[1965gp]

Your spot on Greg- all the rental companies liquidated their inventory and then people started traveling again.

I rented a car when my mom was in town to help after my surgery (she can’t get in my truck) snd it was a 2018 Equinox that still had the emblem from a local dealer.

[Sirrotica]

Ya think buying a car is tough because of demand, try buying a house...............LOL

The gubermint has loaded the pockets of consumers with extra income, so there are many buyers that have money, and supply is low because of the virus related supply lines have been affected.

[Ben M.]

Supply is just low all around, the average consumer doesn't have the kind of change you're talking about to influence house or car prices. The speculators who get rich off of our misery do though, they have continued to contribute to it as well.

[NeighborsComplaint]

I have a mechanic buddy who bought a house before the boom. It was so bad I asked him point blank if he even looked at the piece of crap before he bought it. He was in the midst of trying to fix all the cosmetic issues (drywall repairs, paint, new trim, doors, floors etc.) when his toilet stuck and overflowed. It flooded the entire first floor and the basement and took out half the basement ceiling, the kitchen cabinets, all the trim, the lower 12" of all 1st floor drywall and all the crappy laminate flooring the prior owner had installed. I told him he was the luckiest guy I knew as all the work would get done on the insurance co's nickel. Of course, he went completely overboard and pissed the money away with upgrades to everything and then tried to do all the work himself.

In a normal market, he would be completely upside down and out of money to finish but thankfully this is not a normal market. I told him he is soooo lucky the housing market is on fire and it's time to fold. Even if fixed up, the place has a bad roof, an added-on porch that is not tied into the roof and separating from the house, original to the house furnace, AC and water heater on their last legs and the worst wiring, plumbing and carpentry I've ever seen.

Told him to borrow the money via a home equity loan (he is cashed out) and have someone slap the place back together with a "cheapest of everything finish-out", sell it and buy or rent a 2 bedroom townhome that is move-in ready.

The bank gave him the home equity loan based on comparables and a drive-by. He got a local jack-of-all-trades to finish the trim, flooring and paint (though not to a high standard) and listed it. He now has multiple offers and will actually come out whole (barely) thanks to rising home prices.

[dataway]

It certainly hasn't changed. Today we picked up a new BMW for the wife. Ordered it two months ago and it came from Germany. I spent about a week negotiating the price for her, got the deal we wanted, everyone is happy. So we go to pick it up today ... I forgot my mask and had to sit outside ... figured the wife could go in an sign her papers. Told her to take the original order receipt and pay not a penny more. I sit outside for about 45 minutes .... she comes out says it's all done, but cost $1200 more than we thought. I was like WHAT WHAT WHAT? She tells me oh there was some kind of "armor shield" coating that was $1200. I said .... didn't you tell them no to all that garbage ... she says yes, but the finance person said it was already on the order and was being applied. While we were talking the salesman came out and I have to admit I used some bad language ... the culmination of which was I told him we pay NOTHING extra or he can put the plates right back on our old car and we'll drive out of here.

Got the bullsh*t coating for free, which is good since it costs the dealer about $10. Same scam that was used back when I was working for a dealership in the late 70's ... customer would pay $200 for a tiny tube of stuff we'd rub on the car for ten minutes that cost us about $3.

They would have NEVER tried this if I had been standing there with her ... a damn shame after all these years they are still trying to screw female customers because they think they can. Changed a reasonably pleasant transaction into a very bad memory and lost them a customer for life. Salesman blamed the finance girl, finance girl said the "armor coat" was already on the list .... BS all around. Such a shame it has to be that way.

[The Champ]

With the chip shortage, new vehicle production is down.

With a shortage of new vehicles, used car values are going up. My 25,000 mile 2019 Chevy Equinox Premier has a trade value higher than what I paid for it new (I purchased it for $16,000 under sticker - GM credit card cash/ACDelco dollars/factory rebate/dealer discount) in February of 2019.

I now have a part time gig with the local Chevy/Cadillac now and am looking to replace my Cadillac ATS. My plan was to buy a new 2021 CT4 Sport in October with the year end discount plus the employee discount. Current supply is extremely low - and nothing with the option packages I want within 1,000 miles. I'm now looking at ordering a new 2021 (they just restarted production) to get every option I want and the colors (interior and exterior) I want. I'll still get whatever factory deals are available when it arrives (6 - 8 weeks), plus the employee discount. With the current increased value of my 2014 ATS, the net price might be even lower than the what the price of what a leftover might be in October. They want my trade.

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by dataway

It certainly hasn't changed. Today we picked up a new BMW for the wife. Ordered it two months ago and it came from Germany. I spent about a week negotiating the price for her, got the deal we wanted, everyone is happy. So we go to pick it up today ... I forgot my mask and had to sit outside ... figured the wife could go in an sign her papers. Told her to take the original order receipt and pay not a penny more. I sit outside for about 45 minutes .... she comes out says it's all done, but cost $1200 more than we thought. I was like WHAT WHAT WHAT? She tells me oh there was some kind of "armor shield" coating that was $1200. I said .... didn't you tell them no to all that garbage ... she says yes, but the finance person said it was already on the order and was being applied. While we were talking the salesman came out and I have to admit I used some bad language ... the culmination of which was I told him we pay NOTHING extra or he can put the plates right back on our old car and we'll drive out of here.

Got the bullsh*t coating for free, which is good since it costs the dealer about $10. Same scam that was used back when I was working for a dealership in the late 70's ... customer would pay $200 for a tiny tube of stuff we'd rub on the car for ten minutes that cost us about $3.

They would have NEVER tried this if I had been standing there with her ... a damn shame after all these years they are still trying to screw female customers because they think they can. Changed a reasonably pleasant transaction into a very bad memory and lost them a customer for life. Salesman blamed the finance girl, finance girl said the "armor coat" was already on the list .... BS all around. Such a shame it has to be that way.

That 'truecoat'... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5gwc4UizUc

[dataway]

Freakin Exactly! Can't believe they are still doing that BS after so long. The salesman tried to start with ... oh, this stuff is different, it's ceramic ... I just told him to stop with the BS. I came very close to throwing down a $10 bill to cover the cost of his "ceramic" coating.

The guy was old school smarmy like I haven't seen in years. Can't believe dealerships still operate like this in this day and age. The "finance" dept tried to sell the wife the "truecoat", dent and ding, $2000 brake coverage .... despite the car having a 4 year warranty .... no wonder people dread buying cars.

I guess the worst insult was knowing that the guy thought we were stupid enough to fall for his BS. Pegged the wife as an easy going middle aged woman and the moment I wasn't by her side tried to cheat her.

[71GP76TA]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

That 'truecoat'... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5gwc4UizUc

Rip the customer for what you can...

[1965gp]

I always take a sharpie to negotiate. 25 years ago when I sold cars and still true today.... the dealer gives you a cheap BS pen that barely works to write what you want to pay, then they use a big ass sharpie to write their #.

The sales manager and I laughed about it because he had been around a while and absolutely remembered that game.

Usually when we are just about there, and have wasted each other’s time I will write my own deal really big on the sales order with the sharpie, draw a line and sign it. Then I send the sales guy back to his boss with a signed purchase order for him to turn down. You have to be pretty close to a deal to make it work- but just like us holding the keys to a new car, the sales manager is now holding a sold contract on a new car.

For example- when I bought my last truck for work we were only about 1000 off. It was a demo so I wrote ‘$37,500 with existing lot damage/ no trade involved /paid in cash’ and drew I line and signed it. Truck had a couple scratches on it and here was a signed contract exempting them from fixing it. Sales guy was not happy but sales manager took the deal.

[NeighborsComplaint]

Originally Posted by NeighborsComplaint

Just a followup. My son is loving his Maxima.

I was so impressed with my son's Maxima I traded my 2013 Hyunda Azera in on one. I found a 2018 with 16K miles on it in my preferred color/equipment and did the deal which was way less painful than my son's. I offered their asking price as an out the door all-in (including the upcharge for certification and warranty) and $2K over book on my trade. I compromised on $1K over book. They detailed it and I drove it home.

[dataway]

Interesting thing just happened, not sure if applies to all states but this was NY. So we bought a new BMW a week or so ago. Asked for and got $12,000 for our trade. So of course you don't pay sales tax on that $12000, all good and normal. About a week later we get a check from the dealer for $284 "Over paid Sales Tax" ... I know the original figures were correct ... so what this apparently means is that the actual value of the trade that they recorded in their books (possibly after selling our trade) was $3550 more than the $12,000 we received, and jives perfectly with what Car Max said they would buy our trade for $15-16,000.
So basically if the dealer didn't want to show a profit of $3500 on the sale of the trade, then they would have to record the original value of the trade at $15500 or so ... which means that they would have collected sales tax on more of our purchase than they should have .... at least that's the way it looks. DMV is NY is real picky about sales tax. When you buy a used vehicle they will look up the book value, no buying a $10K vehicle and saying you paid $2K for it in a personal sale.

[71GP76TA]

Originally Posted by dataway

Interesting thing just happened, not sure if applies to all states but this was NY. So we bought a new BMW a week or so ago. Asked for and got $12,000 for our trade. So of course you don't pay sales tax on that $12000, all good and normal. About a week later we get a check from the dealer for $284 "Over paid Sales Tax" ... I know the original figures were correct ... so what this apparently means is that the actual value of the trade that they recorded in their books (possibly after selling our trade) was $3550 more than the $12,000 we received, and jives perfectly with what Car Max said they would buy our trade for $15-16,000.
So basically if the dealer didn't want to show a profit of $3500 on the sale of the trade, then they would have to record the original value of the trade at $15500 or so ... which means that they would have collected sales tax on more of our purchase than they should have .... at least that's the way it looks. DMV is NY is real picky about sales tax. When you buy a used vehicle they will look up the book value, no buying a $10K vehicle and saying you paid $2K for it in a personal sale.

Nevada is like that too.. Kinda pissed me off years ago when I lived there. I bought a '77 Nova off a coworker for $600. Went to DMV and they assessed the car at $1500 and charged tax on the $1500. They said if I wanted to contest it... I could have the car appraised...

[NeighborsComplaint]

Originally Posted by 1965gp

Your spot on Greg- all the rental companies liquidated their inventory and then people started traveling again.

I rented a car when my mom was in town to help after my surgery (she can’t get in my truck) snd it was a 2018 Equinox that still had the emblem from a local dealer.

A neighbor friend decided to fly down to San Antonio and check out a possible job transfer. I helped book his flights on-line and asked if he wanted to book a rental car because they're in short supply. He told me no, he has relatives there who will pick him up. He calls me from San Antonio that his relatives didn't show (car in the shop) and there are no rental cars available.

I said "I told you but you didn't believe me."

[West Coast GTO]

Drove last weekend 250 miles to buy a new car ( 2020 VW Atlas Cross Sport) and trade in our Lexus. Knew what I wanted to pay , they had the only white 2020 available in the state and my wife liked it. Reserved the car with a $500 deposit from my credit card. Saturday sees the car just like online photos but interior trim not what either one of us like so we look at and test drive 6 other cars before settling on one. Saleswoman is shuffling different cars for us to check out and basically gives us $500 off our choice of cars for traveling more than 200 miles. Great! Doesn't want to come close to trade in value for the Lexus , so we drive to the local Carmax and get $2000 more than the dealership was maxed at. Sold to Carmax, had the dealership come get us with their shuttle service and started signing the paperwork. Then we realized they " forgot" to include both the $500 drive credit as well as my $500 paid through the credit card. We signed the correct paperwork, wrote a check and made sure we got a full tank of gas and car detailed.
I love that car!

[dataway]

Good to know about Carmax .... we probably should have gone that route.

[Chris65LeMans]

When we had kids, I went by Carmax for a quote on my wife's 2 door hatchback. They offered $1,700 - I sold it to a private party (instantly - the first guy who showed up handed over the cash) for $5,250.

I had my mom's old Lexus sitting on the side of my house for several years as a "spare car." I never drove it, and didn't want to deal with selling it (The interior was in great shape, but it had been sitting in the sun unwashed for years, and the paint looked it), so I took it to Carmax. They offered $1,000 and I took it right away. In California, anything that can be reasonably used as a daily driver is worth $3,000 or so - more if it's all the same color, isn't too ugly, etc.

Their quotes are good for a few days, so it makes sense to get one before trading your car in. Years ago, when I drove a lot and burned through cars pretty quickly, I would drive them until they were just about dead, then sell them to a used car wholesaler. His "take it or leave it" offer was always exactly what CarMax would pay.

As I remember, Carmax looks over the cars pretty closely. If you've got frame damage or something like that, probably better giving it to a dealer who won't look very hard.

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by 71GP76TA

Nevada is like that too.. Kinda pissed me off years ago when I lived there. I bought a '77 Nova off a coworker for $600. Went to DMV and they assessed the car at $1500 and charged tax on the $1500. They said if I wanted to contest it... I could have the car appraised...

MA does the same thing. When I bought my 71 it was a basket case, but the dmv said it's value was 10x what I actually paid for it.


Now I register things under my LLC in Montana. No more sales tax or inspections for me.

[NeighborsComplaint]

Carmax will only offer a fair trade on cars they want. If yours is outside of their age, mileage and condition standards, you won't get d@ck because they just wholesale the car at auction.

[mgarblik]

Businesses like CarMax. Carvana, and so many others will continue to thrive IMO. They have a formula that really works for many people. Getting rid of your "car appliance" in the most efficient, least work and hassle way possible. It's no different than Home Depot or Lowes hauling off your old dishwasher and stove for free when you buy a new one. They put a huge premium on the convenience factor and that produces most of their profits. If you want to get the most $$ for your used car and the best deal on your next car, nothing has changed in the last 75 years. Sell the car yourself to a private buyer and research the heck out of your next purchase. Fewer and fewer people are willing to do this and that's why AutoNation, Car Max and Carvana have a 50% profit margin to play with when they buy your old car. I know many people who are just fine with that not having to hassle with anything.