$5000 MINIMUM TRADE, "PUSH PULL ETC", is this always BS?

[chin311]

I always see these ads in my newspaper for car dealerships stating:

$5000 minimum trade, push pull or drag, blah blah.

is this really true? its hard to believe you can take in any POS and get 5k$ off a...say...corolla for 12k$?

whats the deal w/ this???

 

[T3C]

its not bs, but just know that the dealership is still making plenty of money when you buy a car

 

[kranky]

I always thought they just raised all the prices by $5K, so that Corolla has a $17K price tag.

 

[bunker]

Sure, they give you $5000 for your trade. Right after they tack on $4500 to the price of the vehicle.

 

[chin311]

lol, i always thought they either 1) added alot to the price or 2) made it per minimum purchase (ie, 5000$ if you spend 20k+ etc etc)

i dunno, maybe it only applies to certain cars, etc.??

i saw it in one ad, next to where you can get a protege 5 for 14999$ pretty well spec'd

 

[kranky]

You could try a sneaky tactic of negotiating the price of the car first, then announce you have a trade-in.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Originally posted by: bunker
Sure, they give you $5000 for your trade. Right after they tack on $4500 to the price of the vehicle.

yup, it's a scam. They give you the $5000 as a trade in or "cash allowance" so when the lenders(banks) see that you put X amount down on a car they're more likely to approve it.

 

[FoBoT]

they just add what they need to the price so that they make money off the deal

so yeah, its a trick

 

[rudeguy]

Originally posted by: kranky
You could try a sneaky tactic of negotiating the price of the car first, then announce you have a trade-in.

ALWAYS do this if you have a trade in. Beat the heck out of the salesman on price, then tell him you have a trade in. Otherwise he is going to play a numbers game with the trade in, cost of the new car, and plenty of other things. As far as the $5k for your old beater, forgetaboutit....know that car dealers are out to make a profit, and they are going to make a profit off of you, unless your name is Rossman