Yeah don’t get me wrong y’all - I can be patient and wait for another vehicle to come on the market. There are many more out there just like this one, just not on the market right now. My only concern is that I don’t know exactly how long this credit approval is good for, I think if I’m going to do it I need to act reasonably fast in order to make the credit inquiry worth it.
The particular vehicle I’m looking at was just purchased at auction by the dealership a few weeks ago and its within my price range before any negotiations, with all the options on the vehicle I’d like.
It’s not a rare car by any means - it’s a few year old Lincoln MKZ. I’m just saying right now in my market this is the only one available in 150 miles at my price point, the mileage I’m willing to accept and it has all the options I was looking for in one of the cars. I’ve called on a few others that I saw online and all of them had already been sold a few days prior to me inquiring about them. In fact, I drove an hour to look at one that the salesman said was there, only to get there and see someone sitting in the parking lot in the car with a temp tag on the back. Just a string of bad luck trying to locate one that is decent, that’s all. I’m not trying to jump into anything or rush a decision but based on the last few weeks of me looking at these cars it seems like they’re in demand in my market so if I’m going to act, I need to act sooner rather than later unfortunately. I’d love for the dealer to sit on a car 30 or 60 days so I can go in and negotiate a better deal, but I’d rather pay a few hundred more and get into a car I like.
But I’ll play it by ear. I’ll call and ask to speak to the Sales Manager or Dealership Owner and see what they say. I only spoke to a sales person very briefly on the phone.
Not this particular vehicle. I did drive one and I liked it but I’d rather have AWD since I’m in Northeast Ohio and we get a lot of unfavorable road conditions, lol.
You need to get a pre purchase inspection done on this car. Also, wait to find a different mode elsewhere, this dealership is going to pull some sleazy tactics in you. They’re trying to get finance kick backs from their existing relationships with local banks.
It’s actually quite common practice for used car dealers to do this nowadays. It’s sleazy and underhanded, but they won’t accept cash purchases because they lose out on additional profit. Just like some for-profit universities that’s will only accept student loans and no cash for their course programs.
They’re likely sitting at a loss and want reserve to make up for it.
this. when it comes to pre-owned cars, there’s no incentive from the factory to lose money, which is why a lot of New vehicles people do CU. if you have it marked down already, then the only way to get out of it is with financing. very common with pre-owned. someone would rather not take the deal than give a car for under cost of purchase + recon.
I’m not the UCM of that store so I couldn’t give you a definitive answer but it happens when there’s more reconditioning (rotors, pads, etc) than expected. There isn’t a big gap from wholesale to retail when you take recon into account. F&I is the only thing that keeps used car departments afloat in this market.
My experience with the types of stores that OP is dealing with is that they haven’t done much reconditioning at all. Which is why I highly recommend getting a pre purchase inspection.
DUH. My bad I didn’t see it was a independent lot. They’re likely advertising at a loss to pull business over franchised lots (most people avoid independents, so they undercut franchised stores) and force F&I products on people that want to buy.
Highly recommend PPI and see if they can finance you at the same rate as your pre-approval. Other than that I don’t see them budging. I’d avoid the independent if I was in your situation.
Also, OP said this is a rare car (with the build & features) and only 1 within 150 miles thus making it even harder to believe that they’re listing it at a loss or something. Also, it doesn’t sound that MXZ is a Halo car that people will flock in to buy and they can switch or something.
Businesses can set their own terms of payment, so IMO its not illegal. Its shady since they clearly only want you to finance through THEIR banks which give them a much bigger cut.
