Reply to How much room to negotiate on $25k used car?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Op here.  Amazing that I ask a simple question and get only a few responses that answer the question.  I didn’t ask if it made sense to buy a used car priced at $25k, yet posters are chiming in saying that doesn’t make sense or to instead buy a new car for $20k — what by the way?  The average new car price is approx. $35k and to me that’s crazy.  There is tremendous savings in buying a 2-3 year old car that is still under warranty, has good technology, and with most of the depreciation already accounted for.  That was my logic.  I’m done with this board.[/quote]

Here's the problem with your question.  All identical new cars roll off the assembly line with the same price tag, and then thousands of them are sold day in and day out, and through various means, everyone gets to know generally what everyone is paying for those identical cars.

Once all those cars are a couple years old, NONE of them are any longer identical.  Mileage, repair history, condition, etc., have made them all different from each other.  One of them could sell for $25,000, and that would be reasonable, and another one could sell for $10,000, and, given its condition, that could also be reasonable.  The best you can do is consult various pricing services like Kelly which can give you an idea of what cars like that are selling for, but even then, there are so many unknowns.  For example, you can't always tell the repair history, you definitely can't tell how the previous owner drove the car, and you can't tell what repairs - warranted or not - might be just around the corner.  You also don't know how much the dealer paid for the car and therefore don't know how much they might be willing to concede in price and still turn a profit.

So to come in and ask, "how much can I negotiate the price of a $25k used car," the answer might be anywhere from "none" to "a lot."  It really depends on a lot of things, some of which you could find out, and some you can't.  That's why a lot of people don't buy used cars.[/quote]

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