If you are ready to start dealing a price at the dealer for example for a used C7 listed at 52K . What amount do you start off with, 4 thousand, 5 thousand, 8 thousand dollar less than asking price? I'd like to know your thoughts.


Start low. Easier to go up than down once you've fired your first shot... Look at and write down all the things wrong... Minor scratches, tire wear, pits in the windshield, front wheels hop when you turn really sharp going forward at low speed (parking lot)... This is perfectly normal but the salesman may not know that...At 52 k, I would start at 42,500. Have a number set in your head and be prepared to walk if they don't meet it. Often they will chase you out to your car with a better offer or call you a day or two later... especially when they know they have Christmas presents to pay for at the worst car sales time of the year... Above all, try not to fall in love with it until after the deal has been made... A good salesman can read that in you.... You wanna be a take it or leave it buyer... As you walk out, tell him you'll be back in the spring after the C8 comes out and that C7 won't be worth 37k.... (probably not true but it's a game you can play... ) Then pop in just before year end and ask him what his best price is today... And start the game over... lol.... Good Luck
 
  • Winner
Reactions: Tango
I'd say $4-5k is reasonable. $8k off would be insulting. It's probably bringing he price lower than what the dealership got the car for. At the end of the day, the people thre are running a business and have families to feed. They need to make something. If you're willing to take delivery of it now, they would be willing to have a skinny deal as they won't need to store it for the winter.
 
I'd say $4-5k is reasonable. $8k off would be insulting. It's probably bringing he price lower than what the dealership got the car for. At the end of the day, the people thre are running a business and have families to feed. They need to make something. If you're willing to take delivery of it now, they would be willing to have a skinny deal as they won't need to store it for the winter.

Maybe. I have no idea what they were asking for my C6 but I know what they sold it for. $ 7k more than they gave me. They gave me what I had paid for it privately 3 years before so I was happy anyway and didn't have to put up with tire kickers and saved the extra GST but I knew I could have got more private sale. Like I said. You can always go up but you can't go down once you've made an offer...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tango
Maybe. I have no idea what they were asking for my C6 but I know what they sold it for. $ 7k more than they gave me. They gave me what I had paid for it privately 3 years before so I was happy anyway and didn't have to put up with tire kickers and saved the extra GST but I knew I could have got more private sale. Like I said. You can always go up but you can't go down once you've made an offer...


I don't disagree. Sometimes dealerships can make decent money, but it's not common in used cars. Not from my experience.

Used vehicles still need to be safetied. Granted, this is often not as much of an issue for Corvettes than "normal" used vehicles, but if it sits for more than a few months, it's likely going to need brakes - which are more expensive than any other vehicle. Our dealership uses OEM parts for any repairs needed for certification. It's pretty safe to assume a vehicle will need at least $1,500-$2,000 to be safetied.

The dealership I work for has made as much as $5k on a used vehicle (a truck that surprisingly didn't need anything to be safetied) and lost as much as $2k on a used car sale. Most of the time, the profit is $1-2k if we're lucky. There is very little money in used vehicle sales.
 
I'd say $4-5k is reasonable. $8k off would be insulting. It's probably bringing he price lower than what the dealership got the car for. At the end of the day, the people thre are running a business and have families to feed. They need to make something. If you're willing to take delivery of it now, they would be willing to have a skinny deal as they won't need to store it for the winter.

Well if it's anything like roofers, tree branch cutting business they aren't just making a good living they charge excessively, not just a little but a lot, more than a 350$/hr lawyer.

That's my reasoning of dealers. I only bought a used truck at a dealer once when I was a young adult, I drove in front every day to go to work and over the months they started at 9K then 7K, then dropped by 2000 dollars each time till finally it was at a price of 1900$ and that's when I bought it. So based on that it's one thing to make a profit but to make so much profit I would get fined for "unreasonable profit" if I did that as a plumber.
 
Well if it's anything like roofers, tree branch cutting business they aren't just making a good living they charge excessively, not just a little but a lot, more than a 350$/hr lawyer.

That's my reasoning of dealers. I only bought a used truck at a dealer once when I was a young adult, I drove in front every day to go to work and over the months they started at 9K then 7K, then dropped by 2000 dollars each time till finally it was at a price of 1900$ and that's when I bought it. So based on that it's one thing to make a profit but to make so much profit I would get fined for "unreasonable profit" if I did that as a plumber.


I'm assuming this was quite a while ago. Before the internet, or when it was still new?

I can't see stories like this happening today unless it's a really shady dealership. Customers are too well educated to have large margins in used vehicles.
 
One thing I noticed is that many Ontario Dealerships have implemented a "No Haggle Pricing Policy". That said, when I emailed Dealers during my search it would generally be around $4 to $5K less than their asking.
 
That's just marketing. Every dealership wants to sell the vehicles on their lot. They will work to earn your business, but can't lose money on every deal.
 
I don't disagree. Sometimes dealerships can make decent money, but it's not common in used cars. Not from my experience.

Used vehicles still need to be safetied. Granted, this is often not as much of an issue for Corvettes than "normal" used vehicles, but if it sits for more than a few months, it's likely going to need brakes - which are more expensive than any other vehicle. Our dealership uses OEM parts for any repairs needed for certification. It's pretty safe to assume a vehicle will need at least $1,500-$2,000 to be safetied.

The dealership I work for has made as much as $5k on a used vehicle (a truck that surprisingly didn't need anything to be safetied) and lost as much as $2k on a used car sale. Most of the time, the profit is $1-2k if we're lucky. There is very little money in used vehicle sales.

I'm assuming this was quite a while ago. Before the internet, or when it was still new?

I can't see stories like this happening today unless it's a really shady dealership. Customers are too well educated to have large margins in used vehicles.


Based on those numbers, margins are pretty slim, they as a business term "heal up" on car repairs??? You say your places uses OEM parts I agree on some parts but I bet they also use a lot of aftermarket parts and charging OEM prices.

For the used truck it was a while ago, the internet was in it's teens for a lack of a better term.
 
Based on those numbers, margins are pretty slim, they as a business term "heal up" on car repairs??? You say your places uses OEM parts I agree on some parts but I bet they also use a lot of aftermarket parts and charging OEM prices.

For the used truck it was a while ago, the internet was in it's teens for a lack of a better term.


We use OEM everywhere we can. We don't charge OEM pricing for non-OEM stuff. We also don't charge full price on in-house work as it doesn't matter how much is charged, it's not being billed to the customer.

We've had one customer complain that we used cheap brake pads on the car she bought from us, but there was full documentation that it was genuine ACDelco parts. Her mechanic was trying to convince her otherwise and was trying to get her to buy new pads from him.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tango
Maybe. I have no idea what they were asking for my C6 but I know what they sold it for. $ 7k more than they gave me. They gave me what I had paid for it privately 3 years before so I was happy anyway and didn't have to put up with tire kickers and saved the extra GST but I knew I could have got more private sale. Like I said. You can always go up but you can't go down once you've made an offer...

If we get many guys telling how much they received for a trade in and check the resale price tag then we can deduce what the markup is.
 
  • Like
Reactions: EJChevy
Trade in numbers are meaningless. Its the difference that matters. You could show me on paper #150k for trade and charge me $158k for the new one. Its still only the difference. Remember dealers are buying at wholesale and selling at retail. A dealer who buys at retail and sells at retail is soon an empty parking lot.

I don't begrudge a dealer making some profit and a good sales person making a good commission. But I also think that both the dealer and the buyer have to understand that dealership net profitability is more holistic than just the sale of a new vehicle. Parts, service, etc also play into overall business model. When you go into our local dealer and buy a $32 Corvette hat, that the dealer purchased in bulk for $6, then you begin to understand the business model. So I don't listen much to the whining of a sales manager who claims they are losing their shirt on a deal. That one deal is but a microorganism in a much larger ecosystem.
 
Trade in numbers are meaningless. Its the difference that matters. You could show me on paper #150k for trade and charge me $158k for the new one. Its still only the difference. Remember dealers are buying at wholesale and selling at retail. A dealer who buys at retail and sells at retail is soon an empty parking lot.

I don't begrudge a dealer making some profit and a good sales person making a good commission. But I also think that both the dealer and the buyer have to understand that dealership net profitability is more holistic than just the sale of a new vehicle. Parts, service, etc also play into overall business model. When you go into our local dealer and buy a $32 Corvette hat, that the dealer purchased in bulk for $6, then you begin to understand the business model. So I don't listen much to the whining of a sales manager who claims they are losing their shirt on a deal. That one deal is but a microorganism in a much larger ecosystem.


Only thing I would like to add to this:

The sales manager losing his shirt on a deal doesn't matter to him - he get paid anyway. If you like the salesperson though, he only makes commission off of that deal and not from that $32 hat, service, parts, etc.
 
Trade in numbers are meaningless. Its the difference that matters. You could show me on paper #150k for trade and charge me $158k for the new one. Its still only the difference. Remember dealers are buying at wholesale and selling at retail. A dealer who buys at retail and sells at retail is soon an empty parking lot.

I don't begrudge a dealer making some profit and a good sales person making a good commission. But I also think that both the dealer and the buyer have to understand that dealership net profitability is more holistic than just the sale of a new vehicle. Parts, service, etc also play into overall business model. When you go into our local dealer and buy a $32 Corvette hat, that the dealer purchased in bulk for $6, then you begin to understand the business model. So I don't listen much to the whining of a sales manager who claims they are losing their shirt on a deal. That one deal is but a microorganism in a much larger ecosystem.
ok more information. The sticker price on my car was 96,000. It was offered at 69.900. it was 1 year old driven by the owner on a dealer plate. As far as SGI was concerned it was a new car as it had never been registered. I was happywithmy deal at 45,000 plus taxes out the door. I am sure they did very well in the deal but I am also ok with the deal.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: Tango
When I traded my near new gs for z06 a year ago received $2k less in trade value vs when we bought brand new. A week later they posted the gs at $7k over what I paid new. As of yesterday , a year later the GS stills languishes having been price reduced almost $10k from their original ask. Hum maybe I should make them an offer and buy it back. I know the original owner well..
 
Ok so the average by reading these post the difference between buying and re-selling is around 8 thousand dollars. They can make a profit, we all work for a profit but in my book it has to be reasonable. I'm open to paying their salary and a steak dinner but I'm not paying for his beamer house and his new girlfriend's breasts implants.

That's what I'm after, knowledge, when I make an offer I won't be blind and overspend like a gullible fool.
 
Ok so the average by reading these post the difference between buying and re-selling is around 8 thousand dollars. They can make a profit, we all work for a profit but in my book it has to be reasonable. I'm open to paying their salary and a steak dinner but I'm not paying for his beamer house and his new girlfriend's breasts implants.

That's what I'm after, knowledge, when I make an offer I won't be blind and overspend like a gullible fool.
I agree. I may have been able to push a little harder but I was satisfied with the deal, so I took it. In the spring I had line on a 2015 7m with 11,000 kms and they wanted the same difference. It wasn't a 3LT. And a few weeks before I made this deal another dealership was only going to give me a 14,000 trade in allowance on a similar car. So in the end I was satisfied. If you have no trade and are willing to pull the trigger ask them for their best out the door price and if you think it is not good enogh you can make a fair offer and see where that goes.. In the past I have made offers on a new vehicle and they said they could not let it go at that price, so I bought at another dealership as I said I would. Two days later they phoned and said that the price I offered was acceptible. They were shocked when I told them that I already had the other new vehicle in my garage. Good luck with your purchase..
 
Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for 100 days.
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant.
Perhaps it would be better to start a new thread instead.

Similar threads

Users who are viewing this thread