New car purchase info, please

[AZKathy]

We were looking at a new vehicle. During the negotiations for this new 2003 car, you know...pretty far into negotiations, they inform DH that this vehicle was used in a golf tournament. They could not give him the mileage (it was in the shop for a broken dip stick????) since the repair dude was on lunch. One quote was around 100 miles, then somewhere in conversation was 900-1000 miles. They wanted the asking price (minus the car company rebate offered) and made no accomodations for this being used in a golf tournament! There was a price on the window in large numbers for one figure, but they would only negotiate on the sticker price (actually the invoice price plus 1%) which was $2000 higher than the big price on the front window!!!!!

Would this car now be considered a used vs. new? Should there not at least be a good discount on the vechicle since it was in a golf tournament?

DH walked out. Need opinions on this.

I know we are not gonna get this one...but, WAAAAHHHHHH!!! It was what I wanted, a 2003 steel blue 5 speed turbo PT Cruiser (I have become a PT Cruiser convert; I used to hate them!).

Anyone deals in cars? I would love to know if any of you think this should have been a "used" vehicle or the appropriate discount for this kind of car used in a golf tournament. If anything, I would like to write a letter appropriate people if need be. We are certainly not going back to that dealership!!!

Thanks!!!!!!

 

[jfulcer]

Good job. If they're gonna play hardball, go to a dealership that will work with you.

I don't think the car would be considered used, but I don't know if I'd consider it new. There should be at least a little discount for it being used in a tournament. The dealerships that do the gofl tournaments around here advertise car deals for cars that were used in tournaments. I'd suggest checking out www.consumerreports.org or some other sites for new car buying. It'll help you find out how much you REALLY should be paying for the car - and it's NOT the sticker price or even the painted on price...

Good luck!

 

[movingtoorlando]

i don't know the DMV Law in AZ, but here in CT, as long as the vechicle has never been registered with DMV, it can be sold as new. For example the owner of the dealer I worked for got a new car in june, next june he got another. He put the old one on the lot with 20,000 miles, now by law he could sell that as new, he didn't he always put them on as used, but could.
I think that would be false advertisement though $2,000 over the price on the window and I think I would have let the dept. of consumer protection, and DMV know about it. good luck with what ever you decide.

 

[Mskanga]

i don't know the DMV Law in AZ, but here in CT, as long as the vechicle has never been registered with DMV, it can be sold as new. For example the owner of the dealer I worked for got a new car in june, next june he got another. He put the old one on the lot with 20,000 miles, now by law he could sell that as new

WOW , that's something I didn't know , but if that is the case in some states , I guess it's time to change the law.
No way anyone is going to make me buy a car with mileage in it and say it's new, I mean some miles is Ok, like for example my car had 144 miles when we bought it , and I still made sure it was documented for warranty reasons, but if the car has 1000 miles, to me that is not new , it's almost like a one way drive from my home to florida.
I would try to negotiate the price, if you want it that bad you may want to call Chrysler , they may be able to help.

 

[FANTASMIC]

here in vermont a car is considered new as long as it has not been titled before. The franchise that i work for, not chrysler, will allow up to 3,000 miles before it is considered a demo. In any case you should get a discount but i have seen vehicles go out of here with close to 1,000 miles on them due to dealer swaps and no discount was given. I don't think calling chrysler will help. Its all in how much you want the vehicle

 

[faith]

I think they still call those type of cars demos here in Michigan. Used for test drives etc. I think you made a wise decision to try another dealer. There should be plenty of good deals out there rigth now on brand new, never driven cars. Good luck.

 

[Gone Disney]

I can't comment on the status of new or not legally. But I will tell you that where I live (near to Daytona Beach FL ) they loan out cars/trucks all the time for the races and such events and they do sell them as new with a discounted price. Least that's what they told me as they tried to sell me one.

As for the rest of it, I would NEVER buy any vehicle for sticker price minus rebates. I recently bought a 02 truck and the dealer came down over 7,000.00 to start. This was a new truck, no problems. He still made money and I got treated fair. Go to Edmunds.com and to http://carbuyingtips.com/

Carbuyingtips has a woksheet you can use to see what you should pay for a vehicle. I think it's at http://www.carbuyingtips.com/download.htm

I hate seeing people get ripped off by dealers. I would not buy that car as new no matter what the dealer can do legally. It has still been used. Ask them if they plan to extend the warranty by however many miles is on the car if they insist on it being new. If your normal warranty is 36,000 miles and there are 1,000 miles on it have them extend the warranty to 37,000. If you are payin for "NEW" but getting used where is the deal at?

 

[MICKEY88]

couldn't you look at the odometer to see how much mileage is on the car....

 

[AZKathy]

Originally posted by MICKEY88
couldn't you look at the odometer to see how much mileage is on the car....

What a marvy idea!

The car was over in the repair area to repair some dip stick problem and the guy was out for lunch and he had the key. Some rule that only one person who takes care of the car could start it. Odometer is digital.

 

[mum4jenn]

My dh just bought a 2003 Buick Rendezvous and it was also used for a golf event. (I wonder if Tiger Woods drove it???!!!)

Dh got a great deal on it though. He had gone to several dealers and they had given him the run around big time. He went to this dealership and they were very wonderful! They even installed a tow package free of charge!!

 

[SplshMtn99]

In MA:

If the car has the "Certificate of Origin" -- then it's new. (Ex: a dealer could have a demo car with over 3000 miles on it ...but it would still be new --- because it's never been sold.)

If it has a "title" -- then it's been titled to someone (but not necessarily registered)....and it's considered used.