[Guest]

Yesterday, I ordered a 2005 Prius. At that time, we agrred to what my trade in was worth NOW--with the udnerstanding it would be worth a few hundred LESS 4+ months from now, when my prius shows up....

I get a phone call from the salesman an hour or so later--telling me they can't do the deal at the quoted appraisel of my trade in....what the hell, is this another ay of squeezing me for for money? They said the trade in value was "overstated". But I researched it on kelly blue book.com and the stated trade in value was consistant with the stated quote from the dealer...seesm to me, they want to "under quote" my trade in--because they KNOW I want the Prius.....should I walk from this dealer?

 

[moocatdog]

...seesm to me, they want to "under quote" my trade in--because they KNOW I want the Prius.....should I walk from this dealer?

While it must be frustrating to have them waffle on the deal, IMO it could be taken as a good sign that they even bothered to call you with the bad news. Many dealers would have waited until you rolled up to take delivery and then dropped the "take it or leave it" bomb.
To maximize the return on a used vehicle it is almost always preferable to sell it to a private party yourself. When I bought my Prius I felt the dealer offer on my used car was too low, so I used Blue Book data to set a reasonable price and sold it to the first buyer who came along.

Drive happy,
Moo

 

[Guest]

I agree, selling your vehicle is by far more profitable--to you. But it's very easy to do a trade in....that way *I* don't have to run any ads and look for a buyer.
I'm not trying to "steal" anything from the dealer. I wasn't asking more for my trade in than it was worth....I just didn't and don't like the fact they told me ONE price then, called me and said they couldn't honor it. I was only looking for Kelly blue book value......and now, I'm wondering if this dealer is going to play 'games" with me.
The dealer also said the 05 prius would be sold at MSRP...which I agreed to, but, at WHATEVER MSRP is on the vehicle THEN. The price "might" rise between now and then....Gee, I would think THEY wouldn know if there's a price increase in the next 4 months(??)

 

[UclaBob]

I agree, selling your vehicle is by far more profitable--to you. But it's very easy to do a trade in....that way *I* don't have to run any ads and look for a buyer.
I'm not trying to "steal" anything from the dealer. I wasn't asking more for my trade in than it was worth....I just didn't and don't like the fact they told me ONE price then, called me and said they couldn't honor it. I was only looking for Kelly blue book value......and now, I'm wondering if this dealer is going to play 'games" with me.
The dealer also said the 05 prius would be sold at MSRP...which I agreed to, but, at WHATEVER MSRP is on the vehicle THEN. The price "might" rise between now and then....Gee, I would think THEY wouldn know if there's a price increase in the next 4 months(??)

If you don't feel comfortable with a dealer, you should absolutely walk away. You are going to give these people a large sum of $.

Its pretty easy to sell cars online these days, http://www.craigslist.com is a great place to start...or you could just stick one of those "For Sale" signs in the window.

 

[Jonnycat26]

should I walk from this dealer?

No, but you should threaten to. : )

How are you financing your car? Are you financing at all?

When I was trading in my Jetta 1.8t for the Prius, they offered me almost 2K less than blue book value. 1K less was justified, due to the hood having been repainted (we got rocks the size of large rocks flying around the roads up here in Jersey), but I wasn't going to take 2K less.

I told them that I'd take the 2K less, but I'd do the financing thru my credit union. And the magic words, "I'll let you keep that front end profit, but in the end you'll lose much more in the back end on financing". They came up 1.4K *and* I got my financing lowered to 1.9%.

Just knowing what you're talking about, the difference between back/front end financing, is huge. There's a good series, "Confessions of a Car Salesman", over on edmunds.com which I recommend you read. It helped me out a ton. And remember, Toyotas sell well. The salespeople know this. They've got that bad reputation for a reason.

 

[GKarschnick]

Abput a month before my Prius was scheduled to arrive, I went to the dealer to evaluate my trade-in vehicle. This dealer (like many others) advertises on their web site to use the Kelly Blue Book to evaluate your trade. However, the dealer will not honor that.Instead, they use a dealers "Black Book" which, in my case showed my trade at $2000 less than the Kelly Blue Book. The dealer claims that that is the best that they can get for a particular model. I went to Carmax and got the full Kelly Blue Book value for my trade. Paid all cash for the Prius. That and the fact that they wouldn't take my Toyota $700 letter left me with a bad taste for this dealer. I would not recommend them to anyone because of their tactics.

 

[richard schumacher]

If you have everything in writing then you have them over a barrel. If not, then you have to decide whether you want to re-negotiate with them or go elsewhere.

Uhh... did they use *your* statement of the trade-in value? Or did they appraise it themselves before proposing terms? If they used your statement then you might cut them some slack.

 

[Guest]

If you have everything in writing then you have them over a barrel. If not, then you have to decide whether you want to re-negotiate with them or go elsewhere.

Uhh... did they use *your* statement of the trade-in value? Or did they appraise it themselves before proposing terms? If they used your statement then you might cut them some slack.

They appraised my vehicle, gave me a "price" of what it would be worth if traded in today and said in 4 months or so when the 05 Prius comes in, it would be worth " a few hundred less". Then, later they called and said they couldn't stand by that deal...smells fishy to me...

 

[efusco]

If you have everything in writing then you have them over a barrel. If not, then you have to decide whether you want to re-negotiate with them or go elsewhere.

Uhh... did they use *your* statement of the trade-in value? Or did they appraise it themselves before proposing terms? If they used your statement then you might cut them some slack.

They appraised my vehicle, gave me a "price" of what it would be worth if traded in today and said in 4 months or so when the 05 Prius comes in, it would be worth " a few hundred less". Then, later they called and said they couldn't stand by that deal...smells fishy to me...

Maybe, but the best response would be "Oh, really, that's no problem, I'll sell it myself." Don't let 'em see you sweat.

As mentioned, although a little more work for you it's quite easy to sell a car yourself via any number of online and other means for a much better price than you'll ever get as a trade-in. Think of it as a discount on your Prius for doing a little leg work yourself.