy a slightly used car—2-4 years old, 40,000 miles or less. We are looking at the dealerships’ inventory online. Once we have identified a few cars that would work, do we still negotiate, or is that a thing of the past?

[Anonymous]

Pre-COVID, we attempted to buy a used Honda Civic from a dealer. They wouldn’t negotiate at all. Since the used price was less than 5k below the new car’s sticker I made a comment that I’d be better off to haggle on a new one. The sales guy actually agreed. We ended up haggling on the new car and while I didn’t get the deal I’d hoped due to shortages (even then!) I did get a decent deal that made it a no-brainer since we ended up with a new car and new warranty. Times have obviously changed for new cars, but it left me with the impression that there’s little wiggle room in used cars from dealerships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pre-COVID, we attempted to buy a used Honda Civic from a dealer. They wouldn’t negotiate at all. Since the used price was less than 5k below the new car’s sticker I made a comment that I’d be better off to haggle on a new one. The sales guy actually agreed. We ended up haggling on the new car and while I didn’t get the deal I’d hoped due to shortages (even then!) I did get a decent deal that made it a no-brainer since we ended up with a new car and new warranty. Times have obviously changed for new cars, but it left me with the impression that there’s little wiggle room in used cars from dealerships.

I’m the above poster. I feel like I should clarify. I’m not saying you shouldn’t try to haggle. I would never buy a car without negotiating first. And if the used car dealer won’t, then I’d try a few more before agreeing to their price.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I posted a week ago with questions about Honda dealerships. I actually located the car we bought through the app Co-pilot. I loved it! It includes a deal rating so you can see if it’s a great, good or fair deal, and you can get price alerts if a dealer lowers a price. The app also lets you compare all available cars set to your filters within xx miles and lets you know if there is wiggle room to negotiate. I set up the search to include only four star dealers. Right now, though, supply is limited and used cars are still priced quite high. We ended up with a 2020 Honda Fit with only 15,000 miles for $20k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are looking to buy a slightly used car—2-4 years old, 40,000 miles or less. We are looking at the dealerships’ inventory online. Once we have identified a few cars that would work, do we still negotiate, or is that a thing of the past?

Visit Penfed Car Buying Service and plug in those parameters.
It will show all matching cars at local dealerships

[Anonymous]

Bought a 2 year old used Tesla in March, from Tesla. Under 20k miles. Apparently they don’t negotiate and so we paid the price listed online.

[Anonymous]

Bought a 2018 CRV in Feb with 24k miles. No negotiation. Only thing I got out of it was an extra key (only was being sold.)

It took a long time to find what I was looking for: year, mileage, color, trim.

[Anonymous]

We didn't negotiate the sale price of a Subaru we bought in March, but we did negotiate up the trade-in value of our old car. More leverage there since we would have been comfortable paying for the car without the trade in, and just selling the car ourselves.

But I don't feel we overpaid, either. We shopped around quite a bit, and also looked at some new cars. We wound up getting a 3 year old vehicle at the highest trim level for about what we would have paid for a brand new one a the most basic trim level. Only 12k miles on it, one owner, and it had brand new tires. Still under warranty.