Originally Posted by WylieCoyote
The car below is listed at $5400. High KBB is $3300. The seller has put a new clutch in it, and obviously cleaned it within an inch of its life. 154,000 miles.
What would your opening bid be? There are several more of these around, but none quite in this condition, and none with 5-speeds which is what I want for reliability's sake.
I can negotiate the heck out of a new car, but shopping used, I have less experience.
What say you?
VERY few people buy sedans with manual transmissions. They are hard to sell. For every 20 automatic buyers, there might be 1 standard buyer. If you want one, great, but use this to your advantage ...
Go in excited, but show huge disappointment when you see the manual tranny. Go for a test drive, and buck and lurch and stall a couple times ... if the car checks out, and you think you want to make an offer, use the manual as leverage, saying things like " NOBODY I KNOW DRIVES STICK " and " I'M NOT SURE ABOUT THIS IN HEAVY TRAFFIC ... "
Then make an offer ... and start low !