Bought A CAR

[Chemmie]

  Now...climbing off my soapbox...Can anyone recommend a quality large sedan? I think I'll be in the market real soon.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You can't go wrong with anything Toyota puts out. They might not have the rebates but they have the best cars.

[Chemmie]

Was the rebate instant or do you have to send it in? I would have just told them to knock $1500 off of the price. 

In my mind...you paid $23,000 for a car that cost $24.5k and got a $1,500 rebate, but gave them a car worth $3,700...that looks like giving them $25,200 for a $24,500 car.  Did they give you money (straight cash, homie) for the trade in or just knock it off the price? 

On my "receipt" for my transaction, the online deal on the car I wanted was $19,135 (sticker was $20,800) plus tax, title, license.  My trade in (they told me) was worth $3,000, which would bring the price down to $16,135 plus taxes etc.  I twisted their arms for a while and ended up paying about $15,909 for the car, including more than $1,000 in taxes, title, and license.  This would brought "their" price to about $14,400.  The value that they placed the trade in at was $4,700, $1,700 more than they quoted...

They aren't giving you more for your car, they're eating their profit.  For the sake of bookkeeping (and selling it to you), they told you that they gave you a lot for your car.  They'll probably sell it for a profit for about $5-6k.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The rebate came off the price of the car. That's why I said I paid $23K, but the rebate knocked it down to $21,500. Then they gave me $8500 for my car worth $3700. Get it?

The bottom line, do your research before buying a car. Most every car you can think of has an online community. Go to those message boards and read. They will tell you a lot and you can see what deals other people are getting. New, but last year's model, cars are always a great deal but depriciate a little quicker when you buy. Unless you are buying a very very very popular car (MINI, Prius, Etc.) there is no reason you shouldn't get a car for invoice or a couple hundred above. Most of the time you can get under invoice. Stand strong on the deal you want, they WILL come down to you no matter how much they say they won't.

[jax]

.Can anyone recommend a quality large sedan? I think I'll be in the market real soon.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The Chrysler (mercedes) 300 is supposed to be very good.

[monsoon]

The Chyrsler 300 is not built by Mercedes but they did lend a hand in providing some engineering. It also uses parts that have been discontinued from use in Mercedes sedans. A good thing actually.

[chrysalis]

I am trying to stay in the same price range around 25,000. BTW sometimes you get less than what you paid for...The 25k i paid for this Used Amanti could have bought a used Jag. I have a 4door sebring 2yrs old paid 13,000 for it...No lemon problems there. I like the 300 except for the window size. Has anyone bought a car online?

[Neo]

For that price I would really consider a Honda Accord EX or maybe a Toyota Camry. Both are very dependable cars and give you a lot for your money.

[Dannym5]

The 2 cars that I would recommend, having driven most everything that is available would be: A late Model Mercedes-Benz E-class (E320, E430...) or a newer Model Mercedes-Benz C-class (C230 Kompressor, C320) I would go for the C230 myself because it has the 4cylinder supercharged engine that gets 32miles/gallon of gas and still has 190 horsepower. It looks awesome, it drives awesome, and its a car that I would actually buy. The BMW 3-series and 5-series are also very nice, extremely well rounded cars. But the Mercedes will be slightly lower maintenance in the long run.

The Chrysler 300C is based off of the chassis of the last body style Mercedes

E-Class (96-2002). And depending on how much you are looking to spend I would say the best car that you can get is that body style Mercedes E-class. It is a better drivers car than the 300C. It has an unbelievable ride, it is very reliable, and if you can find a good independent service shop (which isnt very difficult for mercedes) they are not very expensive to keep up. Starting in 2000 they had the full painted bumpers rather than the black trim at the bottoms. A nice 2000 model could be had in the low $20k's but if you are planning on keeping it for a few years and then trading it in, I would suggest getting it as new as you can while still staying within budget. I say this because the market will hit the cars hard once they get to a certain age because they become significantly harder to finance meaning they are harder for dealers to sell so they wont pay as much for them which causes the drastic drop in value.

I wouldnt buy a new car unless I just had too much money and didnt know what to do with it. Cars will take their largest depreciation hit in the first 2 years of ownership, so why not buy it right afterwards.

If you find a nice pre-owned car that you like, you can get it checked out by the dealership and they can tell you everything that you would need to know about that particular car, anything from condition, to maintenance that it has had or not had, how long you have till you need to change the brakes, tires,... etc.

[chrysalis]

Danny,

Your firsthand knowledge of dealerships and how they work is very valuable. I wish all dealers would be as honest and forthcoming as you have been in the forum. I know now that it is our responsiblity as the public to make it that way. If it werent profitable they wouldnt continue to do it.

Reputation is valuable to most people, it should be more important to a business. It seems like now everyone is looking for a quick buck, regardless of who they step on in the process. The dealership that I went to had a very good reputation up until about 5yrs ago per the Better Business Bureau. My grandparents bought all of their cars there. Now when you call the BBB to complain against them, they refer you to govt agencies due to the dealership doesnt answer complaints and also has an unsatisfactory rating. Seems they had a regime change for the worse

I had to rent a car today while my LEMON is in the shop again. The guys at the rental service were extremely nice. I am driving a Ram 1500 quad cab. Big car for a Little woman

[jax]

Thats a fun truck as long as you don't have to park in any parking garages