Dealer keeps trying (to buy mine / sell theirs)

I get a notice about every 2 weeks from my local dealer. Been going on for about 5 months now. Each month, the offer price ticks up a little, and my note of course goes down a little bit. I paid about $36k out the door for my 2018 DCSB OR in Inferno. Current offer is $33k site unseen.

Running the numbers on a new spec 2021 puts it at about $41k MSRP. With a 5% discount, It would basically cost me 9 more months of note. Man.... it's getting harder and harder to not bite on it. I would have driven a new truck for ~$85/month.

Two things are keeping me from biting (okay, 3).

1. I'd have to a) pull off all my mods and b) reinstall them all
2. I'd have to give up Inferno for Army Green or Cement
3. I'm really looking forward to no more payments and don't want to push that out farther
4. Okay, 4.... I'd trade a bed cubby, an aux AT transmission cooler, backseat pull straps, functioning CC, coin cubby, and a few other things I can't recall right now, for.... Apple Car Play, LED headlights (oh yeah!) and power seats.

Of course, my warranty would start over and last longer than my note. I'd drop 38k miles, have a choice for AT vs. Man., and run the risk that my new one wouldn't be as reliable as my current one.

Again... getting harder to ignore the offer. Another $4k less difference (or cash) and it would be an even swap on payment and months.

 

once you take the bait.... one years later they'll do it again.....

 

I got a $20k offer for my sr but won’t sell. Prices have gone up significantly.

 

If "that new car smell" means that much to you then go for it.

 

There is that. If the difference were minimal, ie 5 months or less for same note, that gets pretty hard to argue against in a ‘value’ proposition. Tacomas (used) aren’t going to bring these prices forever. So one year from now the same marketing effort won’t yield near as attractive an offer as it does today.

 

It doesn’t. For my trucks at least. I tend to keep them 10 years. I got a little itchy with my cayman when somebody from California offered me a good price. It wouldn’t make sense to buy another used, and anything new was going to cost me $20k+ over the offer. And that was for a Boxter T that some would argue is a lesser car than my GTS. I decided I have it pretty good with my CGTS.

Back to the truck: wisest thing to do is keep it. We buy these things for the reliability and durability. If we never get past 50k miles, we’re never seeing half that equation.

 

Does this change the equation? Switch to a manual and it only costs me 3 more months of note. Hmmmm.

 

It just seems gimmicky for the dealer to "offer" that much for a used truck, they have to turn around and sell it for profit. Gotta be some fine print or something unseen in the deal that will result in you netting less than it looks like.

They mail blind offers to people all day long like cold-call telemarketers, i wouldn't trust it.

Long story short, no matter what the numbers look like, your truck is probably worth more than what they're offering

 

Not to be all negative and maybe I have been out of the market too long. They are going to offer you $3k less than you paid for a 3 year old truck and sell you a brand new one for only $6k more? I have to think this is just a tactic to get you in the building. Then comes the appraisal fee, recon fee, cleaning fee, the fart removal fee... Plus the tax, title, license, doc fee.... on the new one. Dealers never ever do anything that does not make them a sizable profit.

 

Agreed! There are the occasional local dynamics. Many have sold to Carvana for more than what they paid. Of course, they either a) don't need the truck, or b) need to go buy something else.

Fine print terms are of course: Subject to inspection and confirmation of history, mileage, condition, and equipment. Oh, and in-stock 2020's. Two

 

They will make a offer to get you in the door. Once your in the door they will offer lower because "reasons", but they will tell you they can give you a good trade on a new truck that you finance from them. They make their money on the interest in the loan not the cost of the car. Used car loan interest rates are even higher than new car rates, so when they sell your trade in they get even more money.

They will want you to finance with them, so they will give you 41k in a loan, you will take what ever you need to pay off your old loan and pay it off. Then they will give you the new truck and they get your old. Now they will get 4k in interest charges from you, but they will also get 4k in interest off the your trade in when they sell that too. Trade ins make the dealer the most money if the car can be resold and financed with them.

 

No worries! Not negative at all. Dealers usually do have something up their sleeve. I got about 13% off when I bought new, so a pretty good discount. I'm assuming 5% discount on top of their $2k loyalty/toyota-cash or whatever it is. So the 5% may not be achievable. The switch to manual is $2500 cheaper?

Mine's in pretty good shape so I'm not worried about them discounting the offer (or at least wouldn't accept it if they did).

I'm just struggling with the apparent 'value' of the deal. If it all worked out, and I *wanted* a manual, it would be literally 3 months additional payments. I totaled up all the misc. fees etc. So am probably within ~$250 of accurate numbers.

As above, the workload of redoing all my mods; giving up inferno, aux trans cooler (not relevant for moving to a manual); and functioning CC all add up to me not doing anything.

It's fun to play 'what if' though.

 

Try going down to that dealer and see if you get what they offered you in the notice,lol

 

You have the process correct. And yes, they make bank on used cars. I'm not worried about what they make off of others. Those buyers can make their own decisions. The numbers on mine show they'd only make about $500 on my note. $14k for 2% for 27 months. I'm not inclined to do it, mostly because of the work involved. If mine were stock, I'd seriously consider it.

 

If 1 of their 2 2020s interested me, and mine were stock (no mods) I'd probably give it a try. I've been around the block more than once, and have walked on more than one deal because the dealer wouldn't move that last $500-$1000 I needed. I don't do it for fun, but neither do I get bullied around any longer. In fact on my current one, they had to call me back from the parking lot after I walked over $500. When I buy a vehicle, I'm in it for the time it takes. They want to play the 'keep your keys', and 'let me see what I can get for you' game. I'm game. The longer they play the game the longer the sales guy gets anxious to be done with it (he's no longer on the floor casting bait for other buyers). Me... I already know what I'm willing to pay and cleared my day. I prefer to buy by email, but in person works too. Happy to walk if necessary. But yes, 5 hours at the dealer is no fun... particularly when it doesn't work out.

I took my youngest to buy her college graduation gift (a new car). She picked a Hyundai and I'd already done all the inventory searches and hold back rates and current incentives. Basically, I knew what I'd pay for the two or three on their lot we were interested in. About an hour into negotiations with a young sales guy, my daughter got up and wandered outside. I told the guy when he came back once more "Sorry, that's not the number I told you I'd pay. I'm going to go talk with my daughter because she's getting tired of this process". I went out and said "hey, are you not interested in your new car enough to stick it out?". She said no, it's nothing like that. I've never seen this side of you and I was having a hard time not laughing at the poor guy.

This is all musings about value and what if's. Sometimes things do work out well. I'll probably not find out in this situation unless they send me another offer next month that's upped another $1k or so.

 

So you owe 14k, they offer you 33k. You pay off the 14k and end up with 19k left of what they gave you for your truck. Now you still have to come up with the rest of the money for the 41k of the truck. So you would have to finance 22k from them. They will offer you a 4% loan probably, and they probably wont offer you a 27 month loan, but rather a 36 or 48 month loan on it. 36 month will give them around 1500 in free money and a 48 month will give them around 2000 in free money.

Now, if you can finance through your bank and get a better loan rate and chose your time that would be ideal, but the offer may be only valid with their financing, and their terms.

Its a good deal for you trading in, its a good deal for them selling you a new car and selling your old car, its a bad deal for who ever buys your old car.


EDIT: usually these trade in offers are for people who still owe what the value of the truck is, not someone owing way less than the value of the truck. If you still had a 28k loan on your truck, they would make a ton more money as you would have to finance the whole new trucks value from them, and they would just pay off your old loan and keep the the old truck.

 

Everybody gets those in the mail. They’re trying to get you in a new loan.

Some take the bait and get a truck they really wanted, but if the hard numbers work for you (not the numbers they quote before you’re actually in a sales office putting numbers on contracts), then by all means do what you’re inclined to do.

 

You're close on some of the numbers for the 'optimal' deal. I owe $13k. New manual is $38k (not ~$41k for the auto). Offer is $33k at 1.9% for well qualified (not a problem). So $18k before $2k discount and then another $1.9k if they gave me another 5%. So we're down to ~$14k. I always set my notes at $500-$550 and enough cash to not go over 48 months. In this situation, 27 months is the spot for no cash. And yes, the offer is for 60 months but I've never had a problem dropping period for the same rate.

You're right that they are going to make more money on someone that didn't put much down, or only bought last year. Another reason to not do it.... it would add 3 months to when pay off my other car. Whenever I pay a car off, I usually take that payment and apply it to the other note if I have two notes. We went like 6+ years without a note last time we were note free on 3 vehicles. Missing those days.

 

A lot of these arguments for keeping your truck, while well thought out and completely valid, are far too rational.
Dude- keep the inferno!

 

Yeah, it makes sense for you money wise, but the thought of having to undo/redo any and all mods would suck... plus you loose the best color they offered on the tacoma by giving up inferno. Tell them to paint the new truck inferno and they have a deal