I'm a car salesmen, Go ahead and ask me anything

[TimSJ]

The average auction results are as follows.

AVG km 90,765km
AVG siling price $7,633

So as a trade depending on condition it would be worth somewhere in the 7-9 range and as a retail price it prob has a $11k asking price.

As for if it is better for you or dealer if you trade it it doesn't really matter. It is easier for you to trade beacuse then you don';t have to deal with trying to sell it yourelf and once you figure in the tax credit it might not be worth the hassle to do on yourown.

[metal_geek]

Awsome!.. Thank you!


________
Http://Www.Vaporizer.Org/

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by TimSJ

I sold an 87 300E for $2,500 to a guy that was a great car. I actually had bought it as a third car and my sister drove it for school for a while.. I have sold $100k cars that didn't work as good as that one.

My Dad bought an 87 300E used in 1991 and it was a fantastic car. Handled great, had really good power, got good gas mileage for the power you got out of it and when they got T-Boned at a highway intersection into an oncoming Semi truck him and my brother survived the accident because of the car's design. This accident happened in 1995 at a time when pretty much any other vehichle and they both likely don't survive. At that time the car had 260,000 km on it, but still ran great. After that accident he wouldn't drive anything but a Benz....incidentally enough...he survived another sure death Accident in 2001 because his 99 C class held up to a nasty roll over on the Coquihalla.

[RyZ]

I'd like to get out of a 5 yr lease at the 3 yr mark. How screwed am I? Would I have to pay off the rest of the lease in full? (24 months at @250/m) or is there more to it?

[TimSJ]

Ryz,

You are pretty much screwed.. unless the car is worth more than todays buyout the only way to get out is to make the remaining payments.

as nice as the payment looks on a 5 year lease it is never a good idea to do a lease that long in my opinion.

[BCReefer]

TimSJ - first of all your bloody amazing answering everyone's questions so diligently (sp).

If I may ask, I am looking at the Mazda 5 GT this weekend with automatic. $25,915.00, as it seems these are hot cars at the moment and there is little in the way of competition other than the KIA Rondo, what could I offer them?

7 year at 2.9% to keep costs down.

I do have 2 Mazda dealers competing but I have not officialy asked them for a firm quote. My understanding is that they (the dealer) only makes $1,600 per vehicle. Does this sound correct?

Many thanks in advance for the advice.

[TimSJ]

i just asked a buddy of mine that used to work for Mazda.. he said there is about $1,700 gross in the 5...

Shoot for the moon the worst they can say is no..

[Ozy_Flame]

TimSJ, I've got an old '97 Mazda 626 with about 170k on it. Body is in great condition, works like a charm. Recently added new tires, water pump, battery, and all that normal fuss. Only think it needs is new brake pads, which I will replace easily. Could I get anything more than a grand for it? I don't even know what it might be worth.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

I don't get the actual vehicle until Wednesday, but I tested a 2007 they (Hondawest) had on the lot.

The price difference was within the range I was looking at spending seeing as I could have have gone higher or lower. Going cash upfront I'm not sure how it works out with financing. Just figured I will eventually recoup the price difference in short order and saving myself from visiting the gas pump more than once a month.

Just figured the trade-off between cost, upkeep (got the extended warranty) basic needs (past the point of trying to impress) I'm going to do okay with the purchase. I figure its not going to be the zippiest and I can reconcile with that. Maybe I'm doing my part for the environment, but I just feel that maybe I've just made a regular purchase. Time will tell. I had been thinking Element or CR-V, this was just a sideways move. I would not have cosidered a regular Civic.

My only advice is to consider need vs. want, and then veer off into options in that price range.

Why would you pay cash upfront when you could have gotten 0.9 or 1.9% financing? You could have invested your $20-30K and easily made more than 1.9% on it, made your payments every month and likely ended up quite a bit ahead.

[Deelow]

Is the deal too good to be true? This is from an American Dealer. Sounds like the vehicle is 4X4.
Are 4Runners made in Japan? Can they be imported into Canada?

2005 Toyota 4runner Sr5 $13,725
Body style SUV Engine 4.0L 6 cyl
Fuel Gas
Transmission 5 SPD ECT
Exterior color White
Engine size 6
Interior color Adobe
Mileage 56,716 mi
Doors 4
Trim Sr5
4Runner

[HotHotHeat]

TimSj,

My issue is more maintenance related, but I wanted to hear what you have to say at least.

I recently took my '08 Rabbit in for its first servicing. I didn't take it to the VW dealership because oil change rates at VW were upwards of $150. That's freaking outrageous.

Anyways, went to minut Lube or what have you...Everything on the oil change part of things went great. The problem is, VW now has one of these maintenance countdown clocks in the odometer. Basically the 1000 km before servicing a little tool flashes along with the distance remaining before recommended service. Now I thought that there would be a sensor somewhere around the oil filter that would let the car computer know the change had happened, and would reset til I was due again. However...That's not the case. Every time I get in the car the damn thing flashes at me for 2 minutes...I can't stand it. I've called VW and they, being the nice people that they are, told me it would be around $70 to reset the computer. Is there any way around this? Can I manually reset the thing? What approach would give me the best chance of knocking the $70 fee off? I mean hell I paid cash for a $26 000 car and now they want to burn $70 of my money to plug in a fancy iPod looking device?

Is it not completely unethical for VW to force drivers to come to your shop for an oil change?

I know on Acura's and stuff the maintenance clock can be manually reset, but I can't find that in mine.

Thanks. Sorry that got so long.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

TimSj,

My issue is more maintenance related, but I wanted to hear what you have to say at least.

I recently took my '08 Rabbit in for its first servicing. I didn't take it to the VW dealership because oil change rates at VW were upwards of $150. That's freaking outrageous.

Anyways, went to minut Lube or what have you...Everything on the oil change part of things went great. The problem is, VW now has one of these maintenance countdown clocks in the odometer. Basically the 1000 km before servicing a little tool flashes along with the distance remaining before recommended service. Now I thought that there would be a sensor somewhere around the oil filter that would let the car computer know the change had happened, and would reset til I was due again. However...That's not the case. Every time I get in the car the damn thing flashes at me for 2 minutes...I can't stand it. I've called VW and they, being the nice people that they are, told me it would be around $70 to reset the computer. Is there any way around this? Can I manually reset the thing? What approach would give me the best chance of knocking the $70 fee off? I mean hell I paid cash for a $26 000 car and now they want to burn $70 of my money to plug in a fancy iPod looking device?

Is it not completely unethical for VW to force drivers to come to your shop for an oil change?

I know on Acura's and stuff the maintenance clock can be manually reset, but I can't find that in mine.

Thanks. Sorry that got so long.

Put some duct tape over it.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

Why would you pay cash upfront

Simple reason: Because I wanted to.

[TimSJ]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

TimSj,

My issue is more maintenance related, but I wanted to hear what you have to say at least.

I recently took my '08 Rabbit in for its first servicing. I didn't take it to the VW dealership because oil change rates at VW were upwards of $150. That's freaking outrageous.

Anyways, went to minut Lube or what have you...Everything on the oil change part of things went great. The problem is, VW now has one of these maintenance countdown clocks in the odometer. Basically the 1000 km before servicing a little tool flashes along with the distance remaining before recommended service. Now I thought that there would be a sensor somewhere around the oil filter that would let the car computer know the change had happened, and would reset til I was due again. However...That's not the case. Every time I get in the car the damn thing flashes at me for 2 minutes...I can't stand it. I've called VW and they, being the nice people that they are, told me it would be around $70 to reset the computer. Is there any way around this? Can I manually reset the thing? What approach would give me the best chance of knocking the $70 fee off? I mean hell I paid cash for a $26 000 car and now they want to burn $70 of my money to plug in a fancy iPod looking device?

Is it not completely unethical for VW to force drivers to come to your shop for an oil change?

I know on Acura's and stuff the maintenance clock can be manually reset, but I can't find that in mine.

Thanks. Sorry that got so long.

Give this a try

With the doors closed put the key in the ignition. Hold down the trip odometer reset button. Turn the key to the on position. You will see the service indicator light (wrench). Press the minute adjustment button. Release the trip odometer reset button.

Best
tim

[TimSJ]

Originally Posted by Deelow

Is the deal too good to be true? This is from an American Dealer. Sounds like the vehicle is 4X4.
Are 4Runners made in Japan? Can they be imported into Canada?

2005 Toyota 4runner Sr5 $13,725
Body style SUV Engine 4.0L 6 cyl
Fuel Gas
Transmission 5 SPD ECT
Exterior color White
Engine size 6
Interior color Adobe
Mileage 56,716 mi
Doors 4
Trim Sr5
4Runner

Sounds pretty cheap.. i would be wanting to take a close look at it to make sure it has not been accident,flood etc. With toyota the dash is very expensive if you have to change it. I did one here on a 4runner and it was like $900.. The other thing with Toyotas is that in the US the cars have alot less equipment than the canadian equivellent.

[TimSJ]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

TimSJ, I've got an old '97 Mazda 626 with about 170k on it. Body is in great condition, works like a charm. Recently added new tires, water pump, battery, and all that normal fuss. Only think it needs is new brake pads, which I will replace easily. Could I get anything more than a grand for it? I don't even know what it might be worth.

Unfortunatly prob not... If you are selling private you might ask $2,500 and see where you get.

[BCReefer]

TimSJ,

Is the freight and PDE a true cost to the dealership as I understand that it is a profit item for them and that it is not the true cost?

Thanks,

[TimSJ]

No question there is a bit of profit in there but not very much.

Take MB for example. we have approx $1,200 in add ons from MB on every car invoice for things like freight, Co-op, training recovery etc in addition the serivce dept bills $295 to each car for prep add a tank of gas at $100 and plates and you are not long to our $1,895 fee and we aren't really making any money.

[HotHotHeat]

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Give this a try

With the doors closed put the key in the ignition. Hold down the trip odometer reset button. Turn the key to the on position. You will see the service indicator light (wrench). Press the minute adjustment button. Release the trip odometer reset button.

Best
tim

Give this man a square! Thanks Timsj. All fixed and ready to go.

[go iggy]

Tim,

I have 3 questions:

1. I was thinking of selling my 2003 Black Honda Civic SI-G standard. What would I get for it?

It's fully loaded except leather. Its got 113000kms and Honda just put a new tranny in it.

2. Is it best to sell it private or go to the dealer?

3. Thinking of buying a toyota corolla or Mazda 6, which would you buy?

Thanks!