How to buy a car?

I'm looking to buy a used car. I recegnized that I overpaid $1k for my previous car. Most of the dealers are liers, they try to sell a car for "very" high price. I searched on ebay.com, cars.com but still have no answers how buy used cars. I understand that dealer(middleman) should earn some money but not $2k per car that cost $5k. The commision must be reasonable about 10%.

I have some questions:
#1 How much money dealer makes for used car that cost $6k? Percentange?
#2 Did someone try to buy on Ebay?
#3 How to find out the real price of used car?

Thanks

#1 How much money dealer makes for used car that cost $6k? Percentange?

Depends on the dealer.

#2 Did someone try to buy on Ebay?

I bid on stupid crap I don't feel like running to the store for or cheap deals.. not cars..

#3 How to find out the real price of used car?

Look it up on Kelly Blue Book

And a tip about how dealers work. They might buy a car at the Kelly Blue Book but they are going to turn around and sell it for more. Dealers don't sell cars at their actual value, if that was the case, no one would own a car dealership cause no one would make profit.

The true value of a car is not the same as what dealers sell cars for. So I'm not sure why you think you paid 1k more than what your car was worth. If you looked it up and think cause the dealer made you pay 1k more than the value listed in Kelley Blue book or something, quite frankly that sounds like a deal, depending on what kind of car you got.

If you want some real good numbers though, I can dig around though.. I only work at a place that just about does data processing of every car dealership in America. We extract the data from dealers systems, clean it and export it to just about every known car selling site on the web..

Crazy to think I have access to just about every Dealer Management System in North America..

The Kelly Blue Book value of the car is too high. Overpriced. I could buy a car for $7k that according to Kelly Blue Book was about $9500
..
I want to buy Mercury Villager 98 up to 65k miles.

Originally posted by mikeshn The Kelly Blue Book value of the car is too high. Overpriced. I could buy a car for $7k that according to Kelly Blue Book was about $9500 .. I want to buy Mercury Villager 98 up to 65k miles.

Like I did mention though, it all depends on the dealer or who's selling it, etc. Some might be higher, some might be lower. Some sell less than KBB, some sell much higher. That's why when you buy a used car, do your research. Talk to the dealer selling it, if they are selling it higher than what you found elsewhere, most of the time you can talk a dealer down.

A dealer selling that Mercury Villager at 7k could have bought it at 6k or less, for any particular reason.

On average a car dealer will raise the price on a used car around 12% from what he paid. The only place to find the true market value is at an auto auction. However, most are only open to car dealers. However, if there is an auction close to you, stop by and ask for a market report. If you are not a car dealer they may or may not give it to you. You may find one on the counter and easy to get, or they may never ask. The market report will list vehicles based on make and model and list the the low, average and high price of what the units are selling for. It will also give you the average miles on those units. Then 12% above wholesale should get you sticker price. Dealers make their money in used cars.

If you work for a company that works with car manfuactures or finace companies, check with your human resources. You may qualify for a "vendor price" in which based on the relationship with the manufacture or finance company you may get to buy a new car at 1 or 2 percent above cost.

I have never seen a dealer use Kelly blue blook to buy a car in the auction lanes. I have seen maybe 1 out of 10 use NADA, and 2 out of 10 use Black Book. The wholesale price changes so much from week to week, that those books dont really reflect whats going on since they are published quaterly or monthly. I really suggest trying to get a Market Report if you really what actually numbers. Be careful with buying cars right now. Some dealers are hurting. The market was strong in the firts quarter of 2004. Way too strong. Cars were going for $3000-$9000 over MSRP in the lanes. A lot of dealers bit the bullet and bought cars. The market fell out 2 months ago and now dealers are stuck with cars in which they have way more money in them then they are going to get back so they may be tight on the negotiating. Then factor in the fact that most manufacturers are offering 0% on new cars. A lot of leasing companies are closing shop because of the deals at the dealership on new cars.

Now, of course YMMV. You may also ask why I know this. I just happen to work for an auto auction.

Netizen

Originally posted by Netizen Dealers make their money in used cars.

Actually most make their money in the Service department, unless they are strictly a used card mom and pop type dealership.

I only mentioned KBB as its a starting point. I can say most don't use it to price their cars but its a good way to find out the value of a car, not the price your going to get it for. There are many factors in determining the price of a vehicle. Your zip code or state can affect the price of a car, etc.

When I bought a Used Honda Civic, I traded my 94 Camaro for it. I looked up its value on KBB and it stated in the condition it was in, it was worth 4k. When I decided to go buy the Civic, I told them flat out, I want 4k trade-in value for my car or I wasn't going to buy a car from them. At the time I was willing to trade it in for a value of $3500. But they wanted the sell and gave me 4k for the trade-in. Lucky me the A/C didn't work, the driver side window wouldn't roll down and it was almost totalled when I hit a 18 Wheeler in Memphis Tennessee.... And I mentioned all of that to them.. It also had close to 135k miles on it..

If I were to buy that car myself if I hadn't already owned it, I wouldn't have given more than $2500 for it..

Originally posted by Netizen On average a car dealer will raise the price on a used car around 12% from what he paid. The only place to find the true market value is at an auto auction. However, most are only open to car dealers. However, if there is an auction close to you, stop by and ask for a market report. If you are not a car dealer they may or may not give it to you. You may find one on the counter and easy to get, or they may never ask. The market report will list vehicles based on make and model and list the the low, average and high price of what the units are selling for. It will also give you the average miles on those units. Then 12% above wholesale should get you sticker price. Dealers make their money in used cars. If you work for a company that works with car manfuactures or finace companies, check with your human resources. You may qualify for a "vendor price" in which based on the relationship with the manufacture or finance company you may get to buy a new car at 1 or 2 percent above cost. I have never seen a dealer use Kelly blue blook to buy a car in the auction lanes. I have seen maybe 1 out of 10 use NADA, and 2 out of 10 use Black Book. The wholesale price changes so much from week to week, that those books dont really reflect whats going on since they are published quaterly or monthly. I really suggest trying to get a Market Report if you really what actually numbers. Be careful with buying cars right now. Some dealers are hurting. The market was strong in the firts quarter of 2004. Way too strong. Cars were going for $3000-$9000 over MSRP in the lanes. A lot of dealers bit the bullet and bought cars. The market fell out 2 months ago and now dealers are stuck with cars in which they have way more money in them then they are going to get back so they may be tight on the negotiating. Then factor in the fact that most manufacturers are offering 0% on new cars. A lot of leasing companies are closing shop because of the deals at the dealership on new cars. Now, of course YMMV. You may also ask why I know this. I just happen to work for an auto auction. Netizen

to Netizen: You seems to be in car bussiness. Tell me please how much Mercury Village 98, up to 65k miles will cost me?

Thanks

Auto Auction prices will usually be totally different from buying from a dealership of any kind.

google:
soyouwanna.com
(sorry, can't remeber URL)
for amusing but helpful advice.

trickykid is right. The prices at the dealership are on average 12% higher than than what they paid at an auction.

Ok, this data is fresh. Just pulled it tonight. It should only be used as a guide. These are numbers for Aug 2004.

On a 98 mercury villager with 50k miles in the southwest US...

Above average

Wholesale Price - $6025
Retail Price - $6850

Average

Wholesale - $5125
Retail - $5875

Below Average

Wholesale - $4200
Retail - $4875

These numbers are based on approx 180 villagers that went through the auctions last week. Above, average, and below refer to the physical condition. You also have to realize that price will change based on options. These are base model prices. Wholesale is what dealers paid on average, retail is what the projected retail price will be.

be informed is the most important part, or at least make sure they think your informed, look up the exact car your looking at on cars.com or autotrader, bring in about three pages of that model with similar packages try and show it to them and explain that your willing to pay a small premium so you dont have to drive the 300 or more miles to get the one on the page but you will if you have to, odds are the dealer will never even look at the paper but hell instantly change his bargaining position in his own mind, there are other ways that are just as effective but thats the easiest. Also, dont be afraid to walk away, give them your card and tell them your price it doesnt matter how many other people they say are looking at it all of that is irrelevant until someone puts money in his hand and drives away. KBB is very overpriced, and dealers will ignore any slip of paper from them like I said, an actual ad for a similar car at a lower price is the way to go and if you dont need a car right now you can start going to places and negotiating then when theyve hit their bottom offer $500 less and leave your card tell them to call you if they change their minds they might not call but if the car is still there in a month drop in and remind them of the overhead they incur by having a car just sit there.

Thanks for your help guys

Just one more question:

I want to buy this car on Ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...488459330&rd=1

How much is average price for this car? No inlcuding taxes.