I have a chance to buy a 2008 Malibu LTZ w/ 30 miles. All warranties fresh; is this a good car to buy if the price is right? What do I need to look out for?
Thanks all.
Don
The car is two years old. The tires are two years old, the battery is two years old, etc. If you buy the car and one day later the car is totaled, the insurance will compensate you for a 2 year old Malibu. I would pay no more for this car than I would for a 2 year old Malibu with 30,000 miles.
The car itself is okay, but Triedag is correct. The fact that the manufacturer’s future is uncertain is another negative factor. The deal must be sweet for this to work…
Worth $14,000 tops. Dealer must replace all rubber bits: tires, battery, belts, hoses and toss in an extended warranty.
Twtone
If the price is right, there’s no reason to worry about the age of the car. Just be aware that the warranty period won’t be very long, since two years are already gone. I’d try to get an extension on it.
The warranty starts when the car is put into service. From the poster’s comment “fresh warranty” I am guessing this is new from a dealr, demo maybe, and has not been put in service yet, hence full warranty.
The auto site Edmunds.com shows the TMV (true market value) for the car you describe a just under $16K for a dealer to sell at retail. This is not a “deal” price. I added the V6 engine and stability control as options and the 30 miles into the data to arrive at the TMV price.
If the dealer wants about $14K it might be a good deal. I won’t go over that since as soon as you drive the car off the lot is a 2 year old used car.
I ran into the same situation back in the fall of 1988. Many of the 1989 cars were already on display. The Pontiac dealer had a left over 1987 Pontiac 6000 that had never been sold and had less than 100 miles on the odometer. I pointed out that the car was two years old by the model year and that it would have to be a very good deal. I also said that I wanted the dealership’s best price on the car. The salesperson went into see her manager and came back and said, “We will take $150 off the sticker price”. I told her that I didn’t think that was much of a deal, but thanked her for her time. She then said, “Well, that isn’t our best price”. I said that I wasn’t wasting any more time at the agency and walked. There is probably a similar reason why the dealership that has the 2008 Malibu hasn’t sold it in two years.
Good point. Thanks.
I was interested in a car that is a 2019 left over Buick encore. The dealer price was $22,000. I pointed out to them that the moment I drove out it would depreciate. The Kelly blue book value of this same leftover was $14, 500. So I walked away
Curious where you came up with $14,500, when I went to KBB, it showed $23K fair price for an unspecified optioned Encore.
Well , thanks for reviving a 11 year old post.
All vehicles lose value when you drive them off the lot. You may have missed a decent purchase with full warranty because it may have been one of the higher optioned Encore’s.
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I also do not understand that 14.5 on a leftover 2019 Encore. I often price check on eBay as I feel that completed listings are more real world so to speak.
Only 1 Encore is shown as selling at just short of 12 grand and that one has a salvage title with 2800 miles on it. A salvage title generally means it’s worth 40 to 60 % of normal retail; all depending.
I do not see any way a dealer will discount a new leftover with a clean title for 14 grand. The only Encores selling in the 14k range are 5 year old Encores on Carvana. It seems to me that you may have gotten that price by inadvertently choosing the wrong year.
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That may have been KBB trade in, similar one in Tacoma would be 17k cpo, sticker of about $27,000. Manheim auction numbers are what the dealership would look at over KBB.
Edmunds says a 1SV starts at $23,200 and the Essence trim level starts at $29,300. I’m gonna guess it’s a Premium trim level, starting at $24,600. These prices are with no options. I think their pricing is reasonable, depending on mileage. If it has less than 400 miles, it qualifies as new in GM-land. Over that mileage, and it’s used. How many miles? You might want to go back and see if you can get it for $22,000 assuming it has low enough mileage to qualify as new.
Warning. This is a ten year old conversation. But a two year old car is a two year old car, not a new car, regardless if it has zero miles or not.
Since I posted in January of 2010, I had the opposite experience with a dealer. In April of 2010, the 2011 Toyota Siennas were on the dealer’s lot. I didn’t realize that the 2011 models were available. I had bargained for a 2010 and was about to close the deal when the salesman offered me a 2011 for the same price as what we agreed on for the 2010. The sticker prices were within a few dollars of each other. I bought the 2011.
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