am I out of line.....

I think OP stated that the estimator was just BS-ing with a few other employees, so it's not like he was busy. Being a normal, helpful human being makes more financial sense than acting a fool, regardless of when OP was ready to buy. Simply giving the OP a number and explaining that the number will change over time seems completely reasonable and more likely to get that customer to come back.

But, it's a car dealership and somewhat to be expected. I hate dealing with them. I go in knowing what they have in inventory and which truck or trucks I want to buy, what I am willing to pay, and what I want for my trade. They either make it easy to leave with the vehicle I want, or easy to leave to head to another dealership.

 

It doesn't take 5 minutes to look it up in their wholesale price book and give him a ball park figure.. but more importantly, it's an opportunity for the sales person to take the potential buyer's info and contact him/her when ordering info becomes available. In business, there's a "customer acquisition cost". In this case, the cost is a few minutes and an email later when ordering information becomes available.

I did this with 3 Ford dealers in regards to ordering the new F150.. They all took my info and not one of them ever bothered to email me. This just tells you, it's a seller's market, business is good, and they can't be bothered chasing leads, which is what the OP learned.

 

That's just how they are nowadays. Customer Service is dead at most car dealerships. I just get tired of salesmen never knowing anything about vehicles. What ever happened to knowing your product? Most of the time they just stand around all day, go read a dang brochure or something. I'm not afraid to call them out on some things too, like when they try and tell me "they know all the stats on the 2016 and lets go inside and we'll look them up!" No you don't lol. Or they'll say something about how this 2015 Tacoma will shoot rainbows out it's exhaust...um no.

I almost got into it with one the other day who was absolutely disrespecting me on the lot. I had talked to him previously about some stuff and I came back another day to browse again. He kept telling me how it's going to be impossible to get a 2016 because they're going to make a limited run on them. My response was "what company is dumb enough to put a limited run on their best selling vehicle?" and he was going on about how "well you said you were a tacoma fan, and any REAL tacoma fan would go in RIGHT NOW and order a 2016, but I guess you're not truly a fan are you?" Just an overall arrogant attitude that I seriously did not appreciate.

Talked to my usual salesguy and said they all hate him and want him gone and he keeps straight up lying to people about vehicle information. I'm not sure why he's still there.

They all assume I'm a tire kicker because I check the lot daily. I'm scanning for first gens. I tried to buy the last two they had but they ended up wholesaling them before I had the chance. Even though I've TOLD them I want one, but they never bother to pay attention and call me for an easy sale.

But anyway, a 2005 Tundra with 41k miles! Wow!

 

Forget what they are 'like' and don't plan on trading in the vehicle. You have a very low mile, highly popular truck. You can sell it yourself for much more than what they'll truly give you (much different than what they tell you they will allow).

That will remove one of their chips when the game starts for the new purchase. No trade to dink with. Advantage you.

Trade in is almost always a loser game for the buyer/owner, and a win for the dealer.

 

I just hate playing their games. The truck I tried to buy the other day they swore up and down they couldn't go below 10k. So I offered 7.5k...then they came back with 8.5k and I accepted...

Then they were like "just kidding! we forgot we already wholesaled it!"

 

I'll tell you why. Before buying my tundra I considered an f150. The whole staff was terrible. I was offered salvage rate for a car I purchased that was only 5 years old and in immaculate condition. I left. Came back and talked to someone else and same thing. Told them I was ready to buy. They would not bug on anything.

Went to the toyota dealership and took the tundra for a test drive. Gave me above book for my car and offered incentives right up front. Even added some customer service perks. That's why I went back.

I'm not even going to consider a dealership who tries to steal my trade in. That. Wing said I will sell my truck to my dad for trade in value. I would rather have him get a good deal than have the dealership make the money.

 

Another reason is I wanted to see how far off they were from nada. I get something in the mail saying they use Blackbook which is a very low estimator.

For the record they were right at value.

 

There is also something called common curtousy here in the Midwest that is dissapearing.

Seriously I was the only one on the lot and everyone sat around chit chatting or alone at there desk staring at the ceiling. Pop corn was made. Cars being washed by some 14 year old kid. Slow day to turn down a future customer and also previous customer.

The next toyota dealer is only 30 miles down the highway.

 

Trades work here because we dont pay tax on the trade in value. So if I get 10k for my trade I save $1500 in tax on the new vehicle. Makes their lower value worth it in the end.

 

out of line for wanting good service? no.
out of line for wanting a trade in value for a possible deal 6 months down the road? yes
way to many things can happen in that 6 month time. (both good and bad things)
i like the idea of nada and carmax.............just to get your numbers before trading in.
after all, the dealer might need to fudge some numbers, to get your numbers where they need to be for a trade in. good luck sir!

 

If you're really interested in what they value your car at just go back and say you're thinking about trading your car in right now? Don't tell them you're not buying for six months. You can always just leave after they give you a ballpark figure.

 

lol. thats probably happened to them many times before......

 

Tundra 12 years ago. Honda oddyssey 3 years ago. 2016 tacoma (hopefully) and highlander sooner than later.

My point is if I was at work and we were all sitting around shooting the breeze and a customer walked in we would not cop them an arrogant attitude.

Someone would get up and assist them or let them know to come get us if they have questions.

Maybe I wasn't buying today, but word of mouth is a powerful tool.

 

Same here re taxes.

Problem is most folks don't really know what they are getting for their trade. They know what some salesman tells them they are giving you.

If you negotiate your best no trade deal & have it in writing, then tell them you've decided you're going to trade in, you'll pretty much get a real price, and you might be shocked at how low it actually is. Add the tax offset to that, and you'll know your breakeven on a personal sale. Often its less than what the vehicle will sell for in the local market.

I've actually bought a handful of nice rides from individuals I recommended this technique too. They were so mad when they realized how many times they'd been taken advantage of over the years, they sold me the car for that breakeven price just to keep the dealers from getting them.

People who trade because they are upside down on their loan on a trade (which happens way too often) are actually just digging their hole deeper.

Since of the 50-ish cars I've owned I've only bought 2 new and 1 used from an actual dealership, and 1 of those new ones was on a fleet program, I've never actually had a need to trade. Fortunately my rides have been either ones that were mechanically safe and cosmetically challenged, so I chose to give them away, or nice enough I had a line of prospective buyers willing to pay what I felt was a fair to me price. Well, more than any commercial buyer would offer.

BTW, the give away deal, if done right, can get a nice deduction on US federal taxes, if you are in a position to itemize. It's not 'hard' to do right, but it does take an understanding of that slice of the tax law.

 

assessing your trade-in value for a truck you aren't going to trade in for several months (if not more) for a truck that doesn't yet exist on the market is a waste of everyone's time. Dealerships and the salesmen who work there seriously are usually pretty clueless, too (even though they shouldn't be). I don't think they were trying to be rude, but they probably didn't want to spend time on a trade-in that very likely wont be the same value when you're ready (more miles, possible dents, scratches, who knows?). Once the truck is actually there and they have something to dangle in front of you, that's a whole other story.

 

The fact that you were there with the salesman and the doing nothing estimator wouldn't even just venture a guess, tells you that the estimator is a slug.

 

I generally trade my vehicle in. Taxes on the new vehicle is based on the balance (price - trade). With researching what one should expect to pay for the new vehicle and what my used vehicle is worth, one can come up with a dollar amount. Each transaction (new car price) and what one gets on trade should be separate negotiations.

Basically, determine what you will accept for your vehicle before going to the dealer. Determine what you are willing to pay for the new vehicle.

 

Years ago my wife wanted a Chrysler New Yorker. We were planning to trade at the end of the Summer. But we were trying to get an idea of finances as we generally arranged for our own financing or paid cash if we could. This Chrysler dealer in Hoover would not give us a trade-in value unless we signed a deal to purchase a car then. I told the guy "You are serious? You REALLY think I will agree to a trade/deal BEFORE you tell me what you are going to offer me?" He said "yes, we get too many stopping by for an appraisal, then they go off and sell it themselves. We are trying to stop that." I told him "you have stopped a sale in its tracks here, we were definitely going to be back in 2 months, and we are STILL going to buy a New Yorker, but we will NOT be buying it here." He followed us all the way to our car trying to backtrack. If he had stood behind me he would have gotten run over.

 

Your salesperson should have never even asked for an appraisal. He should have simply pulled KBB and Nada and printed it for you. To me it sounds like the estimator/manager wasn't being rude to you, he was being rude to the salesperson.

 

We bought my gfs Honda last year. We took her old car there on the first day and they gave us a trade value for it at around 1100 dollars. We worked the Honda to what I thought was a good deal by dropping the undercoat, paint protection, and other garbage they 'had already done to it'. We went back the next day to buy the Honda and drove my car. We told them we were keeping her old car and we wanted the Honda for the price we agreed on. It wasn't much lower than the used car sticker that was on it but without all that other shit, it wasn't much.

I knew they were stealing her old car at 1100 so I got them sell us the Honda at yesterday price. They agreed and tried to let us leave with a low tank of fuel. I made them fill the tank before we left.

I am sure they made money on the Honda. It was an 11k mile early lease return that had been passed around a few dealerships. We sold her old car a week later for 4800 dollars. That's 3700 dollars more than they offered.

The finance guy talked her into LEAVING the 700 dollar dead man security system on it. I couldn't talk her out of that one. We financed it and will pay 700 dollars in interest over the life of the loan if we don't pay it off early.

That's the only car I've bought so far in my young life