Dave_N

Hi,

When looking at new car prices, I often try to get a feel for the local market and pricing by looking at carsdirect.com. Prices from that site seem to be close to actual transaction prices, maybe a bit high. I wonder if there is a similar site for certified used pricing/buying.

kbb.com doesn't really do it that well. They list SRP for used cars. Edmunds doesn't really help me either. Autotrader has good search, but again it has dealer set prices for CPO pricing. If the CPO "list" price is 36911, what is a reasonable opening shot in a negotiation? As you might expect, I wish to come across as a "credible, but thrifty" buyer. I would like that there is more markup in a CPO. Would I be mistaken?

Consider for example this listing from Autotrader:
2008 RL with Nav
5309 miles, CPO.
36911

Assuming after I visit the car it is great shape, would an offer of 32500 be ridiculous is the current environment? I "assume" that on a CPO, there is at least 5K of markup to work with.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Dave

rlerman

In my opinion CPO is meaningless with a car that has that few miles. You still have a lot of time and mileage on the manufacturer's warranty to deal with any problems. Moreover, the brakes and tires are likely in near-new conditions and it probably hasn't even had its first oil change yet. CPO is more meaningful for a car that has 30k+ miles on it and has been on the road a few years.

A car with that few miles on it being sold by an Acura dealer was probably a demo and should be knocked down a bit. This is a buyers market so be very aggressive on your bid.

larrynimmo

it is my opinion....never be embarrased to make an offer. The worse they can say is no, and many times you will find the seller will tip his hand by giving you his lowest possible price...prehaps 34k. But the savy buyer you are counter offer above your original price, but stay below his bottom line offer. One of the most exciting aspect of my job is negotiating. We all play different games to accomplish our goals. If there are few offers coming in, we are approaching the end of a month with poor car sales...cash is king. Don't be afraid to walk out today. If the car has been on the market for 30 days, odds are it will be on the market for at least another 30 days.

The thing I hate the most is when I go somewhere and I make an offer on something and they take it right away. I feel that I misjudged the opportunity of getting my best deal.