Typical discounts for a used car at dealerships?

[RX_EVOLV]

We are thinking about picking up a SUV for the winter to complement our convertible summer car. We definitly want to pick up a used one since it'll be used and abused anyway, and we live inner city so we won't be putting much millage on it.

We want something newer (2012+) and under 100K km, so it looks like it's easiest to buy from a dealer, especially with some of the CPO vehicles out there. Typically do dealerships negotiate on their listed price on the used cars? If so, what's a realistic range? 2%? 5%? We've never bought a used car from a dealership before.

[nissanK]

Anything and everything is negotiable at the dealership. Especially used vehicles since they need to move the inventory quite fast to make room for other trade-ins.

I always go in with a price I'm willing to pay for a vehicle after I've done my research and give them that number. Either they take it or not but you gotta be willing to walk away.

[born2workoncars]

We are thinking about picking up a SUV for the winter to complement our convertible summer car. We definitly want to pick up a used one since it'll be used and abused anyway, and we live inner city so we won't be putting much millage on it.

We want something newer (2012+) and under 100K km, so it looks like it's easiest to buy from a dealer, especially with some of the CPO vehicles out there. Typically do dealerships negotiate on their listed price on the used cars? If so, what's a realistic range? 2%? 5%? We've never bought a used car from a dealership before.

All depends on the used car. Sometimes the dealer buys them well and have $10k profit when selling at a competitive market price. Sometimes the dealer is upside down in the car and they have $500 profit to work with.

Either way, you’ll never know how much they’re making off you because every used car is different. Negotiating is part of most vehicle transactions, but they’re better at it than you and will always be the winner.

Dealerships are a greasy business. If I wanted a good deal, I would only ever consider a used car in a private sale, ideally from the original owner. If you have bags of cash, throw it away at the dealer.

[Buster]

If you can find the wholesale value of the car (ie auction prices), you can get a better idea of what the dealer is looking at from a cost perspective. I think most dealers would expect a 10-15% margin over wholesale on a standard car.

[hurrdurr]

Don't forget most dealers also "repair" vehicles from auction or trade. Replace tires/brakes/windshield and do oil changes, that all gets bundled into their costs.

I've been going around looking at some cars at random used car lots vs dealerships and the quality of the vehicles are very much different from each other. Used car lots i'm finding dings/scratches, unattached bumpers etc. At a dealership the vehicles are pristine, they really take price in what they're selling.

The price variance is quite large though between 5-7K on similar vehicles I've seen. Finance rates generally better at Dealership too (as low as 0.9 in some cases vs standard 5% through used car lendors)

I've been unsuccessful negotiating the price I want to pay over the past couple of weeks but I am in no rush. If that's your mindset you'll never pay over what you want to.

[infamous]

we just went through this process upgrading the wife's suv. here's how it went lol.

She had made a spreadsheet. The vehicles on our list were toyota highlander, lexus rx350, ford explorer, acura mdx, and the hyundai santa fe. Village Honda in the NW had an acura mdx, highlander, and explorer so we figured we would start there.
Walking up to the Acura the hood was dented, scratched on the side, rusty hitch in the back and the hatch itself was 3 shades more yellow than the rest of the vehicle. Nope, definitely not that one. Walked over to the Highlander, upon first glance it looked better but it actually wasn't, the whole passenger side was dented and scratched and the salesman's exact words were "if you don't want any marks you have to buy brand new." lol we walked out of there after that. Went across the street to Lexus, they had a really nice 2015 RX350 that the wife drove, it was nice but didn't have all the features we were looking for. Left and drove all the way across the street again, to Toyota. Test drove a Highlander Limited and was disappointed by the test drive and high price to get into it. The only other nice MDX we could find in the city was down at Silverhill, so we did the trip and was it ever worth it. 1 owner lease return in mint condition as a used car can be, and with the ability to have the factory warranty extended. Did the deal, and they didn't budge much on the price. But the vehicle had been fully serviced and new Michelin tires and was the cleanest example we could find. I don't mind paying a bit more for a nicer example. Much easier to maintain and keep nice. Now if weathertech could just get my damn floor mats to me id be a lot happier!

[Skrilla]

I always go in with a price I'm willing to pay for a vehicle after I've done my research and give them that number. Either they take it or not but you gotta be willing to walk away.

This x2. If you go in with a number you are willing to pay, and confident, 9/10 times it works, unless you have a bat shit crazy number with nothing to back it up. And always talk price "All-in", no plus gst fees bs

EDIT: Also be willing to walk, chances are your phone rings before you get down the street.

[RX_EVOLV]

Awesome thank you for all the information guys. I think I would only trust buying from a proper dealership (e.g Calgary BMW, Calgary Lexus) rather than those used car lots, but I would definitly prefer to cut out the middle man and buy private if possible; the GST savings alone is pretty attractive. However it likes for the type of vehicle we are looking for (luxury SUV like a 2014-2015 X5) there just isn't a whole lot in the private market; maybe those guys just tend to trade them in and upgradeor lease return. We are definitly in no rush and can afford to wait for the right deal to come along. We were just curious on how much we can potentially knock off at dealership listed price as we compare them to private sale deals online.

[nissanK]

This x2. If you go in with a number you are willing to pay, and confident, 9/10 times it works, unless you have a bat shit crazy number with nothing to back it up. And always talk price "All-in", no plus gst fees bs

EDIT: Also be willing to walk, chances are your phone rings before you get down the street.

Yep that's what I always go in with. Here's the x price with all your fees and crap, go do the math.

[rage2]

we just went through this process upgrading the wife's suv. here's how it went lol.

She had made a spreadsheet. The vehicles on our list were toyota highlander, lexus rx350, ford explorer, acura mdx, and the hyundai santa fe. Village Honda in the NW had an acura mdx, highlander, and explorer so we figured we would start there.
Walking up to the Acura the hood was dented, scratched on the side, rusty hitch in the back and the hatch itself was 3 shades more yellow than the rest of the vehicle. Nope, definitely not that one. Walked over to the Highlander, upon first glance it looked better but it actually wasn't, the whole passenger side was dented and scratched and the salesman's exact words were "if you don't want any marks you have to buy brand new." lol we walked out of there after that. Went across the street to Lexus, they had a really nice 2015 RX350 that the wife drove, it was nice but didn't have all the features we were looking for. Left and drove all the way across the street again, to Toyota. Test drove a Highlander Limited and was disappointed by the test drive and high price to get into it. The only other nice MDX we could find in the city was down at Silverhill, so we did the trip and was it ever worth it. 1 owner lease return in mint condition as a used car can be, and with the ability to have the factory warranty extended. Did the deal, and they didn't budge much on the price. But the vehicle had been fully serviced and new Michelin tires and was the cleanest example we could find. I don't mind paying a bit more for a nicer example. Much easier to maintain and keep nice. Now if weathertech could just get my damn floor mats to me id be a lot happier!
Sounds like the one you bought is a certified pre owned. That's the way to go honestly, a little higher priced, but the dealer fix absolutely everything to make it as close to new as possible. Ability to add factory extended warranty is a huge plus as well.

[infamous]

Sounds like the one you bought is a certified pre owned. That's the way to go honestly, a little higher priced, but the dealer fix absolutely everything to make it as close to new as possible. Ability to add factory extended warranty is a huge plus as well.

:thumbsup: your right on the certified pre owned. it is so much less of a headache to know that we still have factory warranty, especially with all the electronics that it has! went on a mini road trip last weekend to Turner Valley, i'm so pleased with how it drives on the highway with the ACC and LKAS. We are off to Medicine Hat this weekend to see some family, i'm actually excited to do a bit of a longer drive with it.

the price difference between this and the other one (which was used 100x harder than ours lol) wasn't even 3k. I'll pay that every day for the cleanest example with no accident history.

[RX_EVOLV]

What makes a dealer decide to CPO a car or not? For example, I would see a 2014 X5 with 90K km that's CPO, but a 2015 X5 with 50K km that's not. All from the same BMW Dealership.

Is it because they deem the second car too much work required (e.g brakes, etc.) to be worth turning into a CPO? Should those be avoided?

[Mitsu3000gt]

What makes a dealer decide to CPO a car or not? For example, I would see a 2014 X5 with 90K km that's CPO, but a 2015 X5 with 50K km that's not. All from the same BMW Dealership.

Is it because they deem the second car too much work required (e.g brakes, etc.) to be worth turning into a CPO? Should those be avoided?

The 2015 is still under warranty, so you would buy an extended warranty instead or pay to have it certified which is basically the same thing. We have had dealers offer to certify cars for us before if we paid, and it was expensive.

[mzdspd]

What makes a dealer decide to CPO a car or not? For example, I would see a 2014 X5 with 90K km that's CPO, but a 2015 X5 with 50K km that's not. All from the same BMW Dealership.

Is it because they deem the second car too much work required (e.g brakes, etc.) to be worth turning into a CPO? Should those be avoided?

Can you check the carproof? It probably has a accident claim which means it cannot be CPO by BMW.

[nismodrifter]

Sounds like the one you bought is a certified pre owned. That's the way to go honestly, a little higher priced, but the dealer fix absolutely everything to make it as close to new as possible. Ability to add factory extended warranty is a huge plus as well.

Did this with my 2013 Infiniti Ex37. First car I have ever purchased from a dealership. Walked in, drove it, impressed, very clean example, car looked new. Spent about 5 mins negotiating, settled on ~$1500 off asking price. Picked up car next day. Easiest buying experience ever and I am very happy with the vehicle (essentially like new, it was 3 years old with 57k on it). Came with 1 year left on the comprehensive warranty, and its still on the drivetrain warranty (6yrs/100k).

[gmc72]

When I bought my 328 I had a number in mind, but was willing to raise it as the car was priced above my number. Basically after some back and forth, me walking out, and a phone call later, we settled on a price which was basically the asking price minus the GST, Doc fee, amvic fee. Pretty happy with the result.