Car dealer-Seasick

I've been following a 1991 Civic Si, all stock, on craigslist for months from a small dealership. The price started at $4995 then went down a thousand. It then went down to $2750, then back up to $3995. Last week it went down to $2495 and I thought if it gets around $2000 I would consider looking at it. It's now listed on its website at $3495.

It's been a roller coaster. The pics are from the winter. You would think by now they would have it priced reasonable.

it seems to have a downward spiral... maybe they raise the price whenever somebody shows interest?

They are waiting on that sucker . . . er . . . special buyer . . .

When I bought my Miata I was halfway through the sleaze, er, salesman's pitch before I realized the price was $2000 higher than advertised. I mentioned it and he said" oh, thats our internet price. You should have said something earlier". Really? So you were gonna pocket an extra $2k hoping I wouldn't notice?

It doesn't matter what the advertised price is. They have a certain amount they have to get for it, period. Anything over that amount is just gravy. I say go look at it and offer your top dollar and tell them to call you when they come to their senses. The longer its on the lot the more it costs them and the less profit they make.

I wish it was closer, about an hour and a half away. I can't seem to get away from the EF's. I have to remained focused on a winter car.. namely a Subaru.

One of the best Winter cars I've ever owned was an '89 Civic Si with four snow tires.

The only time it ever go stuck was in an unplowed parking lot with heavy, wet snow up to the floorpans.

In reply to Woody:

Woody, that setup has crossed my mind It would be cheaper and I'm very familiar with these cars, not so with Subaru's. You can let me borrow that good looking WRX this winter

Oh wow, I've stepped up to "Reader" in this thread.

Keep in mind that WRX's need four snow tires, possibly even more than the Civic.

I remember the first snowstorm after I got the Subaru. I was hoping to get away with the stock tires for winter. I was making a right turn away from a gas pump in first gear and as soon as it started to make a little boost, it wanted to swap ends.

In reply to Woody:

What's a good snow tire? I've never used any. I've only researched the ws-50 and ws-60 from the Blizzak line.

I like Blizzaks around here, as I see ice as more of a threat than snow. I even have them on the truck that I plow with and they're pretty good in the snow, too.

On the WRX, I bought four Pirellis when it was new and every couple of years, I buy two new ones. I've been pretty happy with them.

Nokian snows are the best on earth.

I LOVE my Hankook Ipikes...and they are cheap. They're a pretty heavily treaded "deep snow" tire...and not a "Performance" snow tire.

Studded Nokian Nordman will allow almost any car climb trees.

I've seen used car prices roller-coaster in my area on a few cars and trucks. I'm guessing that when the price went down and then up and then WAAAAY down and back up, it was because they had a buyer (sucker?) who backed out....then they finally sent the vehicle to auction/wholesale, and it DIDN'T sell. So back to square one.

Yeah, I've had that "oh, THAT'S our internet price, you have to ask for it/mention it upfront" crap pulled on me too. I can always gauge how badly they want to sell/how long the car's been sitting by how quickly they "remember" that internet price.

The last used car I went shopping for, I stopped at a Saturn dealer (right about the time GM decided to close the Saturn brand), and was steered towards a low mileage, 4 or 5 year old Sunbird? Sunfire? The car hadn't even been there long enough to have been washed but the salesperson was so desperate for a sale he dropped the price by 20-25% in a matter of minutes. I bought a Civic from another dealer.

I emailed an offer of $1900 cash. He said he paid way more than that and is in no hurry to sell. He's had it since the winter.

Being a car nut, I have bought many "unique" cars simply by telling the seller to call me when he gets his heart/head or whatever in the right place. Usually they call in about two weeks when they realize that there arent many people that really care that it is something more than transportation.
The best ever was '84 GSL-SE with truck-port motor and holley but I also got a MR-2 SC, Audi Quattro, several miata and my wife's MS6. Patience and a poker face will be a virtue.
Travelling to buy a car puts you at a disadvantage since the seller will try to put you under stress by either bumping the price of the car or if you are trying to trade, low-balling your trade. You do have to have a plan and be prepared to walk away if necessary.

In reply to fastmiata:

I've had the patience, and still have it. I know what you mean about driving a long ways, seller advantage. I thanked him for the reply and told him if he couldn't sell it to get a hold of me.

Mazdax605 wrote: Nokian snows are the best on earth.

+1.

Winterfires are a cheap, but competent substitute.

He said he's going to store it with his collection and he also was offered $2500. He had it advertised at $2495 last week. Funny he did take the offer.

Moparman wrote:

Mazdax605 wrote: Nokian snows are the best on earth.

+1. Winterfires are a cheap, but competent substitute.

Cheap off-brand snows FTW. As long as they're skinny, they work. I've had Vikings and Winterforces on my Civics--both worked better than my Pilot Alpins (which were a wide 195-55-15).

New (to me) Civic will be getting some cheap-o 185-65-14 snows from the tire store this fall.

Fletch1 wrote: I've been following a 1991 Civic Si, all stock, on craigslist for months from a small dealership. The price started at $4995 then went down a thousand. It then went down to $2750, then back up to $3995. Last week it went down to $2495 and I thought if it gets around $2000 I would consider looking at it. It's now listed on its website at $3495. It's been a roller coaster. The pics are from the winter. You would think by now they would have it priced reasonable.

I bought a car from a small dealer about 10 years ago. He was a good guy, and we got to talking about used car sales, and fast sellers. He asked if I could pick out the car that had been sitting on the lot for 2 years. I didn't, but the point is, they don't care if it sits. Most of them will let a car rot on their lot before they sell it for less than they think it's worth.

I prefer falken rt 615's for winter tires hahahah i love the south!