So I bought a car...

[gwendolyngrace]

But I'm not sure if I did as well as I thought I did when I walked out of the dealership.

My major mistake was in allowing them to factor the trade-in price as if it were an allowance instead of a fixed and separate price, essentially.

Though etakyma says I did fine and should stop worrying.

It's a silver 2004 Subaru Impreza, 26,500ish miles, AWD/Auto transmission. They were asking $12,890 and I got them do make the deal so that the total cost, inclusive of taxes, fees, and my trade-in, was $12,174.

What I *should* have done was got them so that the total cost *of the car*, inclusive of (taxes and) fees, was $12,200, so that the *trade-in* came off of that total (making the cost to *me* $11,200), instead of being included in the total instead of in the overall cost.

A argues that I would never have got to that total.


Nonetheless I feel like I got fleeced a bit. ETA: It's a difference of about $450...in their pockets. Yup. I lost out a bit on that deal. Sigh.



Reassure me? Or tell me that I'm right and I should have pushed harder.

Oh - and name suggestions? Has to be someone who is Reliable, Long-Lived, and Selflessly Sacrificial. Remember that my current car's name is (Eric) Ashley-Pitt, Ashley for short, based on David McCallum's character in The Great Escape.



On another note - FA's servers are down, affecting the Park, and need a part that they won't be able to put in until tomorrow.

Comments

[gwendolyngrace.livejournal.com]

It's a total of $716 less than their asking price...but that's after the taxes. So... I think it's probably a wash.

They did go to $1000 for the trade-in, but the point is that it came off a slightly higher "price tag" than I thought I had been negotiating for.

[hedwig-snowy.livejournal.com]

Did you check Kelly before you went down there to know what your trade-in was worth?

http://www.kbb.com/KBB/Default.aspx

A little switch there at the end after you were working from a different set of numbers eh? Yeah, they like to do that as well by not giving you precise figures (or multiple ones) through the process.

The last car I bought was for my wife. We didn't HAVE to get it (if anyone ever really does) and we had the salesman go back to the manager 4-5 times. On the 4th time, I wanted them to toss in some floor mats (~$89). He came back and had added them but also increased the price $89. So, I had him go back and told L that this was enough and that if they balked at this we'd just walk. He was probably happy to see us get the car and even happier to have us leave... :)

However, there was no trade-in, but from my experience you get the deal and then introduce the trade-in.

[gwendolyngrace.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, I knew all the figures - this is the 4th car I've bought and ALL have been used, but this is the first I've purchased from a lot. All the others have been private sales (and no trade-in, obviously).

The guide that I've used for my last 3 buys says to negotiate the other way around - trade-in first and then car, but yes, the point is to negotiate each one as a separate transaction - the car prices do not mix.

My car isn't worth anything, really, and I knew from the last time I negotiated that $1,000 was fair. My car's only worth $890 on KBB--if that, given that the transmission is seriously about to drop.