[meegvaj]

I just test drove the new Tundra yesterday and talked to a salesguy there. Amazing truck! I would be trading in a 2004 Sierra, fully loaded, for a DC with a TRD package. The only issue I'm having is they won't tell me what they're offering for my trade in. Every time I ask him about it he just says "You're in great shape" then he has this huge smile on his face. I probably owe about $13K on it and I have a feeling they're going to give me more but they want to use it as a barginning tool. He also told me that his manager can get my payments lower than what I am paying now. It sounds like a great deal to me. I get a brand new truck for the same payments.

Any suggestions on this? What are they up to? How should I proceed?What did everyone else pay for their DC with the TRD? The sticker for it is $34,xxx.

Thanks for everyones input. :ts:

 

[MilesToGo]

I just test drove the new Tundra yesterday and talked to a salesguy there. Amazing truck! I would be trading in a 2004 Sierra, fully loaded, for a DC with a TRD package. The only issue I'm having is they won't tell me what they're offering for my trade in. Every time I ask him about it he just says "You're in great shape" then he has this huge smile on his face. I probably owe about $13K on it and I have a feeling they're going to give me more but they want to use it as a barginning tool. He also told me that his manager can get my payments lower than what I am paying now. It sounds like a great deal to me. I get a brand new truck for the same payments.

Any suggestions on this? What are they up to? How should I proceed?What did everyone else pay for their DC with the TRD? The sticker for it is $34,xxx.
Thanks for everyones input. :ts:

Not sure why they are delaying telling what they will give on the trade. I hate dealerships that play games. Just tell me the best you can do up front and then i'll decide. I had an 03 Tundra that i wanted to trade and the dealership tried to low ball me so i sold it myself. Got my 07 for about $2k under MSRP.

 

[GPtimes2]

How should I proceed?

The first thing I would do is call your current financer and get the payoff on your sierra. Most have a recording that will tell you without having to talk to a person.
Next, check a couple of online appraisers (kelly blue book, edmunds), they are free.
Then find an online payment calculator and type in a few senarioes (also free).
My "guess" is if you get them down a couple of thousand off of sticker, get about four thousand equity on you sierra, and add about three grand in cash, you'll come out with about 425 a month for 7yrs. Thats if you don't fall for the extras they try to get you for (extended warranty, paint protection, etc.).

 

[Buckeyefan]

Never, ever deal on payment.

You need to sit down and tell them this is what you expect.

1) XX amount for your Sierra, no matter what the payoff is. You can find it's value at Edmunds.com as mentioned earlier. If they're not paying its fair market value, sell it yourself. If they're paying more than it's worth, they're charging you too much for the Tundra.

2) XX amount off the MSRP of the Tundra. I think $2000 - $2500 is a safe starting point. Personally, I never pay more than invoice, but this is a hot truck, and getting the truck for anything less than $500 over invoice is probably impossible at this stage of the game. Don't pay MSRP.

3) Forget about payments for a moment. Anyone can give you a low payment if you want to finance your truck until your 60. Tell them you expect an interst rate at 5.9% or lower, and no more than 5 years. If you can't afford the truck at that point, it's probably out of your price range.

Sales managers drool over people buying on payment. They'll put you upside down in a heartbeat with a predatory lending who's in their back pocket giving them kickbacks, vacations, spiffs - you name it. This is a large purchase. Don't rush it. There's plenty of those same trucks at other Toyota dealerships. Have them disclose their best deal, then call two other dealerships and see how much they can beat it by.

 

[StatCoder]

you'll come out with about 425 a month for 7yrs.

Thats sounds like a hell of a long time to pay off a truck.

 

[truckman261]

Thats sounds like a hell of a long time to pay off a truck.

Could be a lot worse. I'm in mine over $600/mo for 7 years. Damn, Ford Explorers and their resale value.

 

[MilesToGo]

Thats sounds like a hell of a long time to pay off a truck.

I agree. Financing something (other than a house) for more than 3 years is just not smart. I always tell the younger kids if you can't afford the payments for a 36 month loan then you need to find something cheaper.

 

[bugchucker]

I agree. I spoke to my financial advisor because I was interested in the 3.9% for 36 months. He doesn't advise ever financing a vehicle.

Regarding the trade in, why not sell it on your own? I have gotten $5k more in private sales than what dealer offered with my last 2 vehicles.

 

[MilesToGo]

He doesn't advise ever financing a vehicle.

It's a good thing most people don't take that advice. Most manufacturers would be out of business if everyone waited untill they could pay cash. I don't see anything wrong with financing for short periods, like 36 months, because you can usually get a low rate, which makes the overall finance charges minimal.

 

[GPtimes2]

I see a lot of differences on what we think about financing (how much, how long). I guess it is different for each. If you have needs that limit you (kids, house payment, saving for retirement), then do what fits. If your an empty nester, double income (decent wage), secure retirement plan, then it's your money, spend it how you want. If you think it's smarter to have two new vehichles, new boat, and or new RV, than to bank your money and let life pass you by, then do that. Actually we should use good judgement that applies to our own life.

 

[MilesToGo]

I see a lot of differences on what we think about financing (how much, how long). I guess it is different for each. If you have needs that limit you (kids, house payment, saving for retirement), then do what fits. If your an empty nester, double income (decent wage), secure retirement plan, then it's your money, spend it how you want. If you think it's smarter to have two new vehichles, new boat, and or new RV, than to bank your money and let life pass you by, then do that. Actually we should use good judgement that applies to our own life.

Good points. Everyone's situation is different. My previous statement was just a general rule. I work for the Air Force and usually have a bunch of 20 something year olds working for me. I've seen to many bad situations with people financing something they couldn't really afford. Or they finance something for such a long period of time that it's wore out and broke down before they can pay it off.

 

[truckman261]

A lot of us break a major financial rule everytime we buy a car, yup that includes me. Never finance a depreciating asset. I mean its pretty simple math.

Lets say $37,000 MSRP w/ $0 down. If you have a $40,000 loan for say 6 years and your payments are $700/mo. If you take the loan to term that's 72 payments of $700 = $50,400. Assuming you have a 55% resale value of the vehicle. You've just paid $50,400 for an asset that is worth about $20,000.

Thats just the math. Of course you have to factor in the emotional side of driving the truck, what the value of using the truck really meant to you, and other intangibles. It just doesn't look good on paper to financial guys, unless they're giving you the loan.

 

[hinkleid]

My last approach buying the 07 was this and it worked well.

I first went to LOOK at the trucks and test drive, but not dealing then. I decided what I wanted and then EMAILED the dealerships (ID and UT) asking their lowest price.

Cheapest came in from Salt Lake City.

THEN i went locally and asked what they would give for trade on my 05, but not knowing what I wanted to trade for. I went with the dealership that gave me the best trade and was more than I expected. I told them the specs on the truck I wanted and their price was about $2500 more than the price from the Salt Lake dealership. I told them that if they could match it I would buy there, but if they could not I would drive the 3-4 hours to Salt Lake. Needless to say they matched the offer, and not sure what the Salt Lake dealership would have given me on trade.

According to Edmunds when I looked it up was right at invoice. I think just a couple hundred dollars above invoice and well under MSRP.

 

[meegvaj]

Thanks everyone for all your advice. I can afford more than what I am paying now and by no means will I do a 7 year plan. I've never heard of a dealer not telling you what they will give you for your trade in. I found that strange. All the calculations I've done don't get me anywhere close to what I am paying now so it must be a 7 year plan. We haven't talked numbers yet since I was hesitate about them not telling me what they are offering me for my trade in. Kelly bluebook has my trade in value at around 15K and I finianced it for 19K 2 years ago.

Again thanks for everyone's advice.

 

[MilesToGo]

Thanks everyone for all your advice. I can afford more than what I am paying now and by no means will I do a 7 year plan. I've never heard of a dealer not telling you what they will give you for your trade in. I found that strange. All the calculations I've done don't get me anywhere close to what I am paying now so it must be a 7 year plan. We haven't talked numbers yet since I was hesitate about them not telling me what they are offering me for my trade in. Kelly bluebook has my trade in value at around 15K and I finianced it for 19K 2 years ago.

Again thanks for everyone's advice.

They may be "shopping" your vehicle around to see what they can get for it. I've seen dealers do this in the past, but they usually still give you an initial trade value. If you absolutely have to have more for your trade then sometimes they will shop your vehicle to potential buyers and see if they can give you a better price.

 

[truckman261]

They may be "shopping" your vehicle around to see what they can get for it. I've seen dealers do this in the past, but they usually still give you an initial trade value. If you absolutely have to have more for your trade then sometimes they will shop your vehicle to potential buyers and see if they can give you a better price.

We've had to do that with a couple of trades on vehicles we don't want on our lot. More than likely that's what they are doing. We have a Ford dealership next door so we usually have them buy all our F-250 trade-ins and yeah we don't have a number on it until they appraise it next door, but I at least tell my customers that we're trying to get a bid on their trade so they know what's going on.

 

[meegvaj]

Yeah, they're shopping around. After I gave them my information they starting making some calls and I went back the next day to see what they got. They received a few offers but they won't mention what it is. They wnat to know what I owe on the truck before they tell me what the offers are.

 

[bbfirebird]

They received a few offers but they won't mention what it is. They wnat to know what I owe on the truck before they tell me what the offers are.

My advice- go to another dealer. The dealer doesn't need to know what you owe on your vehicle to tell you what they can give you for it. If you tell them you owe $11,000 on your truck, and they have an offer for $16,000, they're going to tell you the offer is for $12,000 and they can give you $11,500 on the trade-in.

Regarding the payments- there's never a situation where you "have the same payment". While you might end up having the same MONTHLY payment, you end up having more total payments in the end, so you end up spending more money. For instance, if you have 13 remaining payments of $500 a month on your truck, after you buy a new one you'll have 72 payments of $500 a month.