[T0DD]

Ok, here's my dilema.

I'm looking to purchase a 1998-2000 Honda Civic EX coupe. (I want a good commuter car that's why I'm looking for this car) I'm looking to spend about $10,000 OTD. For me to pick up a 1998 it would be pretty easy at that price if not a little less. But I keep finding 2000's. But I can't get the dealer to get down to $10,000 out the door.

Ok, so this is where I need some information. Because I'm running CAR FAX reports on everything I look at ... sometimes I come across a vehicle that's been up for sale since OCTOBER-2003 and on occassion I have found a car that's been for sale since MAY-2003. My question is this. Can I use this to my advantage? I would think I could but I'm not sure. And should I mention it to the salesman that I ran car fax and I know they've been sitting on the vehicle since "such and such" date?

Check out this one. This is one I'm eyeballing but as you can see they are asking a few thousand over where I want to be. Anyone have any advice for me. Just a little info I'm just paying cash for the car so I don't need to finance nor am I trading anything in. I know there has to be a car salesman out there !! HELP !

CLICK THIS LINK

[JoeW]

I would definitely do everything I could to get them to lower the price, you don't really have anything to lose. Chances are, they will want to move the car if it has been sitting on their lot for an extended period of time.

Are you dead set on the Civic? In my opinion, the Civics are way overpriced... Have you looked at the Mazda Protege? I went with my uncle to buy one for his daughter for Christmas this past year and he wanted me to test drive it. I've driven my sister's 2003 Civic and its nice but the Protege felt like it had a little more pep in the little engine and I could be wrong but it seemed to have a little more interior room as well. I also like the styling of the new Proteges more than the Civics. Don't get me wrong, I love Hondas (I own a Prelude myself) but I'm just not a big fan of Civics. I wouldn't want to pay $10,000 for a 5 year old economy car, but that's just me. You can usually find a good deal if you shop around for a while on places like autotrader.com, ebaymotors.com, and your local newspaper.

I hope that helps you somewhat!

[TellyDSP]

I think you could definately find cheaper. I personally was car shopping in late december, and know what you're going through. I almost bought a brand new '04 civic(top model, forget the letter) for 17000, so if you're paying close to that for a 4-5 year old car, I wouldn't. I wound up with a Mazda3, whihc is the new Protege. My dealer was dumping Proteges, so I'm sure you could find a nice deal on them. I think they are a little more solid of a car than a Civic, not to mention they have a slight power advantage. However, your mention of "commuter" makes me think you value mileage, which the Civic will yield 5-10 more MPG. I would say go in armed with info about how long they've had the car for sale, book price, and how much cash you have in your pocket. If they want to dump it, they'll listen. It would have been better to go before the end of the year, but you should still be able to pull a sweet deal now.

Craig

[T0DD]

I think I want a Honda because of the reputation they have for building cars that can last and last and last. Yeah it might cost a little more upfront.... but I think in the long run it would save money.

I've always liked Honda. I used to have a 1990 Civic Hatchback. It ran like a TOP !!

I appreciate the advice. I was hoping there would be a used car salesman in the crowd that could teach me the secret hand shake or something.

[StuckInMud94]

tell the dealer that you will pay cash in full, he will not turn that offer down i bet, then if u cant (which i imagine u were not planning on) tell him once the deal is sealed that u will have to make payments, he cant go back on his price and u get the price you want . one of my family friends is a car dealer and he said that he cant resist a cash in full transaction. when i bought forrest (my jeep) it was from a private owner but i paid cash in full and because of that i got him to lower a huge amount right off the bat! nobody can resist it, just my .02

[T0DD]

Originally Posted by StuckInMud94

tell the dealer that you will pay cash in full, he will not turn that offer down i bet, then if u cant (which i imagine u were not planning on) tell him once the deal is sealed that u will have to make payments, he cant go back on his price and u get the price you want . one of my family friends is a car dealer and he said that he cant resist a cash in full transaction. when i bought forrest (my jeep) it was from a private owner but i paid cash in full and because of that i got him to lower a huge amount right off the bat! nobody can resist it, just my .02

That is/was definitely my plan, to pay in cash. I've been very upfront on every car that I've looked at. Each dealer wants to squeeze me into a 2000 - 2001 Civic versus the 98's or 99's I've been looking for. They always say they can get me in the $9000 dollar range but end up coming back with a $12500 offer or higher. These MF'ers are trying to stress me out.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Todd

[PADI_Pro]

I would plug the cars your interested in into www.nada.com, www.edmunds.com, and www.kbb.com. They will usually give you trade-in, private party, and retail prices. I plugged in the info on the car you linked into edmunds and they came out with all three prices below 10K. I don't know if you can buy it for the trade-in price, but that will give you an idea what they paid for it. So pick your price, take the print-out of the webpage with you, walk in and offer what you want to pay. Tell them that edmunds/nada/kbb are your protection from paying too much. They say it's worth this much, so I'm offering this much, cash in hand. If they say no, turn around and walk out the door. There are lots of cars out there for sale, you know it, they know it. Keep shopping until you find the best deal.

In my experience, nada is always a little high, as well as kbb. I've always liked edmunds myself, but I always look at all three to get an idea.

I hope that helps.

[XJ99]

Originally Posted by T0DD

Ok, here's my dilema.

I'm looking to purchase a 1998-2000 Honda Civic EX coupe. (I want a good commuter car that's why I'm looking for this car) I'm looking to spend about $10,000 OTD. For me to pick up a 1998 it would be pretty easy at that price if not a little less. But I keep finding 2000's. But I can't get the dealer to get down to $10,000 out the door.

Ok, so this is where I need some information. Because I'm running CAR FAX reports on everything I look at ... sometimes I come across a vehicle that's been up for sale since OCTOBER-2003 and on occassion I have found a car that's been for sale since MAY-2003. My question is this. Can I use this to my advantage? I would think I could but I'm not sure. And should I mention it to the salesman that I ran car fax and I know they've been sitting on the vehicle since "such and such" date?

Check out this one. This is one I'm eyeballing but as you can see they are asking a few thousand over where I want to be. Anyone have any advice for me. Just a little info I'm just paying cash for the car so I don't need to finance nor am I trading anything in. I know there has to be a car salesman out there !! HELP !

CLICK THIS LINK

Not sure of your location, but I just checked the Carmax Raleigh location and it looks like they have (5) 1998 Civics in stock in the $9,000 to $10,000 range......

BTW, I bought my XJ from there with no regrets... Good luck!

Not sure if this link will work:

http://www.carmax.com/dyn/searchengine/searchresults.asp?NewUsed=1&SearchType=0&CityMarket=12&CityMarketLabel=Raleigh&Location=7102&LocationLabel=Raleigh&HasCookie=true&PageType=1&Make=HO&MakeLabel=Honda&Model=CIVI&ModelLabel=Civic&Price=1&PriceLabel=Under+%2410%2c000

[DazedRangerFred]

Hey, I have a 99 Honda Civic right now and i want to get rid of it as soon as possible, but it is also the DX and it is just rice right now, stuff that i did to it to make it look better then a DX. Hondas are nice cars and reliale. The reason i got it was my parents wanted me to have a reliable car that was cheap. They now wish they would have allowed me to get a jeep instead of the civic, this summer though i am getting ride of the civic for a Jeep.

A good site for information on hondas is www.hondaswap.com they are really knowlegdible on hondas and for the most part not focused on the rice aspect more on the workings of the cars and what can be done to them.

Good luck finding a car.

Jared

[alilredjeep]

Originally Posted by T0DD

I was hoping there would be a used car salesman in the crowd that could teach me the secret hand shake or something.

Todd,

Its been my thoughts that at the first of the year when many car shoppers are getting their tax refunds back, that dealers are more likely to sit hard on their prices because they dont have to wait too long for someone else to come along with enough of a refund to swing a nice down payment which in turn results in easy financing on the same car at the dealers set price.
If you can wait on a purchase for 3 or 4 months, this scenario will probably change as the IRS tax refunds begin to dry up.
In summary, what I'm saying is that there are good times and bad times during the year for a consumer to be buying a car.
Take Xmas for example, consumers are in the malls stretching their dollars on presents. They dont have the money or time for car purchases, but on a dealers lot, not many sales are happening plus all the used cars are about to get one year older which should affect the price and the dealer wants to move these cars. before this happens.
Now, its the first of the year and everyone is getting big tax refunds back with thoughts on a car purchase. Guess where they are. Thats right, consumers are showing up on the dealers lots regularly now so your cash in hand has just gotten some competetion from everone else and the dealers are waiting for the ones with the deepest pockets.
Another thought is to wait until the last few days of the month when a salesman needs to fill his sales quota to keep the sales manager off his butt. (this is not a likely scenario at tax refund time)
The salesman is more likely to let a sale with a low commision happen, just to satisfy the salesmanager than to pad his pockets with a big profit from a consumer who has deeper pockets than you do.

Again, my advice is to wait another 3 or 4 months when the salesmen are desperately needing to meet their sales quota for the end of a given month.

Does anyone else agree or disagree with my thoughts above?
Let me know.


Also, check out the link below for more good reading when getting ready to buy a used car.



http://www.autotrader.com/research/decision/tips.jtmpl?restype=used


alilredjeep / Eddie