I was out looking at cars on 10/01/06 and noticed a Dodge Magnum RT fully loaded for a great price of $21,988.00. I took the car for a test drive and decided to think about the car. I returned later that evening to talk terms.
When I returned I met with the salesman and started talking numbers. I informed the salesman that I have finacing through my bank and I just needed to talk about trade in value for my car.
He wanted me to fill out a credit application, I told him that I already had financing with my bank and I did not want another bureau inquiry on my credit report, he stated that they just needed it for the information, I said ok but I was not going to sign it (they did not need my signature for the information).
He then took down the information and went to look at my trade in, a 2002 Chrysler Sebring coupe with 73000 miles on it. He then took all the information to the man behind the counter. He returned with a blue book trade in value of $3700.
Next came the negotiation, I told him that my car was worth more then that and noticed that not all options were checked on the blue book report and he had the condition listed as fair and when asked if the blue book condition list was poor, fair, good and excellent he stated no. He then said that in order to get excellent you need all of your maintenance receipts, I then said what about good and he quickly changed the subject.
I then told him how much I wanted for my trade starting a little high of course, and he wanted to know what I wanted my payments to be, I reminded him that I already have financing with my bank and he said that they just needed to make sure that I could afford my payment and I told him my bank would not loan me the money if they thought I could not make the payment.
He went back to the man behind the desk and then the man came out and showed me the blue book report, I stated that not all options were on the report and he looked a little upset and said that all options were standard equipment and that they were automaticaly checked, I asked him to show me the list of standard options.
He got up, went back to the desk and returned in a couple of minutes with another blue book sheet, this time with a couple of options checked none of them were on my car. I then asked about the difference between fair and good condition and my question was ignored.
He then stated that $3700 was the best he could do and that if I wanted to pay $29900 for the car then I could get more for my trade, he must think I am stupid. I said sorry no deal, asked for my information to be shredded and watched him put it in the shredder and left.
When I returned home I went online to search the blue book value of my car and was not at all surprised to find out that infact there was a good condition category and my car fit the description perfectly and it even gave me options to check, for the options that were on my car. The trade in value for my car was $6200 with a retail value of $11900.
I called the man behind the desk the next day and asked him about the discrepancies and he stated that they rate all cars fair condition and that the blue book was a guidline, I told him that the guideline for a fair car was a lot different then the guideline for a good car. He tried to tell me about his Tahoe that he traded in, he only received a fair book price (like I would believe that).
I would suggest that if you go into Dick Hannah auto researce your car trade in value or better yet just go somewhere else.
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