Want to know how to buy a car?
Over the past year I have learned a ton from the regular contributors on this site. The set-up for the Tuesday free roll at Supreme netted me over $200 on that site and the 500 raked hand tournament has been profitable as well. Cheers for Sloth and cheers for the forum!
I would like to try and give a bit back.
For the next couple of days I will answer any questions that anyone would like to ask with regards to buying a new or used car.
I have grown up around the car business. My first job was detailing cars and at the present I run the sales department in a Chrysler dealership.
My knowledge of the business is extensive in both retail and wholesale. New and used, the domestic and foreign marketplace.
Fire Away!
I would like to try and give a bit back.
For the next couple of days I will answer any questions that anyone would like to ask with regards to buying a new or used car.
I have grown up around the car business. My first job was detailing cars and at the present I run the sales department in a Chrysler dealership.
My knowledge of the business is extensive in both retail and wholesale. New and used, the domestic and foreign marketplace.
Fire Away!
Comments
Ford is out of the market as of now. Next year Chrysler and GM will only build the long wheel base models. The imports only supply a small part of this segment so will probably follow right behind.
Chrysler created this market segment and will probably continue to build minivans indefinitely.
The push to continue to sell them has created insane incentives on minivans.
For example you can currently lease a 30,000 Caravan for a lower payment than a 21,000 Dodge Caliber.
Crossovers are the buzz right now but minvans will always have a place IMHO. The sliding doors are great for parents who have young kids or for old people who have trouble getting in and out.
They are practical and functional. Great for the conservative Canadian market!
Actually it is just getting started!
I drive a 2007 Grand Cherokee Ltd. It has a 4.7L V8 that is capable of burning E85 fuel. I've never had E85 in the tank so I can't comment on performance.
The fuel is available throughout the heartland in USA. In Canada there are very few retailers who have gotten on board with it so you really can't buy it anywhere.
Look for the government to force the big retailers (Esso, Shell, etc.) to make it available in the near future. There is a processing plant being planned in Aylmer, ON (the town I grew up in) for the near future as well.
Basically E85 is 85% Ethanol and 15% gasoline. The Ethanol is made from corn and is totally renewable resource but costs a fair amount to process so it is no cheaper that gasoline at this time.
A standard lease is 24K/year.
When you purchase excess KM's you pay for them in your lease and the residual (buy out) becomes lower to compensate. Most manufacturers will refund you monies paid for extra KM's that you don't use above and beyond the standard.
eg. You have paid for 6K extra km per year over 4 years = 24,000km
$0.10/km X 24,000 = $2400 plus $336 in taxes
You should get $2736 back from Toyota
($0.10/km is just my estimate. Check your contract for the real number)
This is only applicable if you turn in the lease. If you exorcise your buy-out option you will realize the value in your lowered residual.
If you return the car you will be liable for body damage. You can return it damaged but Toyota will bill you for the damage and it will be considerably more than what you would pay in a body shop.
* Always have the damage repaired before returning a lease.
Also don't worry about having it repaired by the best body shop in town. They can't bill you if the repair is of poor quality so just find some cut rate place to cobble it together for you!
No one will eat the repair bill on your car. If they say so they are lying. They will simply build the repair cost into your next lease or purchase and you will end up financing the repair and paying interest on it.
If you give me a list of equipment on the car I will tell what its value is. If you are in an equity position it may actually have some trade value to you.
P.S. I drove a Pontiac Vibe for a while. It was the best vehicle I have ever had as far as fuel mileage.
Ask me this question tomorrow night......I might know someone in the right place for you ;-)
Most people that buy news cars think that they got a good deal. Do they? Is there ever a time the dealership doesn't make a killing on new cars? End of the month, Quota time?
/g2
Doesn't work that way with Toyota. And as for getting body work done before you return the vehicle...it's pay now or pay later. You may end up owing nothing depending on the value of the vehicle versus your buyout.
Profit in new cars are actually quite small. Often the difference between a good deal and great deal is less than a thousand bucks.
Most manufacturers give their dealers performance based quotas where once they hit their number for a month they get a kick back from the manufacturer per unit sold. At the end of the month when stores are pushing for their quota they will often sell cars for straight cost in order to hit their number. So I guess to best answer your question, the end of the month is a great time to buy a new car in a slow month.
The funny thing about car deals is this, most of the people that you talk to who have just bought a new car are not 100% sure that they got a great deal. They think they did but are not sure. So when they tell their friends what they paid they tend to shave a couple of grand off the number just to be safe. Then their friends come into the dealership and want the same deal. It can be a real hurdle. It's kind of funny really. If they paid $275,000 for their house they tell you they paid $300,000 but if they paid $20,000 for their car they'll say $18,000.
As a rule there are better profit margins in used but the used vehicle market is very liquid and can change quickly. A dealer can buy a used car wholesale at a great price and if they haven't moved it in 90 days they are suddenly buried in it! We have a 90 day rule for used inventory. When we've had it for 90 days and have not sold it we put it on auto trader and blow it out so we can buy something else that we can make money on.
LOL....Who are you and why are you trolling this thread with advise from the land of ignorance?
First of all it's adviCe. Second of all someone who throws stones from a Chrysler dealership doesn't have a lot of clout with someone who works at a Toyota dealership....at least when it comes to a Matrix anyway.
True enough. I called a friend in our performance group who is at a Toyota store and he did confirm that Toyota does not refund monies on unused kilometers on a lease. Most manufacturers do but Toyota does not. You paid $0.05/km for the extra K's so you are out $1200 plus tax.
As far as making repairs to the body on the vehicle I stand by the fact that you should always pay for it before it goes back. Toyota will sell the vehicle if you return it and if they get more than your buy-out they will use those extra monies to pay for damages. Any left over monies should go to you.
If you have it repaired yourself at a discount type body shop then ALL extra monies go to you. Why pay $800 for a Toyota repair instead of $300 for a discount repair on a vehicle you are not going to keep?
And again, if you are keeping it do what ever you want!!
Toyota does indeed work on quotas and these quotas can impact sale pricing.
Volume incentives do not play part in sales commissions and are not normally shared with sales staff or even the fact that they exist. They go directly to the bottom line of the dealership. Where I work they only people who are privy to the performance incentives are myself, my dealer principal and the controller (financial officer). Keep in mind you have to hit your numbers or you get nothing!
(((Of course there are performance incentives.....but the discount that you receive on a new vehicle (from a Toyota dealer) will not change unless you are willing to take something off the lot right now(and even then the difference will be less than $100-200 depending on the car). If you buy a vehicle "at the end of the month" and it takes us 5 days to get the car.....we wouldn't deliver it "at the end of the month".)))
I have news for you.
I bought a Toyota Sienna in April for a customer of mine. They have 6 kids and need seating for 8 and Caravan only has seating for 7.
I called my Toyota contact and paid cash for a vehicle at $750 over dead nuts invoice. I marked it up $750 for me and was still able to retail the vehicle with a discount of roughly $700.
I said that in my origional post. Please read the thread before trolling.
The dealership will factor the cost of the repair in what they will pay for the car which will directly effect the amount of equity realized by the Compuease. Who do you think will pay for the repair??? The body shop fairy?
I didn't say you could only get a discount of $1-200 on a Sienna. I said that if you bought at the beginning or the end of the month it would only be $1-$200 difference. So would you have given them a better discount if they had waited till the end of the month? No. Would you have gotten a better deal from your contact at the end of the month? No. If you could've then you should have waited and either made more, or given your "customer" a better deal. But I'm sure you already know that.
As for the repair....if we know it'll cost us $300 to repair his dent....we'll take $300 out of his trade. But why would he fix it first to get $300 more in trade? Makes no sense....unless of course, like yourself, we mark the trade down more than the work costs. So I guess, like I said, it's pay now or pay later.
UUghghghg
Lets say I have a quota of 60 units for the month and if I hit said quota I get $500 per unit in performance incentive. Said performance incentive is $500 X 60 = $30,000.
If on the last day of the month I have 59 Units over the curb would it make sense to sell one for $1000 under the invoice on the vehicle?
I really can't believe that I have to spell this out to you. You don't work in sales do you?
You will price his body work at retail and don't say you won't because I call BS. Retail price in a Toyota body shop is much more than retail price at Earl Scheib so why would he not get it done on the cheap?
I had a 2000 Pontiac Grand Am on a lease that had a cracked rear bumper cover. I was not in the auto business at the time. I priced the repair at the local GM store and the body shop wanted $850 for the repair. They said they could not repair the bumper cover it had to be replaced and painted. I asked since it was the end of my lease and I just wanted it to pass inspection could they simply patch it?? The answer was no.
I then took it to a small body shop on Dundas street in London, ON. They patched it and blew in the paint for $235. It looked like it was brand new.
I know very little about cars from a mechanical standpoint. I need to buy a car under 5000 that I can use to drive to and from work. I will be using this car on weekends so I will get probably an extra 200-300 km on it every other weekend at least.
I am a student but I am working so I can handle the increased insurance rate but I would like to be able to not drive it through parts of the year. I talked to a rep from state farm and said that I can just park it in my driveway and pay 8 dollars a month for the time that I am not driving it but I'm certain that scheme is not as clear cut as he made it out to be.
I don't care for aesthetics.
I don't know very much about buying an automobile and have done as much research as I can from the Min. of Transportation website but the nitty gritty from an insider would be appreciated.
This is very broad question with no real focus but any information you can give me that will clarify my current state of oblivion would be appreciated.
Thanks
http://www.lemonaidcars.com/
If you put a little bit of time into a used car purchase you could find one where you can sell it for the same (or more!) than you bought it for..
You should be able to get lot of used car for less than $5000. Do your research on the net and find one that is being blown out and buy it up.
It doesn't sound like you need any bells or whistles and that should help you keep the cost down too.
If you don't know a lot about cars then be sure that you ask these questions:
1 Has this car ever been in an accident? This MUST be disclosed to you!
2 Has this car ever been painted?
Make sure that you drive the car and check for the following:
1. Tread depth on the tires. (3 millimeters will pass a safety but you will be buying new ones in 3-6 months) Make sure the tires are good and that the wear is even across the entire tire.
2. Put the transmission through its entire cycle. Make sure it shifts properly into all gears and that the shifts take place with little or no hesitation.
3. Check the engine for any damp spots around the gaskets.
4. Check the body panels to make sure the gaps are uniform and that they fit properly on the car. This is a big sign that the car has been hit.
5. Is there any pulsation in the brakes? Do you have to push the pedal a long way to engage the brakes?
6. Does the air blow cold?
You should be able to buy a 2002-2001 Pontiac Sunfire or Chevy Cavalier
with less than 100KM for less than 5 Grand. They are a cheap price because there are a million of them out there. Good on gas, with a solid powertrain. Make sure the strut towers don't clunk.
PM me if you have any questions
Good luck
try and keep it under 100K. You should be able to find one in your price range for that.