Funny story, and how car dealers work...

[s_c5519]

About a month ago, I was at local Chevy, used to be Hummer dealer too. Oh I will add, that the big cool looking H buiding is still intact next door from when they used to sell Hummers there. So you would think these guys know their stuff... You'll see later why I bring this up...

I was looking at Corvettes/Camaros and I eventually get talking with the general manager who has worked there forever... I had my H2 there (he knew I was NOT looking to trade it in) and he said "we sell those like crazy, we can't keep them on the lot. So I know he was serious because every time I see one on the lot, it does go pretty quickly...

Fast forward to yesterday, I was driving by there with my 08 that I have for sale and thought "dumb idea, but since I'm here, just in case, you never know, see if he gives me a decent price outright without a trade for it"...

He starts off saying "we cant sell those H'2s" followed by "I had a guy come in with two 2010 H2's to sell me to me today and the seller was shocked to see how little they were going for at auction" ...so the deal didn't go through...

Now I dont think I have ever even seen two H2's driving around town here in one week, so of course the chances of someone coming in with two ANY YEAR H2's, the same day are astronomical, never mind the odds of someone with two 2010 H2's...

Of course I know he was lying and I said quite nicely, "oh they didn't make a 2010 H2, they stopped making them in 09". I figured he was gonna say oh sorry it was an 08 or 09 or even an H3, but no, to my shock a small disagreement pursued. After a bit he actually got up and walked across the room and came back with a NADA used car guide and was pretty shocked to see no 2010 in there. I said "it's ok, I understand how this works and it was a nice try though"... He really didn't know there were no 2010's, he was just trying to lowball me with that story of course..

Almost immediately he goes back to saying they still can't sell them, how little they are worth, but can still give me about $10k under trade for it!!! So end of story.... Crooks! ...LOL...

[H2duramax]

Sounds typical... I tried to trade a superduty crewcab with the powerstroke diesel motor with 115k on it and they offered me $7000 for it. The salesman told me that it was because nobody was buying big diesel trucks these days. With that info I asked what kind of deals they had on the gmc hd diesels they were selling new... His reply was that the best they could do was a thousand off sticker because they could not keep them on the lot! Uhhh ok, so nobody is buying ford diesels? Anyway I left and sold it out right two weeks later for $17000. Crooks! It always seems what you have is worth nothing and what they are pushing is priceless.

[s_c5519]

lol that's a good story too!

[glennf1]

ALWAYS sell your used vehicle direct, NEVER trade. You never know what they are really giving you for the vehicle because you have the financing and sales price rolled into one and they move those numbers around until your happy. It's smoke and mirrors.

[twinmill28]

Actually, I traded my 3 for my 2 and got what I feel was a very fair price.
You have got to really know what vehicles are selling for in your area, private and dealer and then determine what you're going to be comfortable with.
The dealer gave me a rock solid offer right off the top on the trade for my 3, so he wouldn't move on the price for the 2 no matter how hard I tried.
The 2 was in fastactic, almost new condition at 23000 miles and almost loaded, and the price they were asking was very good so we made the trade.
In all, I probably went down about $1000, but felt comfortable trading instead of dealing with trying to sell private, dealing with tire kickers and the wait.

[HUMTECH]

Well really there just doing there job, buy low sell high. No doubt in my mind that anyone would buy a truck at 7000 if he could get 17000 for it. I bought my Trailblazer SS from my used manager for 23000 when it was on the lot for 31000 so theres obviously lots of movement in price. At the end of the day its usually misinformed people or desperate to sell that trade in, i know i never would lol.

[HummerJim]

Although it's a hassle, you are always better to sell your old vehicle outright. Dealers are in business to make money and I don't begrudge them that, as long as they are fairly upfront. One of my best friends is a retired Cadillac salesman with 48 years of selling Cadillacs. He had to support a family and you are not going to beat them at their own game and I can listen to his stories for hours. I don't begrudge anyone trying to make his business succeed, but I hate the crazy lines they throw at you - it's just part of the game. It's always the nobody wants your old model and everyone wants these new *****. That's what I loved about dealing with Lynch on my two Hummers. One price, no haggling take it or leave it and a fair representation of their cost vs your trade in value.

[s_c5519]

oh yes I totally understand how they work. I do find that most dealers now aren't that bad though. It's really hard getting a good discount an anything new here in NH. When they were selling new H2's they didnt get a lot of them and the discounts were always only a few grand off if that. Drive down one state over into Massachusetts, the dealerships are larger and the deals were always much much better with less bs...

Years back, I remember this place in Cambridge Mass called Porter Chevrolet. They used to have a ton of stock and would advertise everything they had at a few hundered bucks under invoice. They were at real invoices too.

You would walk in the dealership, there were NO salesman waiting, and they had like 100-foot rows of tables set up. They were all in order and you would pick up the paper invoice of what car you liked and then wait in front of an available door for the salesman to take your order. I don't totally recall but there were like 5 doors on each side of the room and there was always a line waiting to get in each door. It was the weirdest thing, almost like a cafeteria where you get your own food and pay at the end. That place was fantastic!

[cgalford]

Auction prices on the 08s are stupid high right now. When I was buying mine 4 months ago I had a friend at a BMW dealership pull recent auctions for them and they were mid to high 30's. Huge demand for them overseas keeping prices high.

[hummeraddict]

Originally Posted by cgalford

Auction prices on the 08s are stupid high right now. When I was buying mine 4 months ago I had a friend at a BMW dealership pull recent auctions for them and they were mid to high 30's. Huge demand for them overseas keeping prices high.

Hopefully no more go overseas. That would suck. We need to keep as many as possible in NA.

[s_c5519]

Originally Posted by cgalford

Auction prices on the 08s are stupid high right now. When I was buying mine 4 months ago I had a friend at a BMW dealership pull recent auctions for them and they were mid to high 30's. Huge demand for them overseas keeping prices high.

Unless the truck has around 100k miles on it, mid to high 30's is not stupid high on them. There is not a single 08 H2 in the US at the moment on sale for under $40k with low mileage (45k). Most if not all of the ones with under 45k miles and the right color combo are over $40k, and ones with under 20k miles are $50-60/70k+

and Hummeraddict, I disagree, I think the more that go overseas, the better for us (that own one anyway). Less inventory here will keep the pricing of ours higher, especially the 08-09's...

[2010_5thgen]

wow...dumb dealers. i find out, most of the time i know more than the salesman do. ive never even concidered entertaining the idea of the amount they would give me on trade. id probably choke as i was laughing, and die.

[hummerh2newzealand]

Seems car salesman are the same all over the world but just trying to make a few dollars like everyonje i guess.
And im glad a few have goneoverseas otherwise i wouldnt have my beast.
its only 04 model with 30000 miles.
And my advantage is theres only a few here so the price should remain high as our import laws are changing on used cars.

[s_c5519]

Originally Posted by hummerh2newzealand

here so the price should remain high as our import laws are changing on used cars.

Oh, I'm glad you brought that up! How and what are the import laws? Reason I ask, is that same dealer was telling me something about USA exporting 09 H2's, and how the law only applies to 09's only and not 08 and under. That's why the 09's are like $30k more than the 08's. I didn't really understand what he was saying or if he was telling the truth. I just figured he was trying to further beat me down money off my '08. But, the 09's are noticeably higher in price though, so there has to be a reason for that anyway?

[hummerh2newzealand]

Once again dealers are very similar
when i bought mine last year there was only about 4 on sale here in NZ.1 was on a car yard and 3 were private. i managed to talk the dealer down as he had it sitting there for about 4 months. H2s are around 90,000nzds upwards no matter what year. so probably 70,000 usd. cars here get converted to right hand drive so thats about 20,000 of the cost. When i told the dealer about i was going to import one he mentioned the law was changing to not allow imports older than 6 years but im sure there will be allowances for special vehicles. we get flooded with cheap japaneese cars here so the government is wanting to reduce numbers of cars bought in.so the prices of second hand cars on caryards is staying high.
The cardealer i got mine from was like yours.
i looked at it 4 months earlier and then when i went back after 4 months he was telling me theres lots of interest in it and someones going to make a offer that day just thinking about it. i mentioned it had been there for at least 4 months so would have been more so cant be that much interest.
i went back 4 weeks later made a offer 10,000 less and he took it.
Glad i did. Hopefully your prices stay high over there for people who already own one.