How Much To Dicker Down on Price

[Exhaustgases]

Funny how folks want advice about car prices and never post the price the out fit is asking?
How can we give advice not knowing that most important detail?
You say it needs a 2000 dollar timing belt set labor etc. And very likely many other things as well, like mentioned is it a rust belt car? if so
it could be a rusting out mess no matter what low miles it has. Then of course every bolt and nut on it can not be removed to do the timing belt job.
You better get it checked by some independent real good. It could have a crash history as well.
What ever a dealer is asking for a used car is always way too much.

 

[tbm5690]

Funny how folks want advice about car prices and never post the price the out fit is asking?
How can we give advice not knowing that most important detail?

See post #16.

 

[dishdude]

They don't want to sell the car to you. They want to sell the car to someone who hasn't given any thought as to if it has had its timing belt replaced yet.

Yep, nothing a dealer hates more than an informed buyer.

 

[The_Jeff]

You say it needs a 2000 dollar timing belt set labor etc. And very likely many other things as well, like mentioned is it a rust belt car? if so
it could be a rusting out mess no matter what low miles it has.

So low-ball them and if you miss the deal it's the dealer's fault for not playing ball. OP comes across like he's salivating over the deal and/or doesn't want to "offend" anyone at the dealer. If they're offended by dealing, they're in the wrong line of work.

 

[ryster]

Simply offer them a price that makes sense for you and don't even mention the services. If they balk or come back and say "Why that price?" then mention you are aware of the maintenance schedule and major service coming due in the near future and taking that into consideration in your offer. If they agree to your price, that's great. If they don't, then decide if that is ultimately the vehicle for you. As others have said, they will probably have no problem selling the car for $12.5K to another buyer that has no idea about the recommended service. That same buyer would probably put another 40K-50K on the car before giving any consideration to having the timing belt, water pump, and spark plugs replaced.

 

[JeffKeryk]

@Stumpy Did you get the car? How did you do? Good luck.

 

[burbguy82]

"A fair price"

Is there such a thing?

It really comes down to GREED, and there is no better way to look at it. The seller=wants the most for the item, and the buy=wants to pa the least for the item. Both is greedy, just in a different spectrum.

Value is in the eye of the buyer(s). Buyers dictate price, not the seller.

 

[justalubetech]

Honda tech here, realistically that timing belt will still be good for a long while. I've never seen one fail, it's usually the tensioner itself has leaked it's fluid and is clacking away for a long while before anything happens.

I knew someone with an older Ridgeline that went almost 200k on the original T-belt until we finally replaced it, and it didn't look all that bad honestly, but the tensioner had lost all of it's juice.

(I'm not advising doing this, just saying if OP bought the car they have some time before seriously worrying about it)

 

[Al]

Make them an offer. If they won't take it walk away. They may or may not call back. YOU determine what YOU are going to pay. Dickering is so yesterday.

 

[z71bill]

I would be more concerned about transmission maintenance -

My wife's RDX had some issues at 28K - main reason I traded it with less than 35K miles / 7 years is because the transmission was acting strange.

Trans service was done at 15K owners manual is 30K -

It is really easy to change the transmission fluid - costs very little - but most people don't bother.

At 28K it started shifting strange - I changed the fluid and the issue went away -
At 35K it started shifting bad again - but just once in a while -

I decided to dump it - wife loves her 2024 Highlander -

 

[addyguy]

Just gonna toss this out there…are we SURE the timing belt WASN’T done?
Some do the work, and then decide they want something new, especially if they have $$; but they could have done the maintenance on time…

 

[mrvmax]

I’d offer 4k less and go back and forth with the goal of getting 2k off what they are asking, That is if everything else with the vehicle is fine.