Buying Used Prius Agonizing over Details : }

: ) My negotiating friend said the same thing. He finally found a moment to call me.

But he played devils advocate because he thinks they are going to back off and sell to someone else who won't find the body damage or won't care.

I guess if I say $9500 with fog lights replaced I need to be ready to walk away which I am...I think.

 

Thanks for hanging out with me through this. I'm not feeling sorry for them. They are full of ego and think everyone wants this car which is BS. The last one took 60 days to sell and needed a major markdown to sell. Plus they got $9000 for it with only 56K miles on it!

Ok....Newport competitor says for 2 fog lights it's $552 installed. So maybe saying $9000 as is or $9500 with fog lights is right on target and not the slight bit unreasonable.

 

I didn't mean completely as is. Still with 60 day warranty!

 

Oh and this is a "no haggle" dealership. : /

 

I'm about ready to walk away...just feel badly for all that you guys have done with this one!

I just told him I'm obviously serious about buying the car but will pay $9k with fog lights and marker light replaced and that's it. Told him I'm still upset about boys work and would never have negotiated a price on car if I'd known car didn't have clean history. He's calling manager and will get back to me by tomorrow morning at the latest.

I sense they won't go below $9.5K and I'll have to deal with letting it go.

I'm so sorry. I know this isn't a car sales negotiation forum! I just can't do this all alone. Thank you!!!!!!

 

body work not "boys" work ha!

 

Right.... Being an hour away doesn't help. I could have tried walking in with my $6000 balance if I was closer. Obviously he got off phone with me and called manager.

I must say it's the first dealer who took car off internet listing immediately after I gave deposit. Others leave them on to bait people.

 

Well he woke me up with the bad news. They don't have any room to budge (BS), fog lights work. I told him I was told fog lights could fall apart at any moment due to the deep cracks. Said I am interested in car so if they change their minds, I have checks sitting here ready to go.

Wish I had emphasized a few points but they know them already and wish I had countered with I would do fog lights myself (better deal that way)but I was too tired and not expecting call so early. Oh well....someone may walk in and buy car for $10K no questions asked. No regrets on my part except my loss of $100.

Even if they truly took this car in trade appraised as Touring by mistake, they paid about $7.5K max.

I was reading an article written by a dealer about negotiating and how one should be really pleasant in order for them to want to give you their best deal. I have been except I was annoyed when they weren't returning my calls. I was fairly blunt last night and this morning.

Also read how one guy basically tells dealer what he'll pay for car (barely above TMV) and pleasantly writes check out for amount and gets deal every time.

Onward I go....who knows...maybe they'll call back before I find another one. They are sure accruing miles on this poor Prius. I guess it's their runner car until it sells. I have the darn thing insured already. Better make that call next.

 

: ) Not really if you have cash in your checkbook. This deal was pretty basic. I knew doc, title and registration fees before they even had this car for sale. I kept good notes when I initially spoke with them about another Prius. If I wanted to pay only $9K I just add doc fee, calculate tax then add reg fee and write a check for around that amount.

I guess the fantasy part for me would be having that kind of money sitting in a checking account. Can't get loan check without vin #.

 

I know! I don't know how I missed the fog lights. : ) I forgot this car had them. I still don't know what a marker light is. I'm really slipping!!

Thanks for checking on wipers. I looked at this cars wipers again. Speckled spots were no longer there. Looked like they wiped it down because there were streaks. The mechanism that moves the wiper was streaked and almost looked brownish instead of black in areas. May have been reflection from cleaning residue. Like windex on glass kind of look rather than solid black. Wasn't a deal breaker of course.

Local dealer pointed out contact spot that caused crack in replaced bumper. They throughly checked hatch area for leaks, alignment and even saw some beach sand which made him more confident they didn't try covering anything up by cleaning stains etc. Service manager and tech looked this over. Knowing they examined well and paint has been ok for a few years made me more comfortable about buying this car with body damage history but not for price negotiated assuming clean.

Made sure I have enough money on hand to buy car at $9.5K incase I change my mind and they will budge.

Notified two high volume dealers that I'm still looking.

Professional Prius Shopper sign on order....no thanks! : )

Appreciate all the feedback as usual!

 

You think....I would think their egos would get in the way. I'm assuming they'll wait to see if they can sell it over the weekend at least. Someone who didn't do any research and has $10K burning in their pocket for a reliable car. They even get the 90K service I haggled over. Ugh!

Unfortunately I put deposit on credit card so I can't use that tactic.

Part of me wants to drive up there but friend will only go if I've negotiated $9.5K by phone ahead of time which I understand.