Hi all,
I expanded my search for a used Forester to dealers because there are so many where I live–very popular. AND I’m seeing some deals.
Doing my homework and asking all the right questions as well as doing searches for reviews of dealers.
My question is, I’m seeing prices ranging from $800-$1900 lower than the Retail blue book value.
I was told I’m buying at the right time and and a few people admitted they had inventory they want to get rid of. A couple are family owned shops.
I don’t want to insult anyone by negotiating down on some of these. But then again, how are they making any money? Not my problem. But just wondering if one can trust a VIN number enough to disclose a previous accident.
The retail Blue Book prices are ridiculously high. Don’t worry about insulting the poor old used car salesman-- they got those cars for waaaaaaaaaay less than probably even the wholesale blue book price.
Okay. Good to know!
So would you do a blend of private party and retail? Or would you use a different
source than Kelley to estimate cost?
I’d like to be using some kind of logic in my offering price.
No, you can not trust CarFax to have records of all accident repairs. Usually they only know about cars that were totaled, and even those can be cleaned up…
The country is in a recession…Credit is VERY tight. Few people have $3-$8K CASH to spend on a car. ALWAYS negotiate the price of a used car. “Blue Book” figures are meaningless in the real world. Private sellers who try and get those prices seldom are able to sell their cars…Dealers know better…They have their own, private, “Blue Books”…
Having just read an article on pricing, I’ve checked Edmonds and can’t believe how much higher Kelly is for every car I have on my list.
So at least I have another set of numbers.
Well I have $8000 cash! From my totaled car. Thanks for the pep talk.