Price

[Gingi]

Assuming that I would like to trade-in a 2000 Ford Focus (81K miles) and get the 4 doors automatic Yaris sedan (with CD and ABS), what you guys think will be a good price to buy it ? I'm going to bargain, however I don't want to push the envelop... Do you think that I can get it for less than $11K or $10K ?
Thanks !!

[xed]

Assuming that I would like to trade-in a 2000 Ford Focus (81K miles) and get the 4 doors automatic Yaris sedan (with CD and ABS), what you guys think will be a good price to buy it ? I'm going to bargain, however I don't want to push the envelop... Do you think that I can get it for less than $11K or $10K ?
Thanks !!

According to Edmunds the MSRP on a 2007 4dr auto with no other option is $13,410 and the dealer invoice is $12,644. Both include a $660 destination charge which is a legit fee. Yaris is meant to be a cheap car so there aren't any dealer incentives specific to the Yaris (rebates etc.) currently. You also have to figure in your options and the tax, title, tag and any other applicable fees.

The good news is that there isn't much mark up on the Yaris so as far as the price goes it's hard to get a bad deal even if you pay MSRP.

The bad news is that there isn't much mark up on the Yaris so as far as the price goes it's hard to get a good deal. There just isn't that much room to negotiate.

The Yaris is an inexpensive car so here is how I'm looking at it (I'm in the market for a new Yaris too; I'm just waiting for the 08's to get here). Unless you get really lucky and find a dealer on the last day of the month who only needs to sell one more car to make an incentive quota you're going to pay some amount above dealer invoice. You also have no business paying above MSRP unless the car is in high demand in your area. So the difference between "best case" and "worse case" is about $1200. Split the difference and no matter how the deal goes down you shouldn't be off by more than $600 either way on the purchase price. In the grand scheme of "car buying" ~$600 isn't that much and even though it's not chump change it's nothing to get bent out of shape for.

Now if you went out to buy a new Lexus and found out later that you could have negotiated the price down at least another $5000 then that's something all together different.

[lloe]

I don't think so, but good luck with that.

[mikeb25]

Don't even bother trying to trade in the Focus. Most dealers will send anything with over 70 or 80 thousand miles straight to the auction lot and will make next to nothing for a profit, so if they tell you they'll give you a "$2000 trade" beware because it only means he just bumped up the price of the car he is selling you by $1500.

A car dealer should only get about 5% above dealer invoice for any car. On something like the Yaris this equates to about $500-$700. If he gives you any more than that on your trade-in, he is now paying you to take a new car off his lot and then he has to worry about selling an 8 year-old Ford rather than a new Toyota to make a profit.

Also, NEVER tell the dealer about the trade-in first. Negotiate a deal first, then tell him about your trade-in. He probably won't even accept it for free if you've made a fair deal.

You would be much better off selling the car in the want-ads and getting it's fair value. Then with that money you probably could get your new Yaris for $11,000 or less.