I spoke with the guy at the dealership again today, explaining to him our situation and that he’d have to figure out some way to work prices down. I told him that nobody pays book value, and their chart where they show the comparisons with other listings doesn’t really work out because those other places negotiate price. They’d have to figure out something if they want our business, and told him to get to it. I told him in the meantime we’d be looking at other dealerships, as Tasha and I had originally planned.
We went about our business without much further luck, and about an hour later I got a phone call. Duane (our sales guy) had spoken with the appraiser and wanted to know if he could get me a little more in trade would it make a difference. I told him it would, but since they’re not willing to negotiate the price they had on the car it’d have to be a great deal on the trade-in. About 30 minutes later I got a phone call from him again offering $3250 on Tasha’s ZX2, which is above private party sale and just below dealer retail price for that car. Yep. That’s pretty good.
We crunched the numbers and it made the whole deal come in between the private-party price and the trade-in price for the CR-V. We were a little uncomfortable about the miles on the car, so we asked him for a CarFax (they use AutoCheck, same difference) and we told him that we wanted to have an independent mechanic to inspect the car. Luckily, there was a guy near there that is highly regarded on Yelp and has an A+ rating on the BBB since 1989. We went to him.
After about an hour, he came in and noted that the engine coolant was dirty and needed replaced the next time we did an oil change but aside from a few cosmetic paint issues everything looked great. No engine problems, no frame damage at all, no replaced or repaired panels. One of the headlights had been replaced, but there was no evidence of damage anywhere around it. I asked him how he would feel about buying it in this mechanical condition, and he said he didn’t see anything that would prevent him from buying it. He said it was in great shape, so we were on the way back to the dealership (after running home to get my checkbook).
Some paperwork later, we’re the proud owner of a 2005 Honda CR-V. It’s black and awesome, with plenty of room for Eve, the dog, and the necessary luggage to go back to Illinois for holidays and vacations. Plus we paid cash, so there’s not going to be any payments following us around! More soon, including pictures of the new car.
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