Buying a used car

[JoeC]

I need a car. I looked around at dealers today and saw these two in particular I sort of liked.

2000 Mazda 626, 25K miles well-equipped $9,995
1999 Toyota Camry, 67K miles, fairly well-equipped $8,525

Both were from a new car dealership.

My question to everyone is this... obviously I'm a dumbass if I pay the sticker price, but how much should I be expecting to pay? How flexible are dealers generally on used car prices?

[WEASEL45]

buy from a private party, not a dealership

[bernie]

Go to Edmunds.com

I haven't been there for awhile, but when I bought a car it even had a guide on how to talk to salesmen and what they'd say. It's textbook and worked perfectly. My fav line I got to use when counteroffered was, "That's pretty good, but you'll have to do better than that."

You can also find out the worth of the car, some cars you'll know the price of every extra added on, and all that.

I knew the cost down to the headlight when I bought one.

For a new car, I looked at the base price of what the place dealer pays for it, then added $400. That was my target price.

b

[The Stranger]

ask them for a wholesale blue book printout. If you live in a big city, you should be able to get a car for pretty damn close to that price. In LA I bought a 2000 Acura TL with 35K miles, for $15,625, which is $175 over wholesale blue book. Some lots that are focused more on moving cars through than making money on the individual cars (leasing companies for example), will sell used cars right at wholesale blue book. The only downside to that, is if you're looking for a specific car it might take a while if they don't already have one.