Just thought I should get a response on this subject:

I pulled out of car deal 2 hours ago. I thought the price was way too much. The price was 17K with everything including my trade-in which was priced at 3,100 by the dealer. The kicker is the dealership wanted me to get a bank check for 16,500. I think that's way too much when you include the trade-in I have since told them to credit the security deposit to my account which was 500.00. Yes the car I was buying (White 2014 Mazda 6i sport with 18K miles) had a little bumper damage but that would be repaired I said that was fine. I just don't think I should get a bank check for 16,500 when I have a trade-in worth 3,100 dollars. Yeah ok without the trade-in I understand the 16,500 but without the trade-in I don't get it why I should be paying 17K!

When we bought a car in January (well, we were planning on buying it in Dec. for the year end prices but it was delayed), we went to look a few different cars. My choice was an upgraded Honda Civic like the one we did have. We went to the Toyota dealer first. He made us a deal. We told him that we were looking at other cars.

When we left the Toyota place, we went right next door (literally) to the Honda place. We said, "This is what the Toyota place offered us. Can you do any better?" It did help that we were returning customers and had bought two Hondas prior. It also helped being friends with the general manager of the Honda place.

We got the car that we wanted at the best price possible. We just had to wait until the car was in the area (it is a manual transmission-something that is getting harder and harder to find).


My point is, you should go to different dealerships and let them know that you are looking at other places. Let them fight for your business.



Cat

What happened was they charged me the sticker price of the vehicle and than did all the discounts and fees after the sticker price. The correct way was to start out with the negotiated price(17K) and than do all the discounts and contract fees and the trade-in price as well. It took me awhile to figure this out. I might just buy a new 2016 Mazda 6 at my neighborhood dealer when the current model year nears winding down and look for discounts. I did really like the car on the test drive.  The interior in the 2016 is better as well than the 2014 and 2015 models. It drives like the 2007 6 that I have but the current car is just wider maybe and has a bigger front end.

When we bought a car in January (well, we were planning on buying it in Dec. for the year end prices but it was delayed), we went to look a few different cars. My choice was an upgraded Honda Civic like the one we did have. We went to the Toyota dealer first. He made us a deal. We told him that we were looking at other cars.

When we left the Toyota place, we went right next door (literally) to the Honda place. We said, "This is what the Toyota place offered us. Can you do any better?" It did help that we were returning customers and had bought two Hondas prior. It also helped being friends with the general manager of the Honda place.

We got the car that we wanted at the best price possible. We just had to wait until the car was in the area (it is a manual transmission-something that is getting harder and harder to find).


My point is, you should go to different dealerships and let them know that you are looking at other places. Let them fight for your business.



Cat
Well Cat good luck with your Honda. They last a long time. I had a Honda Product once(an Acura CL) and it was good to me.

On the dealership front I tried to buy from dealerships that are close to my house. Its easy to get there and get service on a day that you have to go to work. The car that I almost bought was an hour away. I have been looking at buying a used 6 for a long time now( like a few months) and the ones that you want to buy are kinda scattered around. Buying used is different than buying new because with buying used you don't get as good of a selection of cars as when buying new in terms of color selection and model trim choices. With that said I might just buy new and than if any good discounts don't pop up near the wind down of the current model year I will just go back at searching for a used 6. My other choice besides the 6 is a Blue 2013-2015 Honda Accord Sport.

Well Cat good luck with your Honda. They last a long time. I had a Honda Product once(an Acura CL) and it was good to me.

On the dealership front I tried to buy from dealerships that are close to my house. Its easy to get there and get service on a day that you have to go to work. The car that I almost bought was an hour away. I have been looking at buying a used 6 for a long time now( like a few months) and the ones that you want to buy are kinda scattered around. Buying used is different than buying new because with buying used you don't get as good of a selection of cars as when buying new in terms of color selection and model trim choices. With that said I might just buy new and than if any good discounts don't pop up near the wind down of the current model year I will just go back at searching for a used 6. My other choice besides the 6 is a Blue 2013-2015 Honda Accord Sport.



Whether you buy new or used, like I said, make the dealers fight for your business. The only time that doesn't work is when it is a private sale. But, if you tell the dealers you are also interested in another car at their competitors, they will probably give you a much better deal.


Cat

One thing people fail to realize when they are trading in their vehicle is that they are actually selling it to the dealer.
If the dealer knows there is a trade in they will try to up the price of the new vehicle and low ball the trade in value
to maximize their profits. You will make more money on the car if you sell it yourself but if you must trade it in you are
under no obligation to tell the dealer you have a trade in. Negotiate the price of the new vehicle first. Then state that
you have a trade in and then negotiate the price of the trade. It will help if you know the value of the vehicle you want
to trade in.

One thing people fail to realize when they are trading in their vehicle is that they are actually selling it to the dealer.
If the dealer knows there is a trade in they will try to up the price of the new vehicle and low ball the trade in value
to maximize their profits. You will make more money on the car if you sell it yourself but if you must trade it in you are
under no obligation to tell the dealer you have a trade in. Negotiate the price of the new vehicle first. Then state that
you have a trade in and then negotiate the price of the trade. It will help if you know the value of the vehicle you want
to trade in.
Ha loki I read your post before leaving work. Anyway, I don't know if it was the trade-in or they were just trying to maximize profits for the sake of maxamizing profits. The trade-in in question is a 2007 Mazda 6 Sport Value Edition(yes I know its old) with 88,000 miles. The issues with the car are the muffler makes noise, there is a small dent in the drivers side door, and there a little rust on the passenger back side fender. The paint is showroom new with no mechanical defects except for the muffler. They valued the trade-in at 3,100 dollars as I said before and it is worth 3,400 dollars in Kelley Blue Book. So not bad. Problem is they marked up the 2014 Mazda 6i Sport that I wanted to buy up to Sticker Price which was on the car.  That is terrible. Its the worst experience I have had buying a car. The next worst experience buying a car was the Acura in 2001 but they just wanted a high price for the car and the car wasn't on the lot yet. They didn't deal dirty like this Mazda dealer did.

Your right about negotiating the trade-in and the new car purchase separate. I didn't do that. The salesman and I negotiated 17,000 for the 2014 6i sport and 3,100 for the trade. I thought not bad but than he said bring a check in for 16,500(i'm rounding) I thought that is alot of money. Than I look at the printed figures above the numbers in ink that I negotiated with the salesman. He puts the 17,000 as the final price!!! That is not serious pricing in my opinion. Used Car Sticker Price for a 2014 Mazda 6! Thats nuts. See usually salesman negotiate with a blank piece of paper and they divide it into 4 parts(trade in-pricing, price for the car you want to buy, monthly payments, and something else I can't think of right now.) Maybe I should have looked at the printed numbers above the numbers in ink that I negotiated with the salesman. I thought oh we are negotiating so I don't have to look at anything else but the numbers in ink(yes I look back and its stupid I know, lesson learned.) When I bought the 2007 Mazda 6 the salesman did the proposed deal on a blank piece of paper from what I could remember as the Acura dealer did in 2001 as well. The first car I had purchased new a 1998 Mazda 626(a lease) the salesman did the proposed deal on a blank piece of paper as well.

The sales manager when I terminated the deal said he couldn't sell the car for 17k but that is what his sales guy negotiated with me for the cars price! There was 3,100 missing(yes my trade in) but because they priced from sticker the trade-in got built into the 17K final price. The check should have written for 13,400 because of the 500.00 already paid with the security deposit not 16,500.

Required reading: https://consumerist.com/2010/03/12/beat-the-four-square-dealership-ripoff/

And the same article, from the dealer's point of view: https://axleaddict.com/auto-sales/How-To-Use-The-Four-Square-System-To-Sell-Cars

Required reading: https://consumerist.com/2010/03/12/beat-the-four-square-dealership-ripoff/

And the same article, from the dealer's point of view: https://axleaddict.com/auto-sales/How-To-Use-The-Four-Square-System-To-Sell-Cars


Yeah I must read each of those links 3-4 times on Thursday Night.

Anyways, 2 observations:

The salesperson I dealt with did not do the 4 squares or didn't even attempt to do the deal on a blank piece of paper. That was sort of a red flag I think. He just did a print out of the deal that he or his sales manager or both wanted and had me and him(the sales guy)do the numbers on the bottom of the printed out numbers.

My 2nd observation is that the sales guy was going back to his sales manager so much. The Acura salesman did go back to his manager a lot in 2001 from what I could remember but as I said before the car wasn't on the let so that was understandable. The manager did come out of his office and my father(he did most of the negotiating) were able to  reach a deal. I was comfortable mostly in terms of what the final numbers were.

I have been a little upset all week about what happened at that Mazda dealer last Saturday.

My parents recently bought one... a 2017 Toyota Camry Hybrid. This was their first time buying a new car since 2003, when they got a Toyota Sienna minivan (which we sold last weekend), and their first time buying a car in general since we got a used '07 Nissan Altima in June of 2013.

They researched new cars because we were going to sell our aforementioned Sienna; we haven't had much need for such a large vehicle as of late (for a lot of years we would transport some of our relatives, many of whom never drove the freeway, and now some of 'em are gone; we would even use it to transport lots of things that would never fit into the trunk of our other car(s)), but a musician friend of ours was in need of a car because his old one died and would've cost mucho dinero to repair... so after my parents bought the new car last week, they sold him our van over the weekend and he is satisfied with it.

so this is how to do it.  I've only bought Hotwheels in the past. 

I bought a new car this year. A 2016 Honda Fit. It's the upgraded model so I have all the bluetooth, push button start, backup cameras and all that. It's been great except it had this noise at first, I took it back to the dealer for service and they said it was the air bag inflator valve tapping against the frame or something. They addressed the issue thankfully but it was a bit of a frustrating experience to deal with right out of the box with an expensive new car. Other than that though it's been great and it excellent on gas and has a lot of room for a small car.

Hey guys...just wanted to update I have been looking at a 2017 Nissan Altima 2.5 S for about a month now. I have been looking at a particular color(silver) but they only have(just looking) a lot of Nissan Altima's 2.5 S's Silver Color at the 2 Nissan Dealerships that don't have good reputations in the area.

Anyway my observation on the Mazda that I almost bought in late May of 2016 is that they blew a chance for a repeat buyer of their brand out of greed by one of their dealerships. Their loss!

Well I bought a car finally just to update this thread. I bought a 2017 Nissan Altima 2.5 S (Silver Color) on Thursday Night and traded in the 2007 Mazda 6i Sport Value Edition. I got the Altima for invoice price maybe a bit lower invoice since it came with 400 dollars worth of options. They did add 170.00 to the original negotiated price which is ok because of the options added and the deal I got for invoice.

Well I bought a car finally just to update this thread. I bought a 2017 Nissan Altima 2.5 S (Silver Color) on Thursday Night and traded in the 2007 Mazda 6i Sport Value Edition. I got the Altima for invoice price maybe a bit lower invoice since it came with 400 dollars worth of options. They did add 170.00 to the original negotiated price which is ok because of the options added and the deal I got for invoice.

Excellent. I hope you are satisfied with your new car!

Well it has been a few weeks now since I purchased the new 2017 Altima it took me awhile to get used to it. I am happy with it and hopefully it lasts a long time. The layout of the car(radio, middle console/cup holders) is much better than in he 07 Mazda 6. My Dad was jealous of the car since he had to buy a little crossover SUV for work purposes and my boss at work was also jealous and he has a GMC Crossover SUV. I just put the car through the car wash for the first time this weekend. I took good care of my cars since I wash them once a month and get a wax every 6 months and do the oil changes every 6 months.

Cool  I've only driven a Ford lately

Well it has been a few weeks now since I purchased the new 2017 Altima it took me awhile to get used to it. I am happy with it and hopefully it lasts a long time. The layout of the car(radio, middle console/cup holders) is much better than in he 07 Mazda 6. My Dad was jealous of the car since he had to buy a little crossover SUV for work purposes and my boss at work was also jealous and he has a GMC Crossover SUV. I just put the car through the car wash for the first time this weekend. I took good care of my cars since I wash them once a month and get a wax every 6 months and do the oil changes every 6 months.


I'm glad you got a car you like. It looks like a great car from the photos I've seen online.  8)

Sucks about the dealer you had to deal with before. I haven't ever bought a car yet (I'm only 24) but I've been thinking about it, and stories like this and some I've heard from others provide a good cautionary tale, so thanks for sharing your experiences. I'll have to keep my guard up if I ever do decide to bite the bullet.  :-X

I'm glad you got a car you like. It looks like a great car from the photos I've seen online.  8)

Sucks about the dealer you had to deal with before. I haven't ever bought a car yet (I'm only 24) but I've been thinking about it, and stories like this and some I've heard from others provide a good cautionary tale, so thanks for sharing your experiences. I'll have to keep my guard up if I ever do decide to bite the bullet.  :-X
Just to note about that topic or subject: The Dealer I bought the car from had bad reviews on yelp.com. I really wanted to avoid that dealer but the dealer that I wanted to buy the car from at first gave me a hard time about window-etching which I didn't want on the car. They kept on flip-flopping wether I had to pay for the window-etching or not. Widow-Etching is an option where if somebody steals your car its supposed to be easier to recover your car or detect that its your car. I frankly got tired of hearing about the window-etching so I decided not to buy from the dealer that I originally wanted to buy the car from. They wanted to charge me 300.00 dollars when it only cost 20.00 dollars to window-etch a car. That's 280.00 dollars for a dealer profit on the window-etch option. Anyway to go to the subject of the dealer that I bought the Altima from they couldn't have been nicer they even had a banner up in the dealership(under new management.) The sales manager met with me twice after the test drive twice which was a few weeks before the purchase.. They had a deal in March too(when I bought the car): free car washes and free oil changes for the life of the car.

the only dealer I deal with has bicycles