How much to offer dealer for used car

[pana]

Hi,

I'm in MB & I'm wondering how much you should offer a dealer for a 2001 or 2002 used car. If the asking price is 14,000 how much should you offer - is it just a certain % off the asking price.  

Also if the dealer says the price was 14,000 and the car is now "on sale" or "reduced to clear" for 12,500 does that mean there's no negotiation room.  

It's been many years since I've bought a car. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[barrie1]

Pana Welcome to the Forum, It will depend on the Car and a no. of other Factors. How Long has the Dealer had the Car. The overall condition of the vehicle and the milage as well. The reputation of the Car is also part of the buying of it. When you are ready and have a vehicle picked out let us know about the car and we will be very Happy to advise you. We will need to know what options are on the car as well at the time Please. The more you can tell us the better we can assisst you. We have people here who can give you the exact price to offer.  

[inco]

In addition to what Barrie mentions Pana you might best spend some time looking through the Autotrader.ca ads, especially those in Manitoba and then say Ontario to get an idea of the prices the car you are looking for is selling for.

When you go there "P" means private sale and "D" means dealer and this way you can see a range of prices. And it's free.

[pana]

Thanks Barrie and Inco.  

I'm looking for a Sentra or Elantra. I'd like to get an '02 b/c it would come with some of the bumper to bumper warranty left but I'm also considering '01s.  

I've been been checking the Autotrader and local papers to try to get a feel for their price ranges. I'm assuming that the dealer's advertised price and the actual selling price will be different - that's why I wanted to know if there were any 'guidelines' to follow when making an offer.  

The 14,000 was for an '02 Elantra VE, 57,000km, AT,AC,PS,PB,CD,tilt,cruise,power group,keyless entry. I've also seen an '01 with 40,000km (everything else the same) for 13,000 but 'on sale' for 11,000. I don't know how long the '02 has been on the dealer's lot & I think the sale priced '01 was there for a couple of months.
Sentra GXEs with similar features seem to be in the same price range - although I haven't seen any on sale yet

What would be a good offer for either vehicle (mentioned above)?  

When these types of cars(Elantra or Sentra) are on sale does that usually mean that the sale price is as low as the dealer will go?  

TIA.

[barrie1]

Dealers are not in the business of loosing Money so I would say No that is not the lowest they will go. They have a profit margin built in at every price range and they hope to get it. Remember Cash Talks sometimes quite loudly. Somebody here may have the Book Value for these Cars.

[toolatecrew]

When buying a NEW car its always best to negotiate UP from Invoice not down from retail. Same with used cars. It is more difficult with used cars as each one has a "different" invoice. If the car is a trade in you can TRY to find out if they will give the previous owner name who will tell you what a GREAT car it was. (Maybe not fue to privacy but it can't hurt to try). Pretty easy then to say so what did they give you for a trade in and go from there.

Dealers are almost NEVER "into" a car for more than wholesale (even if they gave a higher price on the trade in as they use some of the $ in the new car to inflate this).

Get the balck book value and use that as your invoice price.