AWESOME...congrats!

 

@chickdr19 Your story confirms what my long time "car guy gut" was telling me I would get on trade in my area and new purchase without calling around. But what was your trade amount?

I did a little more digging and found my purchase quote right now includes sales tax which explains why the difference between the price now and at the end of lease is a lot higher than the total number of remaining payments.

I've never used Carvana or Vroom before because I examined their used prices and trade-in valued when I leased my new 19 GT and they were not as good as I can typically negotiate with the local dealer (pre COVID). But I fully understand that is the premium a person is paying to have a no-haggle purchase and not deal with a car salesman and all their antics and get the car delivered to your doorstep. There's a value for convenience and that value varies from person to person.

However on the Trade Value In Value, this is interesting. In my min 19 GT with 20,800 miles, Carvana quoted me the low end of the Blackbook trade-in range. $24,900 ($500 over current lease payoff) and Vroom quoted me the high end, $27,465. My gut assumption is I could negotiate basically right in the middle of those two (prior to checking). So the Vroom quote will be a powerful tool. Thanks for the suggestion!

Invoice on the GTR is $34,008. So basically @chickdr19 got $1,000 over invoice. I'm guessing the normal trade value would be about $24K on my 19 GTR so if I can get $26K on the trade I'm basically getting another $2000 off the price or about $1000 below invoice compared to what I'd get if we weren't in this crazy used car market.

 

For reference purposes: Vroom right now gives me a trade-in of $25,700 whereas my local dealer offers $28,900, so the delta is $3,200.

 

It will vary greatly based on market conditions. Obviously, go where the money is Your local dealer may also skew his number high to get you in the door and then make it up on the sale price. It's all a game...folks just have to understand how to play it.

 

Agreed, it is most likely just to lure me in I am on the fence jumping to a new CX-5 with turbo since I will get a hit in the MPG number. I am pretty happy with the MPG numbers I am hitting right now and the car has been problem-free. Also, (AND MOST IMPORTANTLY) it is my wife's daily driver, so if I change it and something goes wrong with the new car, then I am really really burnt

 

That's insane. You in North Carolina or where? The market conditions affecting the trade (and new prices) can vary greatly depending on the area of the country, and how urban or rural the area is that the dealer is located in. I couldn't believe the Vroom quote so I ran it again today and it's up $55 from the quote I got yesteday, LOL. $27565 on a, "we'll come pick it up" purchase on a car I bought for $30,400 brand new 2.5 years ago is just crazy. Your slightly higher price is probably the difference in transport cost between where you are and where I am. I've got Checkbook Consumer services contacting the Fleet Sales Manager of the 5 closest dealers to get new prices. I love that they do it without divulging my name or contact information and save me valuable hours of my time that I would have otherwise spent on emails and phone calls for a mear $225 fee. A lot of dealers won't even negotiate over email, they tell you, you need to come in because they know once they have you there, you're going to be more pliable. However your dealer offer reminds me, I should remember that he who names a price first loses in negotiation. So I won't start by divulging my Vroom quote. The local dealer I stopped by offered me $25,000. But they are as I mentioned "old school" with all the low ball trade / high ball new starting price games these slime ***** play, but hey, I realize capitalism is about maximizing profits.

This is a very good point. When I negotiate I've always just calculated what my max differential price is. In this case I've determined a decent deal in this market is $8000 difference between a 19 GT low mile mint trade and a new 21 GTR. So if I get $27.5K on the trade I'll pay up to $35.5K for the 21 GTR (about $2-$2.5K under MSRP including destination and if it has roof racks, etc). I might go a little higher if the lowest price of the 5 deales doesn't get to at least $2K under MSRP. There might be better deals in other areas of the country but my gut tells me I'm probably not going to find a deal much better than that in the Seattle area. So they can give me $100K on my trade and I'll pay $108K on the new car. LOL.

The dealers play this game as securityguy points out where they will feel you out to see if you are more stuck on the new car discount, or getting a certain price for your trade. That's why they always start by asking you how much you owe on your trade - which you should always say, that's irrelevant to the market value of the car. Whichever they negotiate first with you, they'll just adjust their price on the other. So if you go stopping in saying you got an offer for $28K on a trade, and they wouldn't have given you more than $27K for it, they'll just come down $1000 less on the new car price. And vice versa. Once you just say the largest differential I'm willing to pay is $X then they know you know the game and things move a lot quicker from there. The average car buyer is completely oblivious to this game and the dealers love that. Your average Joe just comes in salivating over getting a brand new car, the dealer recognizes that, gives them a nice discount that they are happy with on the new car and then low ***** them on the trade knowing that Joe really really doesn't want to get back in his old car instead of driving away smelling that new car smell and just wants to have the old car paid off.

 

I don't have the exact number in front of me, but it was around 24500. I had 12mths left on my lease. The other big advantage was they gave me full credit for the trade in on my new car purchase which saved me a ton of money (about 1500.00) on taxes for the new one. If I had waited until lease end and just turned my '19 in I think I would have been starting over with no trade in credit on the new car.

According to carsdirect.com the invoice on my GTR was 36k so I actually paid 1k UNDER invoice for the car.

 

Invoice on a 2021 GTR is $34,008. Not sure how carsdirect.com is calculating that. Invoice on a car is just the invoice for that trim level without destination charge or any other add-ons. They must be adding destination charge or something?

https://www.iseecars.com/car/2021-mazda-cx__5-price

 

You must always add in destination and destination should be a part of the invoice.

 

Exactly. You can't buy the car without destination added so to me invoice by definition must include it.