As you know we are still in the process of selling the blue banana. Nobody has snatched her up yet. While waiting we are doing tons of research on trucks and let me tell you! It’s dog eat dog in the dealership world, and we are the prey (with some dealerships). I am so grateful to have the Internet on my phone! Here is a list of things that I recommend you do before you dare step foot into a dealership.
1. Read confessions of a used car salesman.
2. Download KBB, NADA and especially Edmunds TMV apps.
3. Research the type of vehicle you want; the good, bad and ugh.. everyone’s opinion. You will see patterns that can enlighten your choices.
4. Don’t compromise on what you want, be patient. (We’ve settled and it lead to making other poor choices.)
5. If at anytime you don’t feel completely right with the process…. Leave. Don’t sign anything and just leave. Sleep on it. Do more research. Or realize it’s for sure what you want, and go back.
6. Look at the big picture, value of vehicle, not what you can afford. They will change it from talking about the price (value) to what payments you afford in a second.
7. When at a dealership think of your future self, get out of the moment. You can buy something in a day but to sell it can take weeks, or months and you may not get back what you paid. Especially if you trade it in!
It’s usually less costly to buy from a private party, but ensure they have maintenance documents, and pay to have it inspected.
Here’s a little story, in spokane diesel dually’s prices are high! Really high! I found a dealer that was advertising one $300 below KBB. I began wondering if they use KBB info for trade in’s as well, or NADA (values vehicles at a lower price). So I called, saying I was thinking about trading in my CRV and wanted to know what they used to value my car. Can you guess which one? Yep. NADA. Can you say shady, shady, shady.I was appalled! What kind of system is this? Use any means necessary to make as much money as possible! Not to mention how they have some magic black book that we don’t have access to and trade ins are at times based on auction prices.
I want to set up a new way to value vehicles, let’s call it the Simple System. It goes like this, the first year 10% is knocked off the initial standard asking price cuz it’s no longer new. After that every year 5% the remaining value is taken off and based on a scale of 0-4, zero being excellent and 4 being shoddy $500 x whatever number it is,then taken that off for purchase. That is in effect for 10 years. From 11-30 years 2.5 % is taken off from the current value until it becomes a classic ( which then the process would go in reverse) or people just buy and sell vehicles for around $500. If you trade it in you take off 10% more so dealers can make some money. See, I just fixed the whole system and no more secret books! So, now to get it implemented. Hmmmm. I wonder if it would really work. Anyway. There has got to be some way as the people, who work hard for the money, have a way to only pay what the true value is. Not these stinking numbers games and how much money can be made off of one person. Just ain’t right!
That being said, we have been out and about test driving some trucks, with no luck. just haven’t found what we are looking for…yet. Oh my Ford, can somebody Chevy some light on this Dodge-gone conundrum of when prices got so absurd?
Goin' Road Trippin' 