May 10, 2006

Hello Tony

First I would like to thank you for your providing your website, it is invaluable for those of us who have always felt ripped-off after a car purchase.

My question is: My wife and I looked at a 2002 Buick Century with only 14,000 miles on it. The car dealer is asking $12,000!

The salesman told me they took it in on trade from a little old lady. The Kelly trade-in value is $5,426. I want to offer them $6,000. My wife insists no car dealer will take half of what they want.

I need to know how to reassure my wife to trust the research? Is $6,000 an offer we should stick with?

S.F.

Answer:

Hi S.F.

Thank you for the kind words about my website.

Even if this car is like brand new there's no way it's worth any where near $12,000! I can't believe they're using the "little old lady" ploy! Believe me, it doesn't add any value to the car at all!

The trade-in figure you looked up is a little more than wholesale value. Wholesale is how much the dealer pays for a car. My guess is they have somewhere in the neighborhood of $5,500 to $6,000 in the car!

Retail, which is the most the car dealer hopes to get, on this car is in the neighborhood of about $7,500 to $8,000 - give or take a little.

They're nuts asking $12,000 for this car! Buick Century's are not very popular cars, and they have a very low resale value.

You shouldn't pay more than $7,000 for this car no matter how clean it is. Remember, it's four years old! Make your offer and see how it goes.

These guys are trying to hit a grand slam at your expense! Maybe due to some oddball circumstances they had to put more money in this car than they normally would, but that's their problem - not yours!

All my very best...

Tony Iorio