I Just Bought a New Truck

[davefan66]

Car buying has certainly changed with all the info available on the internet. KBB and other sites let you know what the new or used car should sell for as well as what your trade in is worth.

 

Armed with that info, I go in with the knowledge of what I am willing to pay.  Including what I am willing to pay for extended warranty on a used car.  Just need to understand the dealership will make some money, but cut your best deal. Usually don’t have an issue cutting the deal.

 

I’ve done well the last few used cars (2 years old off lease) I bought for my wife.  One place you can make up some money is the extended warranty. Last two were Honda’s and I was able to get the warranty a little over half the original quote.

 

I’ve leased my last two trucks, but bought the 2nd one at the end of the lease. Had 3-5k equity in it and decided to just buy it. Equity was probably 4k, just depends on what site you got the your info from. Was a 3 year lease and had 18,500 miles on it. Just made sense to buy it out.  Didn’t care to dump 4-5k of a down payment to rent a truck for 3 years, and lease deals were not good at that time on trucks.  

Edited December 8 by davefan66

[Sweats]

Just ask the salesman who the CEO is........i'll bet you'll get a good deal on a vehicle after that.

[BillsFan4]

Ever since the pandemic, the car market has been insane.

 

my leased vehicle was totaled earlier this year while parked in a parking lot and I had to replace it. I almost **** a brick when I saw current lease prices. My previous payment was $179 a month for a pretty decent SUV. I couldn’t find anything even remotely close, even with a ton of money down.

 

I ended up buying an older 2013 Buick SUV with low mileage. I put $8k down just to get the payment to even be in the mid/high $200’s.

 

Then less than 3 months after buying it, some idiot kid with terrible insurance rear ended me and that SUV was totaled too. He at least admitted 100% fault but His insurance didn’t even cover the damage to my vehicle (and since he hit another vehicle too, I got even less) so I lost the $ I had into it, and now my insurance is dropping me because they had to pay out for 2 totaled cars in 3-4 months (even though neither accident was my fault) and I’m getting quoted ridiculous amounts for new insurance.

 

Ended up just buying a cheap $3k used car for now. I don’t see the car market improving any time soon either. If anything, prices are likely to get even worse. 

[TheCockSportif]

I started playing the "trade in" game a few years ago.

 

Story 1.  I had a 4dr Jeep Wrangler w hard/soft tops, mint condition, less than 15k miles (though I'd owned it for four years!) due to lots of work travel where I'd fly instead of drive.  The vehicle was no longer practical because the new Sales Engineering gig I got had me working out of Boston a lot, and the Jeep would get 20mpg on a good day.  Dealer A wouldn't negotiate the price of a new vehicle and offered me $12,500 for a trade in.  I thanked them for their time and took the offer sheet to Dealer B, who basically said, "sure, we'll match the price and we'll give you $15k for your trade."  Plus I qualified for near-zero financing, which was a boon.  I *hate* financing vehicles as it just feels like wasted money.  Near-zero financing was music to my ears.  I'm actually shocked that they went for it... how did they actually make money off of me?  Regardless, Dealer B and I remain close friends.  😉

 

Story 2.  The *same* Dealer A nearly got a boot up their ass (courtesy of me).  Two weeks before this happened we stopped in to test drive this car and we were trading in two older (but maintained to book) cars.  They wrote us a respectable offer sheet for the trades, and as we mulled our options two weeks passed.  Back then my wife worked about 2 miles away, and I was still working in an office, so I was about 15 miles away.  In other words, it's not like we put hundreds of miles on the cars over the course of two weeks, got in accidents, or anything that should impact their trade-in values.  But when we arrived to sign the paperwork for the new car, Dealer A cut the trade-in offer by *half*.  They just kept playing this shell game with us, disappearing into this office for 15 minutes at a time, and returning with a less-lame trade-in offer.  90 minutes into this, I stood up during the *last* disappearing act.  My wife was all like, "wait, what are you doing?!"  I grabbed our car keys from the table, thanked them for their time, and apologized that things didn't work out.  I proceeded to start walking out of the place, my wife still incredulous about what I was doing.  The sales guy and sales manager practically chased us down.  "Wait, what do you want?  How can we make this right?"  I told them that they were wasting our time and that we'd just go to Dealer B.  We exited with a brand new car and they even gave us an additional $1000 for our trades.  My only regret is that I let this go one for 90 minutes.

 

So, to the spirit of this thread, shopping around is the only sane way to get what you want and at the price you want to pay.  That's been my experience at least.

[boyst]

3 hours ago, Sweats said:

.

 

Banks hate it, but it's legal.

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I got into the bank and demand as much cash as they have and show them my Glock. They hate that too but it works. 

 

Legality? Unknown. 

[Gugny]

12 hours ago, US Egg said:

Recently bought a new Santa Fe. After agreeing on final price, we decided not to finance after hearing the quotes. 
 

They weren’t happy, said they gave us the “deal” because of financing it. It was an icy closing. Had to come back next day to get it, wondered if there’d be any last minute issues, which there weren’t. The salesman wasn’t really cordial. 

 

Guess he felt I stuck it to him, which I didn’t. But knowing he felt that, I kinda liked the it, until I gave him the check

Eff him. He chose to work in a pyramid scheme.  

[Augie]

I’m seriously looking for suggestions if any one has a three row SUV they love. We had a Honda Odyssey when the kids were young that was super functional with a 3rd row that sank down and allowed storage. My son and his family need more room than his 4Runner or her VW SUV allow. With a 2nd child and now 2 child seats, there is nowhere for the dog!!!  Too much needed ”stuff” in the back. Kids do that to you. 

 

We like Toyota and I hear there is a giant Highlander? Maybe one of the other bigger versions? 

 

 

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Edited December 9 by Augie

[Just Jack]

I hate car buying and the haggling.  I'd be willing to pay someone to do all that for me, and I just come in at the end and sign the papers. 

[4th&long]

What kind of truck did you get? 

[Simon]

1 hour ago, 4th&long said:

What kind of truck did you get? 

 

[GaryPinC]

On 12/8/2024 at 4:12 PM, Augie said:

I’m seriously looking for suggestions if any one has a three row SUV they love. We had a Honda Odyssey when the kids were young that was super functional with a 3rd row that sank down and allowed storage. My son and his family need more room than his 4Runner or her VW SUV allow. With a 2nd child and now 2 child seats, there is nowhere for the dog!!!  Too much needed ”stuff” in the back. Kids do that to you. 

 

We like Toyota and I hear there is a giant Highlander? Maybe one of the other bigger versions? 

 

 

.

I've been very happy with my 2019 Chevy Traverse.   Biggest mid-size SUV in terms of overall space but the ride is really smooth and turning radius great.  Gas mileage with highway easily in the mid 20s.  Comfortable, good ergonomics on the controls without being overcomplicated.  It's why Toyota came out with the Grand Highlander, to compete with it.

 

Definitely hit a sweet spot for me with interior size but still maneuverability and fuel economy.  

[4BillsintheBurgh]

On 12/8/2024 at 4:12 PM, Augie said:

I’m seriously looking for suggestions if any one has a three row SUV they love. We had a Honda Odyssey when the kids were young that was super functional with a 3rd row that sank down and allowed storage. My son and his family need more room than his 4Runner or her VW SUV allow. With a 2nd child and now 2 child seats, there is nowhere for the dog!!!  Too much needed ”stuff” in the back. Kids do that to you. 

 

We like Toyota and I hear there is a giant Highlander? Maybe one of the other bigger versions? 

 

 

.

I have an older Sequoia that's been very good to me. My 2006 doesn't have a magic 3rd row, if I want the seats out I have to wrastle em', but I assume you can get that with something 10 or so years old. From a reliability standpoint it's been awesome. 210K on it and nothing major as well as nothing irritating. Things like I've only replaced one tail-light and one fog light on it. Interior pieces are in good shape. No issues with the 4 wheel drive. I got it mainly because it will pull 6000 lbs, but it's also got a nice amount of drivers seat room which I find useful. I would recommend if you don't mind the gas mileage.

[Wacka]

I knew someone who worked as a salesman at a Chrysler/Dodge dealership and he told me to not even pull into the lot to turn around.  They had the salesmen assigned in order and if you turned around in the lot that salesman lost his place and would have to wait until it came around to him again. 

[Augie]

1 hour ago, Wacka said:

I knew someone who worked as a salesman at a Chrysler/Dodge dealership and he told me to not even pull into the lot to turn around.  They had the salesmen assigned in order and if you turned around in the lot that salesman lost his place and would have to wait until it came around to him again. 

 

I had a salesman come up to me when I pulled in a lot and before both of my feet hit the pavement he asked “so, is that the one you’re trading in?” Both feet back in the car and I drove away. Maybe some people like or at least tolerate that, but I don’t appreciate the pushy approach. 

[ICanSleepWhenI'mDead]

On 12/8/2024 at 7:39 PM, Just Jack said:

I hate car buying and the haggling.  I'd be willing to pay someone to do all that for me, and I just come in at the end and sign the papers. 

 

I never used it, but Costco used to have a new car buying service that basically did exactly that.  Maybe they still do.  I figured that the service would get a good but not great price - - seems likely that dealers would quote a pretty good price to get the Costco sales volume but some of the applicable savings would wind up in Costco's pocket to pay Costco for providing the service.

[DrW]

On 12/8/2024 at 3:12 PM, Augie said:

I’m seriously looking for suggestions if any one has a three row SUV they love. We had a Honda Odyssey when the kids were young that was super functional with a 3rd row that sank down and allowed storage. My son and his family need more room than his 4Runner or her VW SUV allow. With a 2nd child and now 2 child seats, there is nowhere for the dog!!!  Too much needed ”stuff” in the back. Kids do that to you. 

 

We like Toyota and I hear there is a giant Highlander? Maybe one of the other bigger versions? 

 

 

.

 

I still have the 2010 Odyssey and I love it. However, the coolest 3rd row seats in cars I ever owned was in full-size station wagons (Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser, Pontiac Safari) where the passengers were facing the back (probably not the safest).

[Irv]

On 12/8/2024 at 10:30 PM, 4th&long said:

What kind of truck did you get? 

Bought another Tundra.  Paid cash.  I'm sure I got screwed but not that bad.  But I got screwed.  If they make a deal with you.  You got screwed.    

[Not at the table Karlos]

On 12/7/2024 at 11:11 PM, qwksilver said:

It'll be 2025 in a few weeks and I still don't understand why there are car dealerships. Why don't/can't the other manufacturers adopt the Tesla business model??? Car dealer ships suck!

As someone who has actually used a Tesla dealership and service. They’re beyond terrible. Worse than normal dealerships. So far all three teslas I’ve ordered had issues that I just would have walked away from at a normal dealer. Tesla I’m stuck with it while they try to fix it for months with no part to correctly repair it or order another and hope its put together correctly. 

[Augie]

53 minutes ago, DrW said:

 

I still have the 2010 Odyssey and I love it. However, the coolest 3rd row seats in cars I ever owned was in full-size station wagons (Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser, Pontiac Safari) where the passengers were facing the back (probably not the safest).

 

I believe we had TWO Odyssey’s, and they were great. My wife LOVED them. One got T-boned and she went right out and got another. You had plenty of room and you can even put the kids so they can’t even touch each other as they get older. There was sort of a “bucket”, for lack of a better term, in the way back so stuff was held in place as I recall. That was many, many moons ago. 

[Augie]

28 minutes ago, Irv said:

Bought another Tundra.  Paid cash.  I'm sure I got screwed but not that bad.  But I got screwed.  If they make a deal with you.  You got screwed.    

 

Huge fan of Toyotas! I have a 2014 Avalon and had Camrys before that. My wife’s cousin has a car dealership where he fixes up used cars then sells and finances them for people who need it. The money is in the financing. He says he’s a bank for people who need a car. My wife uses info from him when she faces the car dealership.

 

Anyway, with my son looking for more space my wife asked her cousin what he’d recommend and his response was “Toyota, Toyota, Toyota.”