If it's the right car and it has a good story, and you know it's dealer maintained and you met the previous owner, I would pay more for that vs another example.

 

I'm excited for you also but a sales manager bending over his own employee for over retail book for a car with over 100k is a real piece of garbage.

 

I wouldn't.

Lol.

 

That's your opinion. It's not a new car on the lot that's replaceable a hundred times over. If you've got good records and know he cars history, it's worth more than some other car where those things are an unknown.

 

The dealer is still screwing him on it if they won't cut a deal.

I'd offer 18.5K OTD MAX (17K before TTL) with those miles for a 07-09 even with flawless records.

 

At the end of the day, would you rather have $2,000 or would you rather have a car where you have this level of backstory and history? The $2k will be forgotten in a month.

 

I suppose I should add that I got my cake and ate it too (I got to keep $3,400), so my perspective may be skewed.

I paid about 12% less than "fair purchase price" (KBB says $29,400) for my '10 Sport and it still came with flawless service records.

 

That situation is not always available, and as cars get older examples like that are harder and harder to find.

 

I think the bigger issue is that last I heard Stereorob had some sort of important / valuable position there and for them to be screwing him over doesn't appear that they value or appreciate him very much. So maybe being a little more patient and expanding his search might be beneficial because we all know the dealer has a ton of margin on a used car. That's what I'd personally do.

 

Your probably right Dr. J. Might not hurt to do a little more searching before you bend over.
My friend of 40 years always said " you gotta screw your friends, cause your enemys won't let ya"

 

There is no way they gave more than 15k for that car.

 

Absolutely agree....I de-golded my '97 LS400 when I bought it back in '09.

 

Yup, there's no way in hell. And the sales manager is going to turn around and make $4,000 grand off an employee...no money wasted on advertising...no money tied up on the lot...probably no detailing or repairs done.

I would know because when I was a young kid the same thing almost happened to me. These people don't care.

 

WAY back working at my dealer one of the mechanics I was friends with bought a Mazda pickup new from our place. A few days later we asked him what his interest rate was. He had to get his paperwork out to see. They boned him for 16% interest and the going rate at the time was about 6%. He had perfect credit. He went to them and complained and they said too late sucker. He was so pissed he could not even drive the truck another day. It sat right there till he sold it in a couple weeks and told us to never mention it again.

The general rule of thumb most dealers have is to pay 2 to $3,000 below trade value for anything. Your car is worth nothing and their car is worth everything.

 

Yup when I was kid out of high school I was a tech at a dealer and we got this mustang in on trade, I was interested in buying it, but the price they quoted me was high and during the used car inspection I found that it needed a few things...tires, brakes, etc. The sales manager would not do anything for repairs or the price. I was friends with the guy who took it in on trade and they were going to make $2,500 bucks off me. The sales manager kept hounding me after he knew I was interested, but I wouldn't budge - he tried convincing me that I was making a big mistake - well that car sat there for four months on that lot before they finally sold it. Before the car left they had to put new tires and brakes on it (I was the one that did that repair...I was laughing the entire time). I'm sure they still made money - they hardly ever lose - but at least it wasn't me that got screwed. I ended up buying a newer car, in better condition for the same price they wanted.