I got up today with a plan in mind: go to Chick-fil-A and get Chicken Mini’s to eat while Wal-Mart changed the battery in my Saturn, then shop for a bunch of detailing supplies so I can gussy up Tasha’s car for sale. Tasha texted me while I was on the way to remind me it was Friday and I couldn’t have meat. Rats. The rest of the plan went off without a hitch, my battery got replaced and I stocked up on cleaning supplies.
We’re planning on trading in Tasha’s car toward a nice pre-owned SUV of some kind so we have room to haul Eve around. I found this website that details some of the best rated SUVs in our price range, so we’ll be starting here when shopping. The reason I’m detailing it is because it needed it badly, and according to what I’ve read on the Internet it can sometimes impact the amount of trade-in value you receive. The worst part of the process so far has been going over all of the upholstery and carpets with high tack masking tape to pick up the dog hair and ground in dirt that has accumulated over the years.
I got through all of the upholstery and carpets, and cleaned most of the road grime off of one of the tires before it started getting too shady for me to detail successfully. Tomorrow I’ll be taking the toothbrush and q-tips to the dash and center console, finish the tires, and do whatever exterior polishing that is left over. We’re going to research/shop over the weekend and hit up a reputable dealership on Monday. In the meantime, I’ll take any advice you might have on car detailing or negotiating a good deal at a used car lot.
More soon!
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Josh,
Before we go to a dealer I will call our bank and talk to our loan officer and he will tell us what we should be able to get for a trade in on the vehicle we r trading. Then once we find what we want i will call again to see what we should be payong for the new one. It really helps alot. Chuck hates the haggling so i do it and it gets really comical when they hold my keys and then i keep telling them no and get up to leave whens they dont even get close to my/the banks price. call me or email me if ya want to talk more.
Thanks for the advice. We’ve been doing a lot of research on what we can get for Tasha’s car, so we’ve got that part covered. I’ll be doing the necessary haggling, I’m excited about that part. I’m already going to take the spare set of keys along with us if they try to hold my keys, plus I’m fine with walking away if they try any funny business.
Brian says to make sure you do some cleanup of the engine compartment too. Use Quick Brite Foaming Engine Cleaner. Just follow the instructions. Clean the trunk and trunk carpet.
He also said for whatever initial price they give you, they’ve figured in 3-4000 in profit. If they drop the price a lot right away, they’ve factored in a lot of profit on it and there’s still room to negotiate. Kelly Blue Book “Fair” trade-in value is generally what you’ll get from a dealership. They more they offer in trade above the fair value decreases the amount they’ll take off the new car.
Good advice. I’ll go pick up some of that engine cleaner and I was already planning on working over the trunk. I figured there was a balancing act between what I’d get for trade-in versus how much I could shave off the asking price for the car.
I’m just not really sure how to approach the negotiation, because I’ve not really done that before.
Also, we have a 2005 Land Rover Freelander SE on our “maybe” list. The reviews seem kinda hit and miss… people love it or they have had mechanical problems. Do you know of anything specific about that model, or what to look for in a Land Rover?
I had this post on my brain from last night, and remembered my sister’s car schyster ex-fiance saying that no matter how much you think you negotiate the price down, they make up the figures somewhere in their paperwork, usually as some kind of delivery or handling fee, or some other inane label that they say is non-negotiable. Good luck, though!
Also, SUVs until recently still had lots of rollover issues. I know Ford Explorer lowered their frame sitting height to stop this, as well as to stop shearing off tops of smaller cars in accidents. If we ever go bigger, it’d probably be a minivan, but I’ve also entertained the idea of a mid-size SUV or crossover.
And when we’re ready to buy our next car, I want you to come and haggle for me!
I have a list of legal line-item charges that can be there and a general idea of what they should cost. If they jack up some bogus section to make up a negotiated price I not only will call them on it, but make them show me the math to get to their value. If I’m still not satisfied, I don’t need to buy a car today.
I think we’re looking more at a mid-sized crossover, and I’m not to stressed about the risk of rollover. The ones I am considering are highly rated for safety, so I will take my chances.
Thanks!
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