Toyota Corolla

[BeanoNYC]

Alright so my Jetta is officially past it's warranty at 51K miles. I've had major electrical problems with it for the past few months. It looks like it will be expensive to keep. I'm thinking of getting a Corolla. Does anyone have experience (good, bad) with this vehicle? I've sent emails to the 5 dealerships within 20 miles of my house and am looking to negotiate a price via the internet. (This way I can avoid the high pressure sales pitch and make a decision and/or counteroffers with edmunds.com at my fingertips)

Also what are your experiences with trading a car in. Ethically, I can't dish this car off to an individual. Am I better trading it into the dealer or offering it to a used car lot?

 

[smitty77]

Am I better trading it into the dealer or offering it to a used car lot?

One plus I found when trading to a dealer: If they don't want to budge on the sticker price of the new vehicle, you can usually get them to negotiate a better trade allowance before you threaten to walk out the door.

For example: I played two dealers against each other this way. Saturn dealer #1 gave me a nice trade-in value, but couldn't haggle on the sticker price. (This was back when Saturn had the no-haggle pricing). Found Saturn dealer #2 giving $500 corporate rebates to move year end stock. Went back to dealer #1 with the news, and he upped the trade-in value from $6000 to $7000. (Dealer #2 trade-in would have been $5200, but I didn't tell dealer #1 that.)

As far as corollas go, I've never owned one but know a few people that would never own anything else but a Toyota.

Good Luck. Smitty

 

[Greg]

...am looking to negotiate a price via the internet. (This way I can avoid the high pressure sales pitch and make a decision and/or counteroffers with edmunds.com at my fingertips)

Great approach. I've bought my last three new vehicles with data in hand from edmunds.com. Never pay more than 3% over invoice. Make an offer at invoice price and work up if you have to. My approach has been to spec out a vehicle and get the invoice price online. I then call a number of (3-5) local dealers and ask the receptionist for the "best" dealer to work with. Indicate to the dealer that you're interested in buying a car today. Provide the specs and if they have one, indicate you'll pay $X (based on the invoice price). The one that comes closest to the invoice price gets the sale. Be sure to have all the option prices laid out in front of you in the event you need to do some quick math to adjust your offer based on what they have available. If a dealer can make a quick sale with limited effort on his part, chances are he'll let it go for little or nothing over invoice. Good luck!

 

[hammer]

Great approach. I've bought my last three new vehicles with data in hand from edmunds.com. Never pay more than 3% over invoice. Make an offer at invoice price and work up if you have to. My approach has been to spec out a vehicle and get the invoice price online.

This is great advice...the only thing I would add is that if you want a vehicle that is in high demand you may have to be willing to pay more.

I found Edmunds to be a great resource in this case -- the last time I purchased a new vehicle, I used the True Market Value feature to get an idea of how much I should pay before I checked around at dealers. As Greg mentioned, knowing what the option prices are ahead of time helps a lot.

I may have paid somewhat more than 3% over invoice on my last vehicle, but I got what I wanted and I was able to get at least some $$ taken off of the sticker price.

One other note; my last purchase was a Toyota, and the overall quality has been by far the best (even beating out Honda and Acura). Unfortunately, I've had enough bad experiences with US makes (Ford and Chrysler) that I don't know if I'm ever going to purchase a "domestic" vehicle again...

 

[Greg]

One other comment. Be sure that you agree on a price before any rebates or incentives are applied. Don't let them talk you into using the rebates to come down towards the invoice price from the MSRP.

 

[SkiDog]

Dont really know anything bout the corolla, but I am super surprised that you have had issues with, what seems to be a relatively new, jetta....usually those thinkgs just go...

Sorry to hear it...

Good luck with the corolla.

M

 

[SkiDog]

Oh yeah and DONT tell them you have a trade in until you have the PRICE you want...just pretend you're going to sell in through the newspaper...or have a buyer..then drop it in them AFTER you get the price in writing...Dont think your going to get what Edmunds says for your used car either..the dealers are now using a Wholesale book called GALVES, the prices are WAY lower there than at Edmunds or Kellybluebook..

M

 

[Greg]

Oh yeah and DONT tell them you have a trade in until you have the PRICE you want...just pretend you're going to sell in through the newspaper...or have a buyer..then drop it in them AFTER you get the price in writing...Dont think your going to get what Edmunds says for your used car either..the dealers are now using a Wholesale book called GALVES, the prices are WAY lower there than at Edmunds or Kellybluebook..

M

Great advice here too. It's true. Galves is a solid 20% lower than Edmunds or KBB in my experience.

 

[SkiDog]

Oh yeah and DONT tell them you have a trade in until you have the PRICE you want...just pretend you're going to sell in through the newspaper...or have a buyer..then drop it in them AFTER you get the price in writing...Dont think your going to get what Edmunds says for your used car either..the dealers are now using a Wholesale book called GALVES, the prices are WAY lower there than at Edmunds or Kellybluebook..

M

Great advice here too. It's true. Galves is a solid 20% lower than Edmunds or KBB in my experience.

Its great right...they use one book until someone comes up with some new "equation" to value the car....one thats lower...now THATS the standard...how is the consumer supposed to keep up...?

Crazy that galves is...crazy i tell ya.

M

 

[BeanoNYC]

Thanks for all your help. I've done some researching. Toyota gives a 2% holdover payment to the dealer based on the base MSRP. I'm planning on offering a price under invoice adjusted accordingly and working my way up from there. I did my research on the dealerships and the two I chose have at least 30 Corolla's in stock. The one I'll probably buy from is the number 1 toyota seller in the north east, so they make their money on quanity of sales and quanity of work in the service department.

Thanks for the info on the trade in as well. I'm getting the ride detailed this week for the evaluation.

Yes the Jetta is a fun car to drive and zips nicely through the NYC traffic, but I can't rely on it. More importantly, It's my wife's ride and I can't have it breaking down on her anymore. It's sad because I originally bought it thinking I would own it to 100K miles .... oh well.

 

[awf170]

my mom had a new corolla when her car was getting fixed... she had it for about a month and loved it, before that she had a jetta, she loved it but it had to many little problems

 

[Stephen]

Just rolled 120K on my 2000 Corolla. Oil changes and tires are the only maintenance thus far... going in for brakes next week. Probably should get the T-belt done too.

-Stephen

 

[HughK]

Echo of Stephen's comments.

Our 93 Corrolla has 125K miles, kept up with the oil changes and tires/brakes are the only additional expenses. You can't kill the thing.

No body rot. It holds its own on the highway with MPG for highway still around 30.

Use Edmunds and follow the advice and don't be afraid to walk away. Look for dealer service and attitude.

Hughk

 

[bigbog]

Corolla, great car...im $.01_opinion. Lots of top engineers in US used to go(& still do) to Defense. Lots of top Japanese grads have gone & still do...to the automakers instead. Keep up with maintenance...especially electrical system checks. It's easy to get lulled into complacency. My first car was a Corrolla, went over 300K....I seized up the engine...from not getting tuneup in its latter life. Was driving it with burned out oil/engine-temp lights...etc....never knew it till too late. Just watch the body surface, they're thin... There are some good 3rd party exhaust/intake systems..not the ultra noisy either...that grab and Use every bit of combustion.
$.01...

 

[dmc]

We had a mid 70's Corolla wagon growing up in Ohio...

It rusted out in three years... Eventually it was too unsafe to drive on the road so we used it to cart hay the farm around..

I guess they're better now...

 

[BeanoNYC]

We had a mid 70's Corolla wagon growing up in Ohio...

It rusted out in three years... Eventually it was too unsafe to drive on the road so we used it to cart hay the farm around..

I guess they're better now...

God, I hope so!

Thanks everyone. I'll be purchasing it within the next week or so.

 

[BeanoNYC]

Alright. I went to a dealer on Long Island this morning. Armed with my printouts from Edmunds.com. Met with a salesman who got to me as I walked in the door. He had two Corolla S's one black and one white. I liked the white one better. After about 70 minutes of back and forth discussions we came to this agreement.

MSRP: $17,725.00
Invoice Cost to Dealer: $16,284.00 (My Starting bid was $100.00 lower than that.)
What I paid: $16,300.00 (Yes folks that's $16.00 over invoice)

When he asked me how he was supposed to make a profit I reminded him of the $312.50 he would make on the 2% Base MSRP holdback payment he would get from Toyota.

Kelly Blue Book for excellent condition Jetta: $8700.00
I asked for: $8500.00 (fair condition, some scratches)
Final Trade in: $8200.00

Final Cash Price before all those nasty taxes and fees: $8100

They had it ready for me in two hours. My wife wanted to drive it home so I took the liberty of having a few cocktails at lunch while we waited.:beer:

Thanks everyone for your helpful input!

-Rich-

 

[ALLSKIING]

Alright. I went to a dealer on Long Island this morning. Armed with my printouts from Edmunds.com. Met with a salesman who got to me as I walked in the door. He had two Corolla S's one black and one white. I liked the white one better. After about 70 minutes of back and forth discussions we came to this agreement.

MSRP: $17,725.00
Invoice Cost to Dealer: $16,284.00 (My Starting bid was $100.00 lower than that.)
What I paid: $16,300.00 (Yes folks that's $16.00 over invoice)

When he asked me how he was supposed to make a profit I reminded him of the $312.50 he would make on the 2% Base MSRP holdback payment he would get from Toyota.

Kelly Blue Book for excellent condition Jetta: $8700.00
I asked for: $8500.00 (fair condition, some scratches)
Final Trade in: $8200.00

Final Cash Price before all those nasty taxes and fees: $8100

They had it ready for me in two hours. My wife wanted to drive it home so I took the liberty of having a few cocktails at lunch while we waited.:beer:

Thanks everyone for your helpful input!

-Rich-

Nice job Sounds like you got a great deal. :beer: