Why would a Toyota dealership be eager for a trade-in when you buy a Prius?

[BoosPrius]

Or maybe they are the same way for all purchases. On the day I went to shop for my Prius, I didn't plan on trading in my Mazda Tribute. Didn't even bother to clean it beforehand. It had 168,000 miles, a cracked windshield, torn leather seat on the driver's side, it needed new motor mounts, and the transmission was about to go. The salesman, who was not at all pushy about buying a new car, did get a bit pushy, or maybe I should say too enthused, about doing a trade. He first offered me $1,500 for the trade, and after I replied that I wasn't interested, went see his trade in person, and came back with double that offer, and then upped it even more. I have no idea why the dealership would want a car with so many problems. Any ideas? I bot my Prius on the 28th, so would it have anything to do with monthly quotas or sales numbers? Thanx.

Gary

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BayouBulldog @ Apr 29 2006, 11:06 PM) [snapback]247435[/snapback]</div>

Or maybe they are the same way for all purchases. On the day I went to shop for my Prius, I didn't plan on trading in my Mazda Tribute. Didn't even bother to clean it beforehand. It had 168,000 miles, a cracked windshield, torn leather seat on the driver's side, it needed new motor mounts, and the transmission was about to go. The salesman, who was not at all pushy about buying a new car, did get a bit pushy, or maybe I should say too enthused, about doing a trade. He first offered me $1,500 for the trade, and after I replied that I wasn't interested, went see his trade in person, and came back with double that offer, and then upped it even more. I have no idea why the dealership would want a car with so many problems. Any ideas? I bot my Prius on the 28th, so would it have anything to do with monthly quotas or sales numbers? Thanx.

Gary
[/b]

I should have added that we had already agreed on a price for the Prius, $750 off the sticker, before he even started talking about a trade-in. Thus, his interest in doing the trade-in was not an enticement to get me to buy the Prius.

Gary

[Godiva]

New Orleans?

Is this a new 2006 or a "new" 2005?

Are you sure this isn't a Katrina car?

[BoosPrius]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Apr 29 2006, 11:23 PM) [snapback]247440[/snapback]</div>

New Orleans?

Is this a new 2006 or a "new" 2005?

Are you sure this isn't a Katrina car?
[/b]

It's a brand new 2006 Prius. Had just 2 miles on the odometer. I'm sure it is not a Katrina car. The 2006 Prius did not come out until late October 1995, well after Katrina.

Gary

[walt]

End of the month, salesperson needs to meet quota.

General push to get N.O. back "in business" in other than tourist business.

Good timing on your part.

Mix equally from all three, stir, bake, and enjoy!

[SW03ES]

With as many Katrina cars down there as there are, it may be really hard for them to get used cars that AREN'T Katrina cars and there's probably a huge demand for good used cars with tracable histories for families coming back that have lost their cars etc.

Get him to give you as much as he will on the trade and take advantage of the timing.

[mdh]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SW03ES @ Apr 30 2006, 03:05 PM) [snapback]247665[/snapback]</div>

With as many Katrina cars down there as there are, it may be really hard for them to get used cars that AREN'T Katrina cars and there's probably a huge demand for good used cars with tracable histories for families coming back that have lost their cars etc.

Get him to give you as much as he will on the trade and take advantage of the timing.
[/b]

dealerships make more money off used cars than new.... big delta.

[BoosPrius]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mdh @ Apr 30 2006, 06:24 PM) [snapback]247681[/snapback]</div>

dealerships make more money off used cars than new.... big delta.
[/b]

That's interesting. I hadn't heard that before. The salesman also said that because of the high mileage, his dealership would just call a wholesaler to come pick up my trade-in. Do you know what he meant by that?

Gary

[SW03ES]

He's right, dealerships do make more money off used cars than new, and make more money off service than both combined.

[pocketpenguin]

I didn't plan on trading in my Mazda Tribute. Didn't even bother to clean it beforehand. It had 168,000 miles, a cracked windshield, torn leather seat on the driver's side, it needed new motor mounts, and the transmission was about to go. The salesman, who was not at all pushy about buying a new car, did get a bit pushy, or maybe I should say too enthused, about doing a trade. He first offered me $1,500 for the trade, and after I replied that I wasn't interested, went see his trade in person, and came back with double that offer, and then upped it even more. I have no idea why the dealership would want a car with so many problems. Any ideas? I bot my Prius on the 28th, so would it have anything to do with monthly quotas or sales numbers? Thanx. [/b]

You don't mention what year your Tribute is, but if you go to some on-line places to look up it's value, you'll see that the average trade-in on a 2001 Tribute 4WD DX (middle of the road trim package) with 168K is about $6000. So that's the oldest Tribute made and a middle of the road trim package and the normal trade is twice what they offered you. Unless your Tribute has been wrecked or is beat up, then to me it sounds like a typical dealer to me. They are ripping you off.

I'm not a car buying expert, but I ALWAYS go into the dealer knowing EXACTLY what my old car is worth and exactly what the new car costs the dealer. I knew I was going to get screwed on my Prius price - sticker price usually means a couple thousand in profit to the dealer unless it is a luxury car then its WAY more. So, when my dealer offered me $7500 on my 1999 Honda, I said no thanks. Why? because that was the low end of dealer trade value for it. The retail value was $11500. These numbers should also confirm to you what others have said, namely that used car margins are pretty high, particularly on trades.

To finish my story, I kept my car, got it detailed, put it up for sale in the local paper. After two weeks I still hadn't sold it, so I shopped it around to the local used car lots. Two offered me $8000, one offered me $8500. That's a minimum of $500 more than I would have gotten on trade. Still seemed a little low. Then I got a call the next day, met a guy and sold the car for $9500 in CASH. That's $2000 more than the trade after spending $150 for a detail and $40 for newspaper adds.

Not ever having seen your vehicle it is hard for us to judge it's value. If you think $3000 is a good deal, then take it. But understand the dealer is NOT DOING YOU A FAVOR, s(he) is just doing his job. He or she knows exactly what the trade is worth and hopes that you don't. That's how the business works.

[Blegate]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BayouBulldog @ Apr 29 2006, 11:08 PM) [snapback]247435[/snapback]</div>

Or maybe they are the same way for all purchases. On the day I went to shop for my Prius, I didn't plan on trading in my Mazda Tribute. Didn't even bother to clean it beforehand. It had 168,000 miles, a cracked windshield, torn leather seat on the driver's side, it needed new motor mounts, and the transmission was about to go. The salesman, who was not at all pushy about buying a new car, did get a bit pushy, or maybe I should say too enthused, about doing a trade. He first offered me $1,500 for the trade, and after I replied that I wasn't interested, went see his trade in person, and came back with double that offer, and then upped it even more. I have no idea why the dealership would want a car with so many problems. Any ideas? I bot my Prius on the 28th, so would it have anything to do with monthly quotas or sales numbers? Thanx.


Gary
[/b]

Same thing happened to me but I live in Vancouver, WA. After a week of negotiating with the dealer my trade-in tripled from the original offer. The car I was trading in- 92 Camry LE- had 125K, dents/scratches galore, and needed 2K worth of work. They even knocked off all of the pinstriping, etc- about $600.
I thougth this was odd.
Brian
2006 Prius with package 1