Buying a vehicle

[spirit1]

Hi Tuggers. I have a question for you guys.

I love the Acura TL. I am driving my 4th TL....probably my last one since I am retired and not driving much these days. But...I occasionally look to see what is out there.

Both my sons drive the Acura MDX...a large suv. For young people it is a great vehicle and they are both really happy with it.

Well, about a month ago I found, on Autotrader, an incredible deal. A 2020 MDX with only 11000 km. It was a great price for a vehicle that both my sons like and I let them know about the vehicle in case they wanted to upgrade to a newer model.
Both declined.....they were not ready to trade in their suv's but they encouraged me to get my husband to look at it. Well...he did not want to trade in his rear wheel drive car (which he loves) for the MDX. He finds the suv rather high for him and prefers a car. Ok...but BOY did that vechicle ever call to me. I was almost going to buy it for myself...except I did not want an suv either...no matter how great this vehicle was...I was still happy with my car.

Oh...this suv was in a different province but my youngest son would fly out and drive it back if I wanted. The young salesman videoed the vehicle for me...he said it was a local car, elderly driver...etc etc. We had a long talk and I almost convinced myself to buy the darn thing. I thought about it....but reluctantly said no to the salesman. The suv got sold that weekend....and my son and I said...well.... that was the one that got away.

Anyway, my oldest son moved to that province this month and I was browsing MDX's for sale near him in case he was ready to finally sell his vehicle for something else. He has some extra cash from selling his house and his suv is getting up in miles.

Low and behold...what do I see? Same suv....same color, same mileage, same year.....different dealer. Honestly, how many 4 year old vehicles with 11000 km are out there? Oh..same city too.
So my question is.....the sales price for the suv a couple of months ago was a great price....and I was told it was sold. Could the dealer have just shuffled the vehicle to a sister dealership to see if they could still sell for the price they wanted? Is that common? Both car faxes showed local BC vehicles with no accidents. I really think it is the same suv.

So now I am really paranoid and not wanting to trust any salespeople.
Tell me I am wrong and there are two suv's in the same city with the same color, year and mileage and the dealer is not pulling a fast one.

 

[VacationForever]

Hi Tuggers. I have a question for you guys.

I love the Acura TL. I am driving my 4th TL....probably my last one since I am retired and not driving much these days. But...I occasionally look to see what is out there.

Both my sons drive the Acura MDX...a large suv. For young people it is a great vehicle and they are both really happy with it.

Well, about a month ago I found, on Autotrader, an incredible deal. A 2020 MDX with only 11000 km. It was a great price for a vehicle that both my sons like and I let them know about the vehicle in case they wanted to upgrade to a newer model.
Both declined.....they were not ready to trade in their suv's but they encouraged me to get my husband to look at it. Well...he did not want to trade in his rear wheel drive car (which he loves) for the MDX. He finds the suv rather high for him and prefers a car. Ok...but BOY did that vechicle ever call to me. I was almost going to buy it for myself...except I did not want an suv either...no matter how great this vehicle was...I was still happy with my car.

Oh...this suv was in a different province but my youngest son would fly out and drive it back if I wanted. The young salesman videoed the vehicle for me...he said it was a local car, elderly driver...etc etc. We had a long talk and I almost convinced myself to buy the darn thing. I thought about it....but reluctantly said no to the salesman. The suv got sold that weekend....and my son and I said...well.... that was the one that got away.

Anyway, my oldest son moved to that province this month and I was browsing MDX's for sale near him in case he was ready to finally sell his vehicle for something else. He has some extra cash from selling his house and his suv is getting up in miles.

Low and behold...what do I see? Same suv....same color, same mileage, same year.....different dealer. Honestly, how many 4 year old vehicles with 11000 km are out there? Oh..same city too.
So my question is.....the sales price for the suv a couple of months ago was a great price....and I was told it was sold. Could the dealer have just shuffled the vehicle to a sister dealership to see if they could still sell for the price they wanted? Is that common? Both car faxes showed local BC vehicles with no accidents. I really think it is the same suv.

So now I am really paranoid and not wanting to trust any salespeople.
Tell me I am wrong and there are two suv's in the same city with the same color, year and mileage and the dealer is not pulling a fast one.

Did you check out the CarFax? CarFax would have the VIN number and that way you would know for sure if it is the same car.. Maybe that salesperson decided not to sell to you for whatever reason, or another dealership paid them a couple of thousand dollars plus whatever base price. I don't buy used car but if I do I would make sure I have CarFax on it.

 

[TolmiePeak]

How many cars does your family need? Have you considered doing some house cleaning and reducing the number of cars in your household to one?

 

[spirit1]

Did you check out the CarFax? CarFax would have the VIN number and that way you would know for sure if it is the same car.. Maybe that salesperson decided not to sell to you for whatever reason, or another dealership paid them a couple of thousand dollars plus whatever base price. I don't buy used car but if I do I would make sure I have CarFax on it.

Thanks for the reply. I did have the car fax for the first suv...but when we did not buy, I cleared my email account and deleted the information.
Yeah, my son and I were both talking to the salesman but since we lived in different provinces maybe he thought we were not serious.
My son actually bought his MDX from a dealer in that same province. He flew down, bought the car and drove it back.
We live in Alberta and our winter roads are rough on cars. The sand and rock chips do a number on paint and windshields.
BC does not get a lot of snow and so their cars are "cleaner" than cars from Alberta. Quite a few Albertans go to BC to buy vehicles for that reason. Plus, Vancouver and Kelowna have a lot of wealthy people and you can get some really nicely looked after luxury-type vehicles with low km.
My husband and I have always bought locally but hey....with the internet the possibilities are better than they were just 10 years ago.
PS. Just my own observation. Prices for second hand vehicles are really really high...a fallout from the pandemic I think. So, I think we will just drive our cars for a few more years....and you never know...buy hybrid?

 

[VacationForever]

How many cars does your family need? Have you considered doing some house cleaning and reducing the number of cars in your household to one?

Not sure what you are reading that I am not. I believe OP only has one car or maybe two between herself and husband.

 

[spirit1]

How many cars does your family need? Have you considered doing some house cleaning and reducing the number of cars in your household to one?

Well...my sons do not live with us so just my husband and myself. My sons and I just happen to like the Acura brand.
Sigh....I am retired and find I love looking for cars online. Both our cars are older and could be replaced...just not yet.
And I do volunteer work so need my car 3-4 times a week...we will be a two car family for a few more years.
Housework? Nah....that does not really interest me.

 

[spirit1]

Not sure what you are reading that I am not. I believe OP only has one car or maybe two between herself and husband.

Hi. Yes, you are right. Just the two vehicles...but both adult sons happened to like the Acura brand...like me.
I had to laugh at the housecleaning comment.
Must have been a guy....no woman would have suggested that

I just wanted to know if dealers shopped vehicles around to maintain high prices...that's all.

 

[VacationForever]

I had to laugh at the housecleaning comment.
Must have been a guy....no woman would have suggested that

To be honest, that comment was somewhat offensive. Even if I have 10 cars, it's none of the person's business.

 

[WorldT]

Dealerships can shuffle cars around. However, if the price was low and you were told it was sold, then that is unlikely as there is no point in shuffling around car with those characteristics.
Assuming you saw the same car, the more likely explanation for that is something is going on with the car and you are likely better off not buying it.

 

[spirit1]

To be honest, that comment was somewhat offensive. Even if I have 10 cars, it's none of the person's business.

Cheers!!!!!

 

[spirit1]

Dealerships can shuffle cars around. However, if the price was low and you were told it was sold, then that is unlikely as there is no point in shuffling around car with those characteristics.
Assuming you saw the same car, the more likely explanation for that is something is going on with the car and you are likely better off not buying it.

Yes, there is something that rings true in your answer.
The mileage is very low for a 4 year old vehicle...but they do show up. I found my husband's beautiful 2007 Lexus sedan with only 27000 km. It was about 8 years old at the time we bought it...but the man who owned it bought it, got sick and didn't drive it much after that. After he passed his wife could not sell the car for 5 years and when she put it up for sale, I just happened to see her ad the day she posted it. I made my husband go see it and he bought it the next day. We were not looking for a car at the time but the car was just like new and at a price we could afford. And she was happy to sell the car to someone who appreciated the car's value and in a safe manner.
But something just does not seem right in this situation.
Thanks for the comment.

 

[Bucky]

The first time you saw this vehicle at a great price there is a good chance it was an aged unit approaching the 75 days in inventory mark. Most dealers pay flooring charges on these vehicles every month and when it hits the 75 day mark curtailments set in! Used to be 90 days but covid changed verything. Most dealers don’t let a vehicle get that old before moving it. They would rather take it to auction and take a chance than have it sitting on their lot costing them money. Your sales person typically won’t know what happened to a vehicle. They just assumed it was sold rather than try and explain this to a customer. The same applies when you see new vehicles at great prices. Usually there is some type of factory to dealer incentives that we as consumers are not aware of. Obviously there was a reason this vehicle was still hanging around. Personally I would steer clear if I couldn’t figure that reason out. Could be something as easy as a bad color or missing options or something more deeper that one might find on a test drive.

 

[spirit1]

The first time you saw this vehicle at a great price there is a good chance it was an aged unit approaching the 75 days in inventory mark. Most dealers pay flooring charges on these vehicles every month and when it hits the 75 day mark curtailments set in! Used to be 90 days but covid changed verything. Most dealers don’t let a vehicle get that old before moving it. They would rather take it to auction and take a chance than have it sitting on their lot costing them money. Your sales person typically won’t know what happened to a vehicle. They just assumed it was sold rather than try and explain this to a customer. The same applies when you see new vehicles at great prices. Usually there is some type of factory to dealer incentives that we as consumers are not aware of. Obviously there was a reason this vehicle was still hanging around. Personally I would steer clear if I couldn’t figure that reason out. Could be something as easy as a bad color or missing options or something more deeper that one might find on a test drive.

Hi Bucky. Thanks for the great explanation.
I do not mean to be racist...but we have Chinese friends and they laugh about this...but I know they still use some feng shui in their home. When they bought their house they joked that one feature that sold them...was the bathroom was mostly red and the Chinese love red.
Well...this suv is pearl white....and Richmond BC tends to have a lot of Chinese population. It might be just as simple as white being the color of death for the Chinese people and they avoid white products.
Who knows. My husband's car is a black Lexus. It really is a beautiful car and he loves it...keeps it really clean...but he laughs this will be his one and only black car. Good thing he is planning on keeping it for another 20 years!!!
However, the biggest reason we are not buying...it is a whole province over. The days of driving 12 hours to look at a vehicle are over for us!!!
Cheers and thanks for your answer.

 

[wackymother]

I'm suspicious, honestly. We have gone into dealerships to look at cars that were excellent deals--only to find that once we got there, the car had "just sold" and was gone. It was a bait-and-switch intended to get us into the dealership. Of course when that happened we got really annoyed and didn't want to look at any other cars from that dealership. But I'm sure it often works.

In your case, with a 12-hour drive between you and the dealership, they may have decided not to torment you. So they told you it was sold. After they had used it for bait for a while, they stopped advertising it and then started again a month later.

 

[spirit1]

I'm suspicious, honestly. We have gone into dealerships to look at cars that were excellent deals--only to find that once we got there, the car had "just sold" and was gone. It was a bait-and-switch intended to get us into the dealership. Of course when that happened we got really annoyed and didn't want to look at any other cars from that dealership. But I'm sure it often works.

In your case, with a 12-hour drive between you and the dealership, they may have decided not to torment you. So they told you it was sold. After they had used it for bait for a while, they stopped advertising it and then started again a month later.

I think you might have a good point here about bait and switch.
The thing is...it is a different dealership....not just a different dealership but a different BRAND dealership.
Or...there might be two vehicles that just happen to be similar. That could be possible....but what are the chances of finding two four year old vehicles of the same make, color and mileage...a very very low 11000 km?
Anyway, good thing I still love my Acura TL.

You know...you make another great point. Being out of town....and the salesman knew that my son was willing to fly down, inspect the car and then, if it checked out, buy it and drive it home for us.....if we would have gone all that way for just a bait and switch to happen.....I would have been really ticked off...and posting all over my social media sites.

My son actually did that. He found his MDX at a dealership in Kelowna, flew down, and bought it. We live in Alberta, a province over. But the dealership had a good reputation...a coworker of his had bought from them recently and recommended the salesperson. We did not have a personal connection with the dealership in a different city.

 

[Chrispee]

In B.C. there are a handful of dealership groups that own multiple different brands of dealerships (Dilawri, Jim Pattison, OpenToad etc.). It would not be strange to see them move stale used inventory between different branded dealerships.

I assume you’re referring to a vehicle located in Richmond? Chinese-Canadians absolutely do buy white vehicles; it is a popular colour in Richmond.

I also wouldn’t say it is impossible to have two white 2020 MDXs for sale with 11k KMS (although unlikely) as the timing lines up with the end of the ever popular 4-year lease term.

 

[wackymother]

I think you might have a good point here about bait and switch.
The thing is...it is a different dealership....not just a different dealership but a different BRAND dealership.
Or...there might be two vehicles that just happen to be similar. That could be possible....but what are the chances of finding two four year old vehicles of the same make, color and mileage...a very very low 11000 km?
Anyway, good thing I still love my Acura TL.

You know...you make another great point. Being out of town....and the salesman knew that my son was willing to fly down, inspect the car and then, if it checked out, buy it and drive it home for us.....if we would have gone all that way for just a bait and switch to happen.....I would have been really ticked off...and posting all over my social media sites.

My son actually did that. He found his MDX at a dealership in Kelowna, flew down, and bought it. We live in Alberta, a province over. But the dealership had a good reputation...a coworker of his had bought from them recently and recommended the salesperson. We did not have a personal connection with the dealership in a different city.

The car might actually have sold when you first saw it. An unscrupulous dealership could still advertise it again and if someone pursues it--oh sorry, it just sold. If they have the Carfax or the VIN number posted, though, I would make a note of it just to start trying to figure out what's going on.

(We also went to a dealership once to look at a specific car, kind of an unusual, hard-to-find one; the salesman assured us that the car was there and the price was, let's say $20,000. When we got there, lots of apparent confusion, salesman discovered the car was still on a truck in the Midwest and would not arrive for at least a week, and when it got there, it wouldn't be $20,000, it would be much more, how could we have thought it would be that low? Ugh. We've had some seriously unpleasant experiences at car dealerships. We have a Subaru dealership nearby that's always done right by us, but unfortunately we mostly buy Toyotas. We haven't found a really trustworthy Toyota dealership.)

 

[spirit1]

In B.C. there are a handful of dealership groups that own multiple different brands of dealerships (Dilawri, Jim Pattison, OpenToad etc.). It would not be strange to see them move stale used inventory between different branded dealerships.

I assume you’re referring to a vehicle located in Richmond? Chinese-Canadians absolutely do buy white vehicles; it is a popular colour in Richmond.

I also wouldn’t say it is impossible to have two white 2020 MDXs for sale with 11k KMS (although unlikely) as the timing lines up with the end of the ever popular 4-year lease term.

Thank you. You make some very good points. I will be discussing this with my son...he is not as addicted to looking for cars as I am.... but he was disappointed we did not buy the MDX.
However, like I always tell him...there is always another vehicle.

 

[spirit1]

The car might actually have sold when you first saw it. An unscrupulous dealership could still advertise it again and if someone pursues it--oh sorry, it just sold. If they have the Carfax or the VIN number posted, though, I would make a note of it just to start trying to figure out what's going on.

(We also went to a dealership once to look at a specific car, kind of an unusual, hard-to-find one; the salesman assured us that the car was there and the price was, let's say $20,000. When we got there, lots of apparent confusion, salesman discovered the car was still on a truck in the Midwest and would not arrive for at least a week, and when it got there, it wouldn't be $20,000, it would be much more, how could we have thought it would be that low? Ugh. We've had some seriously unpleasant experiences at car dealerships. We have a Subaru dealership nearby that's always done right by us, but unfortunately we mostly buy Toyotas. We haven't found a really trustworthy Toyota dealership.)

I really enjoyed your story. Interesting the things we run up against when we go looking to buy a vehicle....or a timeshare eh?

Back in the day...whenever I needed a car....my husband would go and find one for me. I had absolutely no time or interest in car shopping. (I work out of town and put a lot of miles on our vehicles....and he was kinda of a car nut...he went and looked for a bit...found a good used car and I drove them!!!)
But then, when I was ready to sell my Buick Regal, and replace it with another American car....I noticed that the quality had gone down in American cars. I test drove an Acura TL and fell in love with the quality of the car. We paid way too much for it....but it was our first Japanese car and I really loved the sporty aspect of the TL. I am driving my fourth TL.....and am still in love with it.
What has shocked me is the really high price of used vehicles...especially if they are being sold privately. Sometimes the dealers have the best quality and prices compared to what is being sold privately now. At least up in Canada.
And so....here we are. Money in our pocket and nothing to buy!!!!Well...nothing we WANT OR NEED TO BUY...nice place to be in actually.
Good luck with your vehicle search.

 

[callwill]

How many cars does your family need? Have you considered doing some house cleaning and reducing the number of cars in your household to one?

That's really none of your business is it?

 

[callwill]

In B.C. there are a handful of dealership groups that own multiple different brands of dealerships (Dilawri, Jim Pattison, OpenToad etc.). It would not be strange to see them move stale used inventory between different branded dealerships.

I assume you’re referring to a vehicle located in Richmond? Chinese-Canadians absolutely do buy white vehicles; it is a popular colour in Richmond.

I also wouldn’t say it is impossible to have two white 2020 MDXs for sale with 11k KMS (although unlikely) as the timing lines up with the end of the ever popular 4-year lease term.

White is the most popular car color .

 

[callwill]

Hi Tuggers. I have a question for you guys.

I love the Acura TL. I am driving my 4th TL....probably my last one since I am retired and not driving much these days. But...I occasionally look to see what is out there.

Both my sons drive the Acura MDX...a large suv. For young people it is a great vehicle and they are both really happy with it.

Well, about a month ago I found, on Autotrader, an incredible deal. A 2020 MDX with only 11000 km. It was a great price for a vehicle that both my sons like and I let them know about the vehicle in case they wanted to upgrade to a newer model.
Both declined.....they were not ready to trade in their suv's but they encouraged me to get my husband to look at it. Well...he did not want to trade in his rear wheel drive car (which he loves) for the MDX. He finds the suv rather high for him and prefers a car. Ok...but BOY did that vechicle ever call to me. I was almost going to buy it for myself...except I did not want an suv either...no matter how great this vehicle was...I was still happy with my car.

Oh...this suv was in a different province but my youngest son would fly out and drive it back if I wanted. The young salesman videoed the vehicle for me...he said it was a local car, elderly driver...etc etc. We had a long talk and I almost convinced myself to buy the darn thing. I thought about it....but reluctantly said no to the salesman. The suv got sold that weekend....and my son and I said...well.... that was the one that got away.

Anyway, my oldest son moved to that province this month and I was browsing MDX's for sale near him in case he was ready to finally sell his vehicle for something else. He has some extra cash from selling his house and his suv is getting up in miles.

Low and behold...what do I see? Same suv....same color, same mileage, same year.....different dealer. Honestly, how many 4 year old vehicles with 11000 km are out there? Oh..same city too.
So my question is.....the sales price for the suv a couple of months ago was a great price....and I was told it was sold. Could the dealer have just shuffled the vehicle to a sister dealership to see if they could still sell for the price they wanted? Is that common? Both car faxes showed local BC vehicles with no accidents. I really think it is the same suv.

So now I am really paranoid and not wanting to trust any salespeople.
Tell me I am wrong and there are two suv's in the same city with the same color, year and mileage and the dealer is not pulling a fast one.

Its is not unusual to see vehicles shuffled around dealerships.

 

[wackymother]

I really enjoyed your story. Interesting the things we run up against when we go looking to buy a vehicle....or a timeshare eh?

Back in the day...whenever I needed a car....my husband would go and find one for me. I had absolutely no time or interest in car shopping. (I work out of town and put a lot of miles on our vehicles....and he was kinda of a car nut...he went and looked for a bit...found a good used car and I drove them!!!)
But then, when I was ready to sell my Buick Regal, and replace it with another American car....I noticed that the quality had gone down in American cars. I test drove an Acura TL and fell in love with the quality of the car. We paid way too much for it....but it was our first Japanese car and I really loved the sporty aspect of the TL. I am driving my fourth TL.....and am still in love with it.
What has shocked me is the really high price of used vehicles...especially if they are being sold privately. Sometimes the dealers have the best quality and prices compared to what is being sold privately now. At least up in Canada.
And so....here we are. Money in our pocket and nothing to buy!!!!Well...nothing we WANT OR NEED TO BUY...nice place to be in actually.
Good luck with your vehicle search.

I kind of like the chase too. And I have ANOTHER story. We went to a dealership to look at a car--this time we really needed one. Looked at the car, very nice. But if we wanted to pay cash--$2500 in fees! Okay, whatever, still a good price. Arranged a trade-in on our very old car.

The night we arrived to pick up the new car, the manager took us aside and said that the dealership's own snowplow had been clearing the lot and had sideswiped the car! But that he would give us $1000 off the price for it. I hit the roof (bc they had absolutely jerked us around completely in so many ways already) and said forget it, we don't want it, we bought a car that had never been in an accident and now it's a car that has been in an accident. We drove home in our old old car. I was absolutely smoking.

And you know that car was back for sale a week later for more money. I still don't know if it really was actually damaged or if it was just some sort of trick.

 

[Tia]

The last new vehicle we got I was looking for a sedan AWD, but a friend talked about his new 2019 Toyota Highlander and the great deal he got before the next years models came out. I looked and then brought the other half, after doing some online shopping in Denver. We love our Highlander, it's our first SUV.

 

[jp10558]

Used car buying is quite a minefield. I wouldn't without taking someone who knows cars a bit with you, or figuring out reasonably independent mechanics near the dealership or private party and insisting on a pre sale inspection by the shop. We've seen some doozies, especially back when we kind of needed a used half ton pick up in 2022. Trucks with codes reset, trucks with codes, bad running engines, rust issues, people arguing about codes etc. It was crazy. And used prices are still sky high today. I was looking for a road trip minivan potentially and 11 year old 100k ones were going for $15,000ish. With the 11 percent used car loan rates, that's just insane. I guess some people are paying, but not me.

I was already on the fence about trading in my old car for a new bigger SUV or keeping it and adding a cheap minivan for the road trips. Well, when there were no acceptable to me $7,000 ones out there, and I ran the numbers, my payments with trade and money down worked out to be the same on a new SUV vs an 11 year old minivan, so there we go.

I prefer buying new anyway in that the warranty means I don't need to worry about getting surprised. Then again, you can't really get exactly what you want new and get a great price either lol.