Used car shopping: how much is an accident worth?

[jT]

Looking at a 06 Saturn Ion 3 for the lady in my life...

retail book value is around $10300 and is selling at the dealership for around $8900... 65K miles, 1 owner

the kbb private party excellent value is $8300... and that would infer no accidents...

the posted carfax report lists an accident with a police report #, and carfax says police report = $1000 or more in damage, so sounds like a semi-significant accident. there are no other details about it.

i would definitely want the car checked out by "my" mechanic, but aside from anything he says how much can this accident be used as a bargaining point?

i've never haggled the price of a used car.. i just paid the asking price for my neon (for better or worse) and thats the only used car i've ever bought.. so i dont know how to get my way with the stealership.

and theres not a bunch of invoice options that i can have them throw in for free or anything since its a used car... so i dont even know what points i could try to use to shave some cost off.. any pointers?

[Passt]

Use the exact points you just gave us at the top of your post. Tell them you're not going to pay over a certain amount for said car w/ said amount of past damage. Worst comes to worst you don't buy the car. They can't punish you for trying to bring the price down.

[Sykora]

Looking at a 06 Saturn Ion 3 for the lady in my life...

retail book value is around $10300 and is selling at the dealership for around $8900... 65K miles, 1 owner

the kbb private party excellent value is $8300... and that would infer no accidents...

the posted carfax report lists an accident with a police report #, and carfax says police report = $1000 or more in damage, so sounds like a semi-significant accident. there are no other details about it.

i would definitely want the car checked out by "my" mechanic, but aside from anything he says how much can this accident be used as a bargaining point?

i've never haggled the price of a used car.. i just paid the asking price for my neon (for better or worse) and thats the only used car i've ever bought.. so i dont know how to get my way with the stealership.

and theres not a bunch of invoice options that i can have them throw in for free or anything since its a used car... so i dont even know what points i could try to use to shave some cost off.. any pointers?

dude I really wouldn't do it. I was looking into getting an ion and I've heard they are VERY repair prone

[Paul56]

The best way to deal with a dealership is to...

-Not get emotionally involved with the vehicle that has your attention.

-Be prepared to walk away immediately when they won't meet your price.

-Also be prepared to walk away when they start tacking on extra charges when doing up the paperwork.

-Don't allow them to let you sit and stew with the old "I need to run this by the sales manager". If they come out with that tell them you want to meet the sales manager and be in on the conversation. If they refuse... you got it... be prepared to walk away.

Car sales are in a slump right now... people are not buying new ones and are hanging onto their older ones long. The market is in the purchasers corner.

[Sykora]

Here's an awesome article on MSN about this

http://editorial.autos.msn.com/listarti ... art=luxury

[racer12306]

Looking at a 06 Saturn Ion 3 for the lady in my life...

retail book value is around $10300 and is selling at the dealership for around $8900... 65K miles, 1 owner

the kbb private party excellent value is $8300... and that would infer no accidents...

the posted carfax report lists an accident with a police report #, and carfax says police report = $1000 or more in damage, so sounds like a semi-significant accident. there are no other details about it.

i would definitely want the car checked out by "my" mechanic, but aside from anything he says how much can this accident be used as a bargaining point?

i've never haggled the price of a used car.. i just paid the asking price for my neon (for better or worse) and thats the only used car i've ever bought.. so i dont know how to get my way with the stealership.

and theres not a bunch of invoice options that i can have them throw in for free or anything since its a used car... so i dont even know what points i could try to use to shave some cost off.. any pointers?

dude I really wouldn't do it. I was looking into getting an ion and I've heard they are VERY repair prone

I guess all of the cars that my family owns are flukes. My mom's Ion runs great. zero problems



i personally don't see an accident as a barganning chip. A properly repaired car is as good or better than original.

[jrumann59]

My wife got an ion and the CVT ATX when up at 61K, problems with the bands in the tranny. As for accidents I would steer clear, my neon has been wrecked twice and I have had electrically gremlins pop up that I feel is related to the original accident. Sometimes accident problems don't show up til a couple years after the accident.

[jT]

yeah i think we are going to skip this car and wait a bit... now that i'm possibly looking at another pricey repair to my neon and another vacation booked this is not a real good time to get into any more payments...