Comments on: Hagglin’ Time!!!

By: JennCurran

JennCurran — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 03:48:07 +0000

Just buy the damn car. It’s perfect. If they let her go at $15, take the deal, pay down the loan when you get the check, pay the balance off in 6 months and give your credit the boost too. Win-win. And, you totally deserve some fun.

I’m impulsive, you probably shouldn’t listen to me. But that is a sweet ride!! Woot!

By: Southerncharm

Southerncharm — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 04:22:49 +0000

My dad is a pro at the hagglin stuff. He tells them what he willing to pay (with in reason) and he sticks to it. When they come back for the second or third time after “going to see the boss” and they still cant he gets up shakes their hand and says “Thanks for your time”, and walks out. The whole time they are chasing after him trying to talk him back in. LOL My dad actually bought my first car that way and when the salesman caught up to him in the parking lot my dad said he would flip a coin, heads they give him the price he asked, tails he pays the last offer they gave. He flipped the coin and it landed on heads. He won, they agreed and he bought the car. I was amazed at 16yrs old at what my dad could do. :-)

By: DebbieS

DebbieS — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 07:41:42 +0000

Suh-weet car! When DH and I haggled for our car, I suggested we play, “good cop, bad cop” with the saleslady. (DH does not know how to haggle and I have the proverbial silver tongue so this was a real gas.) He excused himself to go to the restroom and I made a big show of relief and said to the salesperson, “Good, he’s gone…now, he really wants to get a Mazda (we were at a Toyota dealership), but I like Toyotas better, but I think I can get him to change his mind. I’ll tell you this figure, and you pretend to not like it then change your mind and agree. If he thinks he’s getting a great deal he’ll let me get a Toyota instead. OK?” And I nodded my head for emphasis. Of course, the figure I stated was way under what they wanted me to pay for the car, there was no cash back rebate for that model year yet but I made them give me the equivalent anyway, and we timed it such that my husband came back from the restroom right away so there was no time for me to argue. Anyway, it was hilarious and it worked like a charm. Good luck getting them to slash that price! Another “trick” I love to use is an extremely sincere and grateful-sounding “Thank you SO much for your help!!” as I am slowly making my way out the door. Heh heh. Wish we could give you a hand, you’d get a great deal and a good laugh!

By: Joel

Joel — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 12:00:29 +0000

If you want to win this thing, you’ll have to be willing to walk away. Are you?

By: damama

damama — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 14:39:47 +0000

Man, that car looks nice!

By: MSueS

MSueS — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 14:42:59 +0000

I don’t like the ‘office’ part either. Manipulation 101: The salesman has made friends with you, bonding enough to make you want to keep him from having trouble or making him feel bad. Get over that part of it before setting foot in the office. Although, they may bring in a new guy for this level and they will be the highpowered, fast questions, bullying type. I’m not trying to scare you, just let you in on their techniques….and make sure you know your bottom line (sounds dirty, doesn’t it) before stepping into the inner sanctum. Also, they might offer you the price you want…but will change another line on the agreement..meaning you are still not getting what you want but feel like you are. Like offering to pay sales tax for you, but adding it into the loan contract. I’ve been there and sometimes I just sign and take what they offer…other times I am prepared to take some time, walk away and hope for the best. The thing is with buyers is that we are new at it, inexperienced and out of our comfort zone. “They” do this for a living and the better they do it the bigger their commission. Add to all that the siren call the car is sending out to you (it must be factory installed, right?) Good luck.

By: daco

daco — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 15:23:25 +0000

AT, as one who used to sell automobiles…(longest 5 weeks of my life) all these folks are right. Especially Joel.

The biggest thing you have in your favor is the competition between car dealers. Look at Clinton Hwy, Alcoa Hwy and Kingston Pike for crying out loud. There are a hundred freakin’ car dealers in Knoxville.

DO NOT buy this car without going to another Mazda dealer and getting his lowest price on the car you want. Pit the two against each other and I promise you will save money.

I recently saved my mom over three thousand dollars by getting online and making one phone call.

Good luck.

By: Allisone

Allisone — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 15:54:47 +0000

Hmmm you didn’t put the url to the ‘Tumor in your .sig when you emailed the dealership guys did you?

Just had an image of them reading all the comments - he he he.

By: timsan1

timsan1 — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 16:12:25 +0000

So will you get a red one? These are the important things you know. You know, the whole engine size thing - like size matters — when you have a manuel transmission things change. You can have a smaller engine and get a crap load more take off when you can feel when to shift. Instead of that cyborg automatic telling the engine when to shift. Save more gass too.

By: Stormare Mackee

Stormare Mackee — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 16:30:11 +0000

My recommendation is to haggle an “out the door” price, which includes the vehicle, taxes, tags and all the little “dealer fees” minus rebates and incentives. If they ask you “how much you want to pay for the car”, lowball an “out the door” price, and if they disagree, say “how much do YOU want for it, out the door”. Also, if you’re really interested in the car, I would pull a CarFax report on it. We bought our Protege from Mazda Knoxville, and (back then) they were very reasonable people to work with.

By: Atomictumor

Atomictumor — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 17:02:48 +0000

Yeah, I kicked myself last night for not getting the VIN to run the carfax on. I’ll be doing that before I purchase the car.
I’m not afraid at all to walk away from it, which is why I’m doing this in stages. Gotta curb that impulsive nature…

By: Sher

Sher — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 18:09:07 +0000

I just bought that 04 Civic Coupe that you so loved, and boy oh boy did we get a steal. I brought my best friend along, who is thinking about starting a small business using her wheel and deal money saving skills. (She’d get a percentage of what she saved her customers- it’s a win-win situation!) We got the car for over two grand under kelly blue book and had them throw in a free detailing, oil change and full tank of gas. Just keep in mind that you’re the master of this particular situation, give them a ridiculously low price that they’ll initially balk at and then meet somewhere in the middle. They’ll give you the, “If we give it to you at this price, we’ll be LOSING money,” speech and you’ll know that’s not true because they’ve marked up the sticker price to begin with. Good luck AT! It looks like a sweet ride!

By: jenwright

jenwright — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 18:36:13 +0000

That is totally a bitchin’ car. My mind rays have been working because I’ve been thinking that what you need is a sweet and sporty hatchback. Those boys might just outgrow you one of these days, and this car might last until then.

Take the advice of all these intelligent people, AT. You really need to go to other dealerships. Don’t make appts or anything like that - just walk through their lots.

By: Bullet

Bullet — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 18:38:07 +0000

Ohhh, man. I love haggling with sales people. Nate Hates going w/ me (tho he admits he’s quite impressed w/that side of me) b/c I walk away several times. Ooooo..love it, love it, love it. Maybe it’s b/c I was in sales for so long and had to put up with hardasses….Good luck buddy.

By: Jane

Jane — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 19:47:27 +0000

Go to other places. Lowball them and then take all the lowball prices and let them fight over you. The best tactic ever is the walking away one. It’s so much fun to see them literally running after you!

That does look like a nice car!

By: Jacket

Jacket — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 00:46:09 +0000

AT, sorry for the caps but hear me: HOLD ON, THE MAZDA IS BASED ON THE FOCUS. IN TODAY’S PAPER THERE IS A STORY THAT IT IS BEING RETOOLED, RESTYLED AND UPDATED FOR RELEASE LATER THIS SPRING AS AN ‘08.

Don’t jump too soon.

By: Atomictumor

Atomictumor — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 01:55:23 +0000

Why take the hit in depreciation for a new car? If this one looks good, has good reliability ratings, so on and so forth, whats the point in not getting it?

By: Atomictumor

Atomictumor — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 02:02:36 +0000

And, I think you got it backwards. In 05 the Focus took on the Mazda3 platform, but apparently didn’t do a very good job of it…

By: Jacket

Jacket — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 13:22:22 +0000

Here is the deal, if you buy it now, it will immediately be dated thus MORE depreciation than normal. Secondly, it doesn’t matter which came first the Focus or the 3. They are on the same platform. This means if Ford, the true owner of the style, changes one, the other gets the whammy. That assembly line thing with interchangable parts concept is at play here.

Again, to buy before a retool is good for price hagglin’ but the depreciation goes quicker IMHO.

By: Atomictumor

Atomictumor — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 13:41:29 +0000

See, I’m not really as worried about that, because I plan on keeping the car for the next 5 or so years anyway. By then, depreciation won’t be an issue, because I wouldn’t get squat for it anyway, way I figure.
And I’ve been trying to ignore the fact that Ford owns it… ugg.

By: Jane

Jane — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:13:17 +0000

I have always loved my Fords! I like to buy new because then you have that nice warranty to fall back on. Also you know the history of the car. (There is none…) No wondering if the previous owner was good about changing the oil and stuff.

having said that…I also like buying what are called the “demo cars” used. Usually very low miles. And good maintenance. They were usually test drive models or were used by the car salesman/dealership managers. Never over a year old.

I’m glad I’m not shopping for a car. Good Luck!

By: Atomictumor

Atomictumor — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:30:23 +0000

See, my beef with a new car is that insta-depreciation. I like knowing my loan is going to keep in line with the value.

By: Jacket

Jacket — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:30:58 +0000

I used to think that about Ford AT but when I bought the Escape model it changed my mind. They appear to have made a change in direction on quality, even though it has always been “job one”.

These cars look good, move good and are somewhat stingy on fuel.

I understand you are talking new “used” here and the depreciation is already down some. I just wanted to point out something you may have missed about the retool. Had I inquired about this when I bought a new tractor two years ago, I would have waited one year, the improvements would have been worth it a lot.

By: Atomictumor

Atomictumor — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:47:26 +0000

Yeah, but it seems if history is right, the first year of a retool is always bad. You wait for a second year to refine problems with the electrics and fuel system, etc, and then its 09, and I’ve still got that friggin van!
I dig what you’re saying tho, dude.

By: Jacket

Jacket — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 17:54:17 +0000

I think that is the first year of a new model, not retool. The Mustang was retooled about three times since 1978 with little or no quality problems so long as you bought a Mustang, in it’s muscle version instead of the Pinto based version with a four cylinder and no frills.

By: Kuni

Kuni — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 20:35:32 +0000

>>Yeah, but it seems if history is right, the first year of a retool is always bad.>The guy said they must have hit the wrong number, and 7 being right next to the 3 like it is, I let it slide.

By: Kuni

Kuni — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 21:25:28 +0000

Oh hey look, my comment got totally cut off. Now I just look like an idiot and/or spambot…

I’d retype it today, but I can’t remember what I said. :(