Buying Used Prius Agonizing over Details : }

Ok...thanks for support. It was hard to FINALLY have pictures of car online this afternoon.

I'm a bit bummed although if this really doesn't work I "should" be spending money on lower miles rather than leather upgrade.

I did drive up with friend but they know my car is still drivable. Plus I drove to inspection appointment.

I was in retail for years. I know the car business is quite different. If this was a kitchen appliance or whatever, I would have called the supposedly new owner of store today (well maybe not on Saturday) and told them about negotiating based on undisclosed body work and broken fog lights. I would have referred to the % of negative customer reviews online and asked what they are willing to do to make this deal work. I wouldn't necessarily expect to get down to my $9K offer but I've been amazed at what comes of this. It's worked over and over again being on either side of the transaction.

Car business...can't even imagine being a part of it. I used to fantasize about a woman owned car dealership with truly honest business ethics, high quality and reliable cars being sold at fair prices with mechanics like the Luscious garage in SF. It doesn't hurt to fantasize. : }

 

Actually they did charge my credit card. I wanted option to dispute deposit and did max amount they would allow so they knew I was serious. I'll look for pending refund over next couple of days.

 

Yep I'm living and learning. I'm most upset about being trapped into car inspection before negotiating price again based on new found collision history. He intentionally didn't give me promised return call to discuss and headed over with car. I almost said talk price or turn around but he had me convinced they would need to renegotiate.

I found out last night that they are a "women friendly" dealership. Omg what the heck does that mean. Real them in and take advantage? I've decided I'm calling GM who is daughter of owner. She encourages customers to call her. Wish I had seen this earlier or I would have tried when this was happening. I will be polite and not bad mouth anyone. Just state facts also point out "Pure Price" on this car was erroneously calculated due to it not being a touring and body work. My offer is not a major low ball figure. I have nothing to lose except the car and the $100.

You guys may disagree with me doing this. It's not with the expectation of her taking my side. Doubt that. I will just feel better knowing I spoke my truth.

 

Right...even if it gets sent to auction although this one won't. The real sleazy Toyota dealership has a Prius sitting there for at Least two months. They don't want to give up. I test drove it out of curiosity before my car was in an accident.

 

I was so upset earlier and trying to recover. Ends up GM (daughter) is no longer there because place was sold this past month. The creepy used car manager was promoted to GM and I was stuck speaking with him. I guess James Langway is buying up more dealerships.

GM admitted they had NO intentions of renegotiating on price and even decided they were not going to repair anything if inspection came back with issues. He even admitted this was all decided before I had arranged for inspection. This is what I'm most upset about. When I addressed need to renegotiate salesman led me on and then wouldn't get back to me so I could make the decision to cancel inspection.

Instead Mr. family man salesman drove car to me knowing quite well I wouldn't buy car without some sort of price adjustment. He certainly knew I wouldn't buy car if repairs were needed and they refused to repair. So I basically worked today to pay for them to see that car would pass inspection with flying colors. I know I need to let it go!

Can you imagine if I had bought car and there was an issue. Their 60 day warranty would have been loads of fun to deal with.

I've contacted CARFAX to report missing collision history. Probably won't be resolved before someone buys it but it's the least I can do.

I've already made some calls on some newly listed cars and reminded a few good dealer contacts that I'm still looking. There is a good car out there for me. It just hasn't appeared yet. I know so much more now and hopefully won't need to bother you with so many questions.

I just realized that I just repeated part of my "story" from previous post. Sorry about that!

Thanks for listening!

 

Just for clarification. At what point would I have asked for something in writing? Should I have asked them to put in writing that they would renegotiate price even without a price decided upon? I told friend who helped me negotiate that if they did agree on a lower price due to issues found after initial contract, I really should have them fax me a statement verifying agreed upon amount. He thought that was just being paranoid. My big mistake was qI should have told salesman to turn around. I knew he was playing games when he didn't call back to renegotiate and instead started driving car down to be inspected. When he answered call on the road he said they wanted to negotiate after which sort of made sense because they wanted to know what else might be involved in negotiation but he should have called me to tell me this. Of course this only made sense coming from an honest person. Obviously GM slapped me in the face by telling me the truth afterwards.

I'm looking at cars at same price as lost deal but less features. I'm not regretting not paying 10K just wondering how to approach these dealers. The same car in gray with same miles listed for $10,750 at Honda dealer. When I called to verify condition, keys etc. I asked for their best price (internet sales this time) and they said this is it. They do not negotiate. At least they were upfront. I sent email to GM of sales and salesperson he referred me to. Said I'm a serious buyer but car is out of my price range. Asked them to please call me if price gets lowered. I'll watch. Great service history until second owner then nothing. Only owned for 7 months. Maybe just didn't like it, maybe service just not posted or maybe trouble with car and no oil changes done for all I know.

There is such a variance in sales price for some of these cars so I never know who will eventually budge. Wish I find out how much these cars actually sold for. A black one with 50K sold quickly when reduced to $10K while I was off working. Not into black but...There are really banged up ones listed for top dollar. Female salesperson literally telling me I wouldn't want to buy the car.

Herb Chambers states 5 day money back guarantee. I can only imagine the nightmare involved with that! They just called saying that one sold late last night. They sell fast or sit for along time. Nothing in between.

Appreciate the reassurance that I'm not a bother. The woman I've know throughout my life have admitted they would have no clue how to do this and get to rely on their husbands to buy cars for them. It's certainly not a woman friendly business. Like walking into a hungry tigers cage expecting to survive.

Attorney General told me to call Auto Dealers License and Regulation board (DMV). I'll at least explain what happened and that they're selling car without disclosing collision repair.

Thanks!

 

The reason for wanting to know what these cars are selling for is to help me feel more confident in negotiating. Each car and transaction is different but just curious how close to listed price people are paying.

The 7 month owner put 19K miles on this car. Probably a commuter. He bought it as a certified car although apparently that doesn't always guarantee car is problem free.

Yes, carbuyingtips.com has been very helpful! Thanks!

 

FYI

Carfax has actually posted a notice on Newport car Carfax report. They state research has been requested and they may update report based on results. This will at least give someone a heads up to do further research before buying car.