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Anyone ever bought a car off eBay? I just bought one; believe it or not the transaction went very smooth.

Danyale has been watching the internet and the dealerships in our area for a couple years now, seems like you can get a much better deal on cars coming out of Las Vegas. I guess their economy was hit pretty hard resulting in better car prices. We are getting it for about 10k less than retail value. The dealership at home has been selling lesser cars for much more. It’s still a whole lot of money, but my wife has been waiting patiently for a long time now, and we feel like we are getting a good deal.

Anyway, I never bought anything this big off eBay, so I wanted to share the good experience with you guys. I will see about posting pics or details if anyone is interested.

I am potentially looking to buy a new car as well. Never bought off the internet either but am curious of the thoughts/experiences of others. A $10k difference makes it well worth it imo.

I also have the following questions:

1. What is the typical markup on new cars above invoice price?

2. Any idea on what % of value is lost within the first year of owning a new car? I got a quote on a 2010 model, but they noted the same $ as a 2011. Doesn't make sense to me.

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"I built me a bomb and dropped it on every MFer who got in my way!"

Angelus,

The answer to both of your questions varies, based on make and model and how desperate the dealers are to move inventory.

Occasionally dealers will take a loss on vehicles. Generally that's pretty rare, but they can take a tax write-off for it, and often if they are willing to take a loss, they'll make it up on the back-end by getting money from the factory or the parent company. I've known Ford dealers to do that, in order to keep up their desired "market saturation," and they were incetivized by Ford Motor Company. So the dealer didn't actually lose on the deal.

Without something like that, its almost impossible to get them to sell a car for less that $500 above invoice, and its generally higher than that in my experience. Then you always have the BS "delivery fees" and crap that are non-negotiable.


As far as depreciation, I think it is generally the case that your vehicle loses ~30% resale value in less than a year. Cars are risky to finance due to this, and why banks allow you to finance the whole thing without a substantial downpayment I don't understand. I guess that's why gap insurance is so prevalent these days. Generally speaking, anyone who buys a new car is already underwater on it by the time they drive off the dealer's lot.

Some cars don't depreciate that fast, like a Honda. They generally hold their value longer. They do still lose a significant amount in the first year, however. Identical cars, (with the same make, year, miles, etc,) with one being "new" and one being "used or preowned" will sell for different amounts simply based on perception. You never know what's been done to a vehicle that's been owned by someone else. The dealer can account for everything that's been done by them, however, and the warranty has some additional value as well.

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Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!

Thanks for the comments Cet.

I just found it VERY odd that they quoted the same price for both the 2010 and 2011. If I bought the 2010 at that price I think I'd get hit with double the depreciation as soon as I drove it off the lot. I am fine with losing some value right away but do acknowledge the value that the warranty/security of a new car provides.

I may go for a test drive just to gauge how desperate the dealer wants to move the vehicle.

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"I built me a bomb and dropped it on every MFer who got in my way!"