west86

OK, as I said in the other thread, I am now looking at a C43 in my area. The price is listed at 16900. However, how much do you think I could get them to come down on that by paying in one lump sum?? Say I walk in with a check for 14000, do you think they would have difficulty turning that down? Or would they tell me to get out?

west86

DOnt know if it matters, but it is a dealer, not a private seller.

JDM

Try this, ask them if they will take a $1000.00 profit to sell the car. Dont get into what you think that number is ie; $14982.32,..or 11830.00 but just focus on the profit margin. You already know you can buy the car for 16900. Hopefully they will be honest with you. Maybe they'll say no, we need to make at least $X on it, and go from there. Have fun! I once had a dealer agree to a 1k deal over the phone. turned out I payed a little less than i though I would.

JDM

...the beautiful thing is, dealers own their cars for less typically. They do not pay retail, or even close. Rule of thump in our area is $1000 back of wholesale book. Unless its a neon, then its like 3000 back if its really nice!

C43AMG

You never said where you are from or the mileage on the car. If I were you I would run a carfax on the car (duh!). Two reasons - the 1st is the obvious - you will know if its been hit - that provides negotiation power. The 2nd reason is the report may show if it was purchased at a auction. If it was it will tell you howl long it has been in the dealers inventory.Trust me , every day that car is on his lot its costing him money - to him its another piece of metal with no sentimental value - just a price tag on it.Now lets talk #'s , according to the "Black Book" which is what every dealer that attends an auction uses ( forget about Kelly Blue Book , N.A.D.E. any any other "book" a dealer tries to quote from ) the "Black Book" is the latest #'s from the auction and it tells you exactly what the dealer should pay at the auction for that car.Now - your "inside #'s - these numers are coming from Jan 23rd Edition of the Pennsylvania Edition of the "Black Book " , by the way Pennsylvania is home to the 2nd largest auto auction in the country - located in Mannheim , PA. The biggest is in Florida where they dump all the rentals. Here are the numbers :1998 C43 : EXTRA-CLEAN - $16,550.00 CLEAN : $15,750.00
AVERAGE : $12,950.00 ROUGH : $9,350.00
1999 C43 : EXTRA-CLEAN - $18,650.00 CLEAN : $17,850.00
AVERAGE : $15,050.00 ROUGH : $11,450.00

2000 C43 : EXTRA-CLEAN - $23,550.00 CLEAN : $22,750.00
AVERAGE : $20,450.00 ROUGH : $17,350.00

If you let me know the year and the mileage - I can tell you what to add or subtract from the posted numbers. Its appearance ( x-clean , clean , avg. , rough ) is your decision.If you think I'm B.S.ing you about the "Black Book" go to : www.BlackBookUSA.com. Take it from me , do your homework and it can save you thousands. I bought my 1998 C43 from a dealer in Feb. for $16,000.00 - it has 53,890 miles and is clean as a whistle. Now the kicker - the dealer paid $16,500.00 at the auction + $500.00 ACQUISITION FEE - and still sold me the car and took $1,000.00 hit just to move it.Do your homework and good luck.

west86

Wow, thanks.

Here is a link to the car.

Its a 1998 with 72000 miles, it is listed at 16900, and it is in CHicago. I went to this place last week, and saw this car, didnt even consider it because it was 20000. Since then, it is down to 16900.

C43AMG

Your link never appeared in your response. Another thing - if your serious -and I mean serious - go to the dealer and let him run a credit check on you.If your credit is good , he now knows that you are worthy customer.I am not saying you should finance or anything else like that...it just tells him you have or can get the money to take it off his lot.Then you can sit down and put his ***** in a vice and squeeze till he's ready to unload it. Good luck.