Buying a used car from a dealer

[Anonymous]

I’m looking to buy a used car from a dealer. Car is a 2016 suv and is listed for $27,995 and has done around 36K.
How much leeway do you typically have when it comes to negotiating down the price on a car like this? I have financing in place to buy but would like to know what would be a reasonable amount to try negotiate off the list price.

[Anonymous]

You won’t know until you go in and then walk out and let them call you for weeks.

[Anonymous]

What car?

[Anonymous]

Most used car dealers are scum. They buy cars with problems. Take the car somewhere to check it out or buy new.

[Anonymous]

Is it the same brand as the new cars they sell? In other words, are you going to a new Ford dealer and trying to buy a used Ford SUV, instead of a used Toyota SUV? That situation is the best for you, in that new car dealers only keep relatively decent cars on their lot (reputational risk), and the junk gets sent to wholesalers and ends up in used car-only lots.

As for leeway, it depends on the usual factors like time of month, how long it's been there, etc. That said, they have more leeway on used than new because their cost isn't necessarily fixed (could've been part of a new car deal, with some profit coming from other parts of that deal to cover).

[Anonymous]

My FIL sold used cars for a while. His sale price flexibility would depend 100% on what he paid for it. So if he got a good deal, so could you. He also lives by the motto that if your first offer isn’t offensive to the seller you’ve offered too much. So start really low and see what happens.

What’s the cheapest you can find a similar car for? Start there. Maybe $24 ish?

[Anonymous]

go on cars.com, and KBB and NADA and see what the values are running.

keep in mind that most dealers when they take a car on trade, they are offing the sellers fair wholesale value.

cars at auction are going to sell for significantly less. but cars at auction may or may not have problems. and dealers don't know the problems until the take the car back to their shop and start working on it....

so ask the dealer, did the car come in on trade or if it was an auction purchase.

the car could be even a lease turn in... 3 years old, 36K miles. not a hateful purchase. see if they can get the car certified...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My FIL sold used cars for a while. His sale price flexibility would depend 100% on what he paid for it. So if he got a good deal, so could you. He also lives by the motto that if your first offer isn’t offensive to the seller you’ve offered too much. So start really low and see what happens.

What’s the cheapest you can find a similar car for? Start there. Maybe $24 ish?

I sold a car on Craigslist for $1,500 after a dealership offered me $75 for a trade in. I was offended and they didn't care or raise the price. It was so low I could have sold the tires off and got more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My FIL sold used cars for a while. His sale price flexibility would depend 100% on what he paid for it. So if he got a good deal, so could you. He also lives by the motto that if your first offer isn’t offensive to the seller you’ve offered too much. So start really low and see what happens.

What’s the cheapest you can find a similar car for? Start there. Maybe $24 ish?

I sold a car on Craigslist for $1,500 after a dealership offered me $75 for a trade in. I was offended and they didn't care or raise the price. It was so low I could have sold the tires off and got more.

I had a similar thing with dealer v CarMax. Dealer offer me $!00 (low mileage old car which ran fine) Carmax gave me 1000. Clearly the dealer just did not want it and the low amount was his way of telling me. I was buying a used car too so that probably gave him a lower profit margin to play with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My FIL sold used cars for a while. His sale price flexibility would depend 100% on what he paid for it. So if he got a good deal, so could you. He also lives by the motto that if your first offer isn’t offensive to the seller you’ve offered too much. So start really low and see what happens.

What’s the cheapest you can find a similar car for? Start there. Maybe $24 ish?

I sold a car on Craigslist for $1,500 after a dealership offered me $75 for a trade in. I was offended and they didn't care or raise the price. It was so low I could have sold the tires off and got more.

I had a similar thing with dealer v CarMax. Dealer offer me $!00 (low mileage old car which ran fine) Carmax gave me 1000. Clearly the dealer just did not want it and the low amount was his way of telling me. I was buying a used car too so that probably gave him a lower profit margin to play with.

My understanding is that used cars have a higher profit margin.

[Anonymous]

I sold a car to a dealer for $3k. They listed for $5500 on their site snd it sold within 2 wks. Not sure what the sales price was, but clearly, they have thousands to work with in negotiating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I sold a car to a dealer for $3k. They listed for $5500 on their site snd it sold within 2 wks. Not sure what the sales price was, but clearly, they have thousands to work with in negotiating.

Except that they prepped your car for sale, advertised it, stored it, paid someone to show it, processed the sale. None of that was free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I sold a car to a dealer for $3k. They listed for $5500 on their site snd it sold within 2 wks. Not sure what the sales price was, but clearly, they have thousands to work with in negotiating.

Except that they prepped your car for sale, advertised it, stored it, paid someone to show it, processed the sale. None of that was free.

Not the pp you replied to. They have economies of scale and they are advertising it on their own website. They have their own employees prepping it. Let's not kid ourselves, their overhead cost per car is very low. Probably $100.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I sold a car to a dealer for $3k. They listed for $5500 on their site snd it sold within 2 wks. Not sure what the sales price was, but clearly, they have thousands to work with in negotiating.

Except that they prepped your car for sale, well, I had already had it cleaned inside and out -- including shampooing the floormats. So, not much prep there.

advertised it, [/b] they put it on their website. minimal expense.


stored it, [b]they put it on their lot


paid someone to show it, processed the sale. They probably added a $300 processing fee to the sale


None of that was free.

I don't exactly feel sorry for them. I know they want to make a buck. That's what they are in business to do. They tried to get me to take $2500 for it. I knew I could sell it quick on craigslist for $3000. When I held firm, they came up to $3000. I was fine with that.

My only point was that I saw it just days later for $5500 on their site.... so clearly (to answer OP's question) they have THOUSANDS that they can whittle off the price for a used car. Go aggressive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I sold a car to a dealer for $3k. They listed for $5500 on their site snd it sold within 2 wks. Not sure what the sales price was, but clearly, they have thousands to work with in negotiating.

Except that they prepped your car for sale, advertised it, stored it, paid someone to show it, processed the sale. None of that was free.

Not the pp you replied to. They have economies of scale and they are advertising it on their own website. They have their own employees prepping it. Let's not kid ourselves, their overhead cost per car is very low. Probably $100.

It's not even close to $100. It's much higher.