Nego when buying a used car, 09 JGC
 

We are probably buying a Jeep Grand Cherokee for my mother tomorrow. It's a 2009 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. I don't think it's got any options other than the standard for the Grand Cherokee. It's got 27000 miles. They are asking 21995, and it's a "Certified Pre-Owned".

Kelly Blue Book says it's worth something like $21385. My mother doesn't want to spend more than about $20k, and would like something with a trailer hitch.

I'd like to see if I could get them down to $20k and have them throw in a trailer hitch.

She will be paying cash (writing a check actually).

Does anyone have any tips to help me get the deal done?

If they are collecting sales tax, ask for $21,385 out the door. That's something like 19,xxx.

I always tell them what I need to make the deal happen. Cash is a good thing.
I traded in a 2005 F250 gas supercab truck toward a 2005 F350 crewcab King Ranch dually diesel. The asking price was $28900. They offered me $10000 for my truck. I told them that my truck was worth $13500(a little more than the payoff). I told them I would buy the truck if they paid mine off, and lowered the F350 to $24000. No deal. 3 days later they called and offered to pay off my truck, and lowered the F350 to $24700. Done deal! Make sure they know where you want to be, and stick with it. Don't let them manipulate payments.

Is it a four-wheel-drive, or two-wheel-drive? In Texas, my guess is 2WD.

Most used 2009's and 2010's are rental returns (not a bad thing) and are equipped similarly.
A 2009 2WD with under 30K does $17Ks at auction, but there aren't many out there
A similar 2010 does $18Ks at auction, and there are TONS of them.

Right now the 'old' Grand Cherokee is enjoying tremendous downward pressure in the market because of the new-from-the-ground-up 2011 model.

As always, I can get easily you one in Houston, but it's rare for a Pelican to take me up on my offer to help.

However, since they are very easy to replicate, the dealer should easily justify making less profit. If a 2010 is $18K at auction, they should own one for less than $19K on their lot, inspected, and reconditioned. So it should be easy to be under $20K for a 2010, even easier as a 2009.

Hitches are easy on those. Hidden Hitch, Curt, and Draw Tite all sell Class III receivers (2" square) for $100-150, parts only. They do not require drilling, the frames already have the holes. It takes less than an hour to install one, and a Jeep tech that knows what he's doing can do it in less than 30 mins. It is a easy DIY thing. SO..... do NOT negotiate it into the deal thinking that the dealer is 'eating' what they'll tell you is a $500 value. I'd forget negotiating the hitch and do it yourself, IMHO.

BTW, I have sold roughly ten vehicles to clients in Houston. For whatever reason, I do well there. Last one shipped was a 2007 Mercedes Benz S550 with 7K miles to a lawyer suprising her lawyer hubby for his birthday.

Cash is not always a good thing. Some dealers will give you a "better" deal because they make it up on the finance spiff.

Kaisen, will be in the market for a 2010 or 09 Acadia.

I'm up in DFW an have no issue taking you up on your offer.

Kaisen, thanks for the offer. I'm actually in Pensacola Florida at my mother's right now or I'd take you up on that. If we do this, then I need to do it tomorrow. I'm helping my mother buy the car and then she's going to give me her Ford Explorer which I'll drive back to Texas Friday. That's good to know about auction prices. Also, this is at the dealer that originally sold the car, so I'm guessing, that it was a trade-in, but I don't know that for sure.

I've read that dealers try to make up the bottom line in financing, or if you negotiate the payment/financing, then they make their money on the bottom line. My plan is to negotiate the bottom line without telling them that we are just going to pay outright. Also, if we don't do the deal tomorrow, then it's not going to get done at all.

Unless you're financing it through the dealer, they want to see cash. If you can write a check for it, then you can dictate the price you want to pay. Money talks. Start low, maybe 18,000, then work up from there. Let them know who the boss is because if they dont know, there are lots and lots more Jeeps just around the corner.

There is a 2010 Grand Cherokee Laredo 2WD in Pensacola right now. It actually runs at auction tomorrow at 11:30AM EST, Lane 5, Run 22. It's owned/sold by Enterprise. It is a Grade 4.5 of 5.0 so it's very nice (let me know if you want to see the condition report). Has 32,936 miles. Auction estimate is $16,950 plus buyer's fees. One with 28K miles did $16,600 at Pensicola on Dec 9th, but it might not have been as clean.

So even if you want to buy THEIRS, tell them you plan to bid on this one if you can't make a deal with them. Leverage....

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Cool, thanks tons!

The next time I need something in Houston, I'll let you know.

Coworker went to pick up an Infinty FX. He negotiated price. Told dealer he had a check. Dealer upped price because he was not using dealers financing. Dealer would not sell him the car for the negotiated price. Another coworker had dropped him off at the dealer. He had to call a cab to get home.

I picked up a Mazda 3 for a commuter car. Had a difficult time negotiating even tho you can find that car everywhere. First offer back from the dealer manager was the list, I was like WTF, not even an attempt to come down. Got my price but it was only after I walked.

Later on I realized what had happened. Made the mistake of giving the guy some info like my home address. He zillowed my house.

One thing to watch for with Florida dealers is the documentation fee, or whatever they may call it. Florida is one of few states that do not regulate the additional fees, so some dealers gouge several hundred dollars. So make sure you don't negotiate what you think is a great price only to see a big add-on when it's time to sign papers. Ask what it is up front, so you know how to proceed.

Ha!! Hill-Kelly Jeep in Pensacola was the one that bought that Jeep on the 9th!!
They have it listed in their inventory for $19,982.
2010 Jeep Grand Cherokee New and Used Jeep Cars, Pensacola, Fl Hill Kelly Dodge Chrysler Jeep 1J4PS4GK2AC156333

Use that as leverage as well

I'm sorry, what is a zillow, and what does a dealer do with your house? If I was at that dealer wanting to spend 20-40,000, I'd walk. It's MY money and there's lots of cars out there in car-la-land.

it's a real estate "valuation" site. enter your address, and it supposedly says what your house is worth, along with lots of info like property taxes, date of sale, etc. even google earth pictures

A fairly inaccurate home valuation site. Not sure if he used that one exactly but after he took my info I watched him go to another computer and he entered almost nothing but wrote down stuff that came up. Then he went to the sales manager.

I assume they try to get a baseline on your income.

If the dealer wants to sell it to you cheaper when you finance it, make sure there isn't an early payment problem and pay it off the next week. I have done that.
Plus, I was talking to a guy about a Z3 Coup in Houston yesterday and there were at least $500 in extra fees, he said all Texas fees.

Kaisen, what part of the business are you in? I'm a Minnesota guy as well.

Why on earth people here would rather pay full retail at a dealer when you have a reputable, proven wholesaler on this board is beyond me. My parents had a guy like Kaisen for years who was a broker who got them all of their new cars.

Much cheaper, no jerk-off finance guy or sales manager backing out of agreed deals or adding fees at last minute, etc. He would have bought that same car for you where the dealer bought it and sold it to you for less. Thousands less.

It would be one thing if he just popped-out of the woodwork here with 10 posts but several people here know him in the gravity world and can vouch for him. Including me.

If I had known ahead of time, that may have worked out, but this was very unexpected and last minute with very little time to set up any other sort of deal.

I've done it all, but I've got a retail and wholesale dealer's license and a little facility in Hudson, WI just across the river on I94 about 15 minutes from 3M world headquarters. We find cars for customers all over the country. Most of our business is via internet. I don't need to inventory many cars, and I'm technically open to the public two hours a week, otherwise by appointment ;)

As always, thank you Speeder for the kind words.

And btw, I'm just happy to help by providing info, opinions, and insight that leads Pelicans to get a good deal on the right car. Don't feel any pressure from me or anyone else if I don't help directly. But if I can, I will. It's how I make a living. However, the scope of clients that appreciate the service I provide is a small percentage of car buyers. Luckily for me, it's a piece of a mighty big pie!

Very cool. Not to hijack Steve's thread, but do you have a website? Put your current inventory on CL or something like that?

I'm currently on the look out for something for my soon to be 16 year old. Not going to be spending too much $$'s though.

I used to have an inventory website but found that the cars would sell faster than I could update the site. Craigslist also works very well for us. I still own the site, but have dragged my feet in revamping it.

As I mentioned, we purposely don't inventory too many cars. For example, I'd buy a Mercedes 4Matic Black/Black with Sport package and 25K miles. Then someone from AZ would want a light color, or someone hated the Sport's blue tint, or someone would rather have higher miles to save some money. I could easily find those cars, but here I had $30K sitting idle and might feel compelled to 'push' my car on their needs. Not the way I'd like to do it.

So the only cars we inventory are either the needles in the haystack where I can't replicate it, just have to buy them when they come around. OR, cheap cars where I can have a few without the financial impact of time/opportunity cost. We actually do keep a few nice $2500-4000 'college cars' because it's impossible to find good ones when we get that call. It may not be glamorous, but it fills a need and doesn't impact my overhead or costs. Otherwise we do most things to order.

A few years back I ran some of the very large new car dealers that you know in the Twin Cities and surrounding states. I'm now very happy to be small and nimble, and have low overhead and the flexibility to please clients without having to pass on those associated costs. I'm having fun now.

Share your criteria for your son's car and I'll give you my two cents. If we have something, I'll let you know. You'll find that it's harder to buy a decent cheap car than find a nice Porsche :D

I'd still like some insight on a 2010 GMC Acadia if it's not too much trouble.

What kind of insight are you looking for? I know them very, very well. Happy to help.

Depending on how business is this 1/4 looking to replace her 01" Tahoe. She is dead set on 8 seats so it's either a big SUV and the mileage that comes along with it or something more reasonable like the Traverse. She likes the styling of the GMC offering better. The Denali is sweet but that's new for this year so that may be out.

Think she is looking at the SLT? Leather, AWD.

She's a substitute teacher right now and will likely go full time this or next year and is adamant about paying for it herself.

So starting to explore frequency of availability and price points.

We typically buy vehicles off lease. I prefer a year old low miles vehicle vs new. Had a guy in NY who was in your line that I used to go to so I get how it works.

Thanks,
Scott

Kaisen, not that I'm looking, but can you sell a car to a Canuck?

Yes, but there's obviously a lot more involved. Currency fluctuations can really make it attractive at times. I can even buy a Canadian car from a Canadian auction via Simulcast and ship it directly so it never leaves the country. But if it's better to import one we can do that too.

We are still trying to iron that out.

If I could find an AWD BMW or MB that had a "few" miles on it but wasn't beat that would be great. As much as I love my A4, I don't want the up-keep of another. I also like the Impreza, but she thinks they're butt ugly.

Another idea I've been 'suggesting' if for her to drive the A4, and I get an SLK (last gen not current gen), Miata, or something along those lines.

She can drive a 5 speed, but part of me thinks it would be better not to have the additional distraction for a while.

Thanks everyone, especially Kaisen. You provided me with the info that I needed to get a good deal. We got the '09 cert preowned for a bunch less than they were asking.

Glad it all worked out!
Now you've got an Explorer to drive
Congrats on all, and good luck with the new job!!