Silver_Racer

Due to a career change, I have been contemplating getting a truck. Over the holiday weekend, there was a 2007 GMC Sierra Crew Cab which was in the paper. The wife and I drove to Beck and Masten GMC in Houston, TX to check it out.

She stayed in the Z while I was negotiating a deal inside. Just out of curiosity, I probed for a trade-in price on the Z. It is a 2004 Base in good/excellent condition (24K miles, Nismo front bumper, OEM rear spoiler, OEM xenon upgrade). Due to "market conditions" they low balled it at $16K....

I did the traditional get up, tuck in your shirt, and head for the door routine. As soon as I passed through the threshold of the electronic door, my wife yelled out "THEY HIT YOUR CAR!!!". What?? She was sitting in the Z with the passenger door open. An assistant sales manager was backing up a new GMC Sierra truck, which was so high, he could not see the car. He back up directly into the door, bending it backwards so hard that it tore off the hinges. It would need a new door skin, reset the hinges, and bodywork on the front right quarter panel. My silver color is VERY hard to match.

Thankfully my wife was not injured. If her leg would have been out of the door, it could have been crushed. After weighing my options, I decided it would be best to depart with the car, providing they would give me a reasonable deal. The sales manager was actually a *****, despite all of this. He upped the trade in to 17K, when KBB has the trade-in at 18.5. His reasoning was that he could not offer more because the car was now damaged!!! After getting really hot, he made a "final offer" of 18K. Seeing that my option was to get the car fixed and try to sell, or take 18K, I took it.

I got a 2007 GMC Sierra Crew cab (classic style) for $18.9K, which means I paid about 1k for the new truck. The car was already paid off. When taking all of my personals out of the Z, I felt like a good friend was leaving which I would not see again.

Despite the deal on the truck, I still feel like I should have got a "wash" deal where I would not have to pay anything. Any input?

zeeanswer

iTrader: (2)

The KBB Retail for your car in excellent condition is $23,805. This is roughly the price the dealer will be able to sell the car for. However, it will cost them some money to repair the broken door. I would imagine that the dealer is going to make a few thousand at least on this deal. Not to mention the kick back they will get for selling the truck.

To be honest, I think you let them bully you a little bit. Once they backed over your Z, they should have been more than apologetic.

Driven1

iTrader: (2)

I would have flipped and demanded they fix the car and a check for the depreciation because it was "now damaged" and a repair to the car would depreciate the value of it. I would not have left w/o the truck and cash in your pocket.

Sorry, man, but you got hosed on this one.

350zz053

iTrader: (8)

not that bad of a deal. but coulda been a little better. congrats

Silver_Racer

Yeah, I understand that, but you really can't compare resale to wholesale. My question is on the trade in value.

dbasal

Not really hosed. The truck only cost 18.9. They certainly would not give him more than that on his trade. The other option would have been to take it to CarMax and see what they would have offered and then purchased somewhere else, if he was so inclined to do so.

Old School

iTrader: (28)

damn that sux. I would have gone to jail. I looked at Beck & Masten a few times when I was looking for a Tahoe. They sell so fast, they can be d*cks. Drives me crazy. One reason I didn't buy a truck there. Still, if you trade and only had to fork over a G....you did good. Nice trucks aren't cheap!

davidv

iTrader: (2)

This must be some sort of new arithmetic that I am not familiar with.

S.E.

iTrader: (1)

1) Shoulda flipped over the door. No question.

2) Why not sell privately? In my experience i have gotten closer to what a car is worth that way, often times more. Hell, i sold a '97 tahoe with over 160k miles for over ten grand! Just takes time to find a person that wants that exact car bad enough to pay for it.

Driven1

iTrader: (2)

And why wouldn't they give him more than 18.9 on trade? they wrecked his car. Even if he didn't buy the truck from them, he should have made them fix it and asked for compensation for the depreciation of value since the car had now been in an accident.

Im sorry, but I would not have given that dealership any slack. They lowballed for 1 (which I dont have any patience for since they essentially are trying to take advantage of you in hopes you'll take it), then were ****** after they hit his car on their lot while he was shopping for his truck and still gave him a below avg. number.

Way do go GMC. Lets hit your customers car and then lowball them on the value for trade. Great sales pitch.

zeeanswer

iTrader: (2)

I wasn't comparing resale to wholesale. I was just trying to give you an idea of how much the dealer is going to make off of this deal. I was also trying to point out the fact that they could have given you a much better deal and still made a profit.

Also, you should always negotiate each aspect of the deal individually. Don't base your trade-in value on what the price of the new vehicle you are trying to purchase is. It doesn't matter if you are walking in there to buy an $18,000 vehicle or a $8,000 vehicle, the trade-in value of your Z is what it is.

Also, you should never use the KBB trade-in value as a baseline and work your up. You should use the retail price (what the dealer is going to sell the car for) and work your way down. Much like you don't start negotiating a new vehicle purchase at MSRP and work your way down. Always start at the better end of the deal for you and negotiate from there.

jakesford

I would have pulled the door the rest of the way off. Then dragged it into the dealership making a big scene in front of their customers until they made me a hell of a deal.

Not a bad deal, but I would have raked them over the coals a little more

boma

iTrader: (2)

GM looking good!

Giving you an extra 2K on a top of a lowball value? That's not much. It would probably $3-5 thousand to fix that door area. Then your car is worth less overall!

The only good thing is the truck seems to be a at a good price. I don't know much about GMC trucks, but a crew cab (4 door) full size chevy should cost 20K or more.

boma

iTrader: (2)

OK

http://www.gmc.com/byo/selectColor.g...ngBrand=sierra

The msrp of the 07 Classic Sierra Crew Cab is 26,000. You got it for 18.9K after tax. Seems like you did get a fair deal. Unless they were already discounting that truck deeply to begin with.

Silver_Racer

I would have sold privately, but would rather not go through the whole process. Since having the car, the front bumper has been replaced (piece of scrap metal on highway), rear bumper cover replaced (lady rear ended it), and now this. I almost went crazy with the front bumper becuase the color is so hard to match.

I also figured that it would not sell for more than $21K if sold to an individual. 3/4 of the car would be repainted. I would not touch such a car with a 10 foot pole. Some sites say individual resale is $23-24K, but why would someone pay this when a new 2007 in perfect condition can be had for $26K?

BTW, about 10 months ago Carmax offered $18K.

I don't know whether or not I should have played it differently, but life goes on. One thing that really sucks is that this is the least excited I have ever been with getting a new car. Thanks for the feedback.

imjdoggie

iTrader: (2)

Hey man if YOU feel like you got a good deal then you did. A good deal is your state of mind.

Silver_Racer

I did some research on Google and found one of the dealerships owners. Called him at home. He was not aware of the situation. Said he will look into the matter and if there is any room for an adjustment, he would. Don't know what will come of that, probably nothing.

My main complaint is that if you tear up someone's ride, you need to give a little more than usual, and not try to squeeze them. The salesman who helped me was very nice, and I told him that. The sales manager was low-balling from the beginning and not understanding or empathetic given what had happened, and he was the one calling the shots. Accidents happen, but you have to take all variables into account.

Since I plan on driving the truck for at least a couple of years, I upgraded to chrome factory 20's. Looks a lot better than the standard 17's.

j.GLOVER

how much was the truck before dealing?

anyway it would have been nicer to get a straight up trade, but as long as your happy, congrats on the truck!

Old School

iTrader: (28)

dealership owners are rich. If you are nice and talk to him/her with respect...I bet the owner will take care of you.