Almost joined the ranks of the elite..then.......

Do not yet despair...I have said it before, and I will say it again...and again...and again...Go in and negotiate your best deal. When, and only when, you have THAT...bring in the subject of the trade-in. THEN, if the dealer will not give you what you want for the trade...but ONLY THEN mind you...tell them you WILL walk. And proceed to do it. NEGOTIATE THE NEW CAR WITH ***NO*** MENTION OF THE OLD ONE. YOU will know that you have that hole card. THEY SHOULD NOT! Get the best deal you can regardless of trade...and then, if necessary, sell the car yourself.

Do not ever ever ever go in with a trade up front. Ever. Period.

Was that clear?

Please come back to us! :mellow:

 

You could also go with the option of selling your car to CarMax....see what they'll give you for it. And then you can negotiate with the dealer without having to discuss a trade.

I'll throw in here....find another dealer. We've had very differing experiences with dealers all over the country. From shady attempts at over MSRP deals, to deals based off of invoice instead of MSRP. Ok so the latter was in February with low gas prices..but still! Call around. And good luck!

 

Ran into the same issue, but my car was much older and we were only $400.00 apart! I figured that it was the end of the month and I could get a little more, but they wouldn't budge. I was expecting them to at least meet me halfway (I would have signed then and there), but they let me walk.

Don't give up though, I found another dealer and put a deposit down on a Prius two weeks out. I'm thinking of trying to sell it myself in the meantime, and if not, I'll see what the dealer will give me.

 

For anyone else out there coming up on the delivery of their car... Plan to buy the Prius off the lot, and plan to sell your current car to a private sale, carmax or just about any other place besides a trade.

Things got more expensive over the last 20 years. The dealership can no longer afford to have your old POC car on the lot taking up a space when they can only make $150 off of it after a month or two. If they can't clear $1000 or $2000 by selling it to the next Joe that walks on the lot, then they can't afford to take it.

Or, if they can't make some money selling to the wholesaler.. but same principal applies.. the wholesaler needs to make $1000 on the car on the next lot it lands on.

20 years ago, maybe they could make money by making $1000 on the new vehicle sale, and $150 on the used car a week later. I don't think they can do it that way anymore.

Lawsuits may also have killed this for us. One too many used cars became the problem of the dealership after someone bought it "As is" and then sued for all the problems with it.

In my case my waiting time on my prius was about 5 months, but I sold my F250 in a private sale about a month before my prius showed up. I made the deal with the buyer while telling him this thing is only a deal when my car shows up at the dealer, and you can plan on it having 3400 more miles on it about a month from now when the car gets here. We hammered out a price based on those expectations and in the end, it worked out pretty much like we discussed.

 

Consumer Reports has good advice on buying cars, which can help one avoid salesanimal crap like that and other surprises. See links under http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/new-cars/index.htm

 

"We get about 13 city and 20 hwy"

That should answer your trade in question.

 

This happened to me too. Almost identical story. Gas prices too high, nobody wants an SUV, yada, yada, yada. I walked out on the deal and went to dealer #2. I ended up buying 2006 #7 Driftwood off the lot and Dealer#2 gave me $6000 more for my trade than dealer #1 offered me. :blink:

It can be done, you just have to shop around and be patient. In my case I got the best of both worlds...no wait for the Prius and better money for my trade. And I am a woman shopping for a car by myself...usually easy target for bad deals or so they thought. :lol:

 

So you went to a dealer, didn't get what you want, and simply gave up. Then you troll on Prius chat about your bad experience with your local dealer. No matter that Priuschat is full of friendly, helpful people...as you put it, you're done here. Well, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

 

My very favorite thing to do when I get into a situation where I’m so mad that I just want to leave is to:..... while turning around for the door ..... I whip out my check book ...... hold it very high in the air ....... and while striding to the door ..... turn my head back and as loud as I can say it, (enough for everyone in the dealership can here) ....... My checkbook and I are leaving.

Of course I realize that not everyone is as arrogant as I am. But ahh be danged if it ain’t a hoot and sometimes productive.

I just can’t tell you how good it feels to strut across the lot with my head high, my chest out and get into my car knowing that if there gonna get any ah my money, it’s ah gonna to cost em.

EEEEEEHHHHAAAAAAA ….. it’s a wonderful world.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Soylent @ Aug 3 2006, 08:10 AM) [snapback]296963[/snapback]</div>

Dang Soylent...you are scarin' em off before we get to suck their brains out...

 

Don't give up because of one dealer. We shopped all over our state, and found one that got us the car we wanted at $500 below MSRP. No game playing, no horrible haggling, and a fairly short wait. Look around - there are better dealers out there.

Tom

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Soylent @ Aug 3 2006, 08:10 AM) [snapback]296963[/snapback]</div>

A little strong, but Yeah!

 

I paid MSRP for my Prius and the salesman suggested I sell my used car on the outside as I would get WAY more for it than they would offer. I already knew this, but it was suprising to hear it from the mouth of a car salesman. Don't give up on getting a Prius or on this site. The people here have alot of knowledge and are very friendly and helpful.

 

It's a Prius - demand > supply. If they don't sell it to you, they'll sell it to someone else easily enough. So you can't really screw them too hard.

 

When the dealer told me they'd give me $800 for my 10-year-old Taurus wagon, I suppose I should have been grateful. But since it only hade 73,000 miles, I knew it was worth more. I dreaded the thought of trying to sell it privately. As it worked out, I got $2400 from the first person who came to see it.

My point in telling you this is to try to boost your confidence for taking on a private sale. Good luck!

- Doug

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Soylent @ Aug 3 2006, 10:10 AM) [snapback]296963[/snapback]</div>

Druglord,

Interesting choice in login names, first post, bad experience... I do not know.. Hope you stick around, hope your trade works out better than the first try.

Since you are new (at least to posting here), I'll help you out with the basic fact. You either agree with a very liberal crowd that is a ways overboard in devotion to prius and toyota here, or... You're a troll..

Just filling you in on this basic fact moved me a few tenths of a point down the scale for possible inclusionhood. I am pretty torn up about it too.

 

Just watch out if you try and sell your car via Craigslist. I got the following email response when I posted mine:

:huh:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(molgrips @ Aug 4 2006, 07:30 AM) [snapback]297574[/snapback]</div>

I'm not out to screw them, just get a good price and to remind them who is the buyer and who is the seller. I ended up getting exactly what I wanted for $300.00 US dollars over invoice. Not to mention the great fun I had strutting across the lot and having the sales manager call me later at home. As long as you have the money, you still have the upper hand. As you well know, they want your money and they don't want it going to any of there competitors.

Just trying to remind druglord that the ultimate goal is the same whether you are a car dealer or drug dealer, get the money.

 

The trade in is for impulsive people that really do not care to shop wisely. The dealership is never going to give you what you can sell your car for privately. If you are financially aware, sell it yourself and make an extra couple of thousand dollars. If you are in a financial situation to just walk in and accept what they give you on trade-in, congratulations. Most people try to cut their losses on vehicle purchases and sales.

Good luck and I hope you end up with your Prius.