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+--- Thread: Bought A 2005 Ses (/showthread.php?tid=2511)
Bought A 2005 Ses - sunny - 10-19-2008
hey guys we checked out a 2005 Focus SES today and my girlfriend liked it a lot (its for her) .. Its fully loaded with Sunroof, Leather, Mp3/6CD changer etc.. Its in good shape without any major scratches, engine bay looked clean, new tires .. only thing is that it has 75k on it .. now thats pretty average for a 3 year old car and I can tell its been maintained
The dealer is asking $8900 for it .. I checked the black book value and its from $6300 to $7800 .. how much should I offer him ? and what do you think its worth ?
I know its hard for you to tell me how much its worth but I just need a ballpark so that I don't end up paying too much :D ...
Bought A 2005 Ses - Canadian ST - 10-19-2008
sunny,Oct 18 2008, 09:38 PM Wrote:hey guys we checked out a 2005 Focus SES today and my girlfriend liked it a lot (its for her) .. Its fully loaded with Sunroof, Leather, Mp3/6CD changer etc.. Its in good shape without any major scratches, engine bay looked clean, new tires .. only thing is that it has 75k on it .. now thats pretty average for a 3 year old car and I can tell its been maintained
The dealer is asking $8900 for it .. I checked the black book value and its from $6300 to $7800 .. how much should I offer him ? and what do you think its worth ?
I know its hard for you to tell me how much its worth but I just need a ballpark so that I don't end up paying too much :D ...
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Well you could try looking through the Auto Traded and see how the prices compare. I don't think the dealership will take off much more then $500 since 4 bangers are selling more then ever.
Bought A 2005 Ses - ZTWsquared - 10-20-2008
sunny,Oct 18 2008, 09:38 PM Wrote:hey guys we checked out a 2005 Focus SES today and my girlfriend liked it a lot (its for her) .. Its fully loaded with Sunroof, Leather, Mp3/6CD changer etc.. Its in good shape without any major scratches, engine bay looked clean, new tires .. only thing is that it has 75k on it .. now thats pretty average for a 3 year old car and I can tell its been maintained
The dealer is asking $8900 for it .. I checked the black book value and its from $6300 to $7800 .. how much should I offer him ? and what do you think its worth ?
I know its hard for you to tell me how much its worth but I just need a ballpark so that I don't end up paying too much :D ...
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Is this vehicle an ex-daily rental? Find out more about its history ... make sure it wasn't repaired after a collision (probably not, but best to ask) find out when the brakes were last done ... is the dealership offering any kind of warranty ... all these things will (or should) impact how much the car is worth to you ... and in the final analysis that's what you should be for it.
If the answers to all your questions are satisfactory ... here's what I would do:
1. Do the math in advance - set your target high point and do not deviate in the first round of negotiations.
2. Without knowing more about the car my first target number for that car would be 7800 and my first offer would be for 7300.
3. Let them work you up to 7800 (make them work hard) and the press them to make the deal at that point. If they will, great, if not, start asking for things like a brake job and a warranty (or anything else you think the car might need in the short term).
4. Whatever you do, be prepared to go home without the car to "think about it" over night ... they won't show their full hand ever, but the last thing they want you to do is leave the dealership without signing a deal. They will do everything they can to tell you that the car is worth much more and they simply "can't" give you more off ... and they have others interested in the car. The true test of that is if they let you leave ... it's up to you to remain resolute.
Bought A 2005 Ses - Canadian ST - 10-20-2008
^^You are wise beyond your years. Those are all valid points, car salesmen will do and say anything to make you think they are making little to no profit on the car.
I would be worried if it was a daily rental though. When ever I get behind the wheal of a rental car I tend to kick the pants off of it to see what it can do, I bet I'm not the only person who does that too.
Bought A 2005 Ses - sunny - 10-20-2008
WOW great tips !! thanks a lot !!
The car is a lease return and was serviced at the same dealership .. I will look at the service records on Monday when I go back .. We get free oil changes for 5 years .. I could tell the salesman was trying to play the "what monthly payments are you looking at" game .. I said I wanna talk about the price of the car and then finance ..
Bought A 2005 Ses - meford4u - 10-20-2008
The Focus is a great car...............
For a woman. :D
Bought A 2005 Ses - Canadian ST - 10-20-2008
^^Or for people who are unable to handle the raw power of any other car built after 1908.
Bought A 2005 Ses - reldridge - 10-20-2008
Sunny, what dealer are you looking at? Being in the Ford community for years, I know who to look out for in the Ottawa area... :)
Ryan
Bought A 2005 Ses - NOS2Go4Me - 10-20-2008
sunny,Oct 19 2008, 01:50 PM Wrote:WOW great tips !! thanks a lot !!
The car is a lease return and was serviced at the same dealership .. I will look at the service records on Monday when I go back .. We get free oil changes for 5 years .. I could tell the salesman was trying to play the "what monthly payments are you looking at" game .. I said I wanna talk about the price of the car and then finance ..
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If the car was a lease return and was serviced at that particular dealership, tell them no deal till you get a complete print-out of the car's entire service history. This way you'll know everything that transpired at that dealer, at least. On and off-schedule services, recalls performed there vs. recalls performed at all, etc.
Plus, you'll know if there are any recalls outstanding for that car.
Bought A 2005 Ses - Scorcher000 - 10-20-2008
Hes got a very good point that way you know if they f***ed around with the car like I did, doing 100 on Dundas, getting air born and pulling the passenger side driveshaft. Not fun.
Bought A 2005 Ses - ZTWsquared - 10-20-2008
sunny,Oct 19 2008, 01:50 PM Wrote:The car is a lease return and was serviced at the same dealership .. I will look at the service records on Monday when I go back .. We get free oil changes for 5 years .. I could tell the salesman was trying to play the "what monthly payments are you looking at" game .. I said I wanna talk about the price of the car and then finance ..Excellent job not getting pulled into the payments game.
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With respect to the oil changes you should try and revert that into a dollar value too.
Two ways to do that ... ask them what interval they will do them at (funny how the interval changes from 5k to the book value when the dealership pays for them) ... then do the math for how many oil changes they will likely do for you in that 5 years ... and make sure you don't have to pay anything out of pocket like environmental or disposal fees or the taxes. Multiply the number of oil changes times what you would normally pay - don't let them tell you that an oil change is worth the 60 to 70 bucks they probably charge there at the dealership (unless they are prepared to discount the car by that much if taking the oil changes off the table).
The second way is to simply ask how much they would take off the car if you didn't want the oil changes (ie: what if you were planning on moving out of the area) ... this is probably a more accurate way of determining the true value of the oil changes.
One strategy might be to negotiate the price of the car without the oil changes ... then as your final act, once you've got them to the best price you can, ask them to put the oil changes back into the deal.
Bought A 2005 Ses - sunny - 10-21-2008
oh wow so many great replies ..
To answer which dealership its Campbell Ford in Ottawa ..
I will definitely ask them for the full service records .. From what I could tell the car was in good shape .. but I will surely bargain and start at ~$7500 ..
Also kinda OT: What kind of rims and tires can I run during winters ?? From what I read its 15" rims with 4x108 pattern and 185/65/15 tires .. Can i go any smaller in rim size ?
Bought A 2005 Ses - Scorcher000 - 10-21-2008
I don't think the front caliper will allow a 14" rim. And I also think that the tire should be a 195 / 65 R15 if not bigger. Anyways Ken would know best.
Bought A 2005 Ses - ZTWsquared - 10-21-2008
sunny,Oct 20 2008, 10:37 AM Wrote:Also kinda OT: What kind of rims and tires can I run during winters ?? From what I read its 15" rims with 4x108 pattern and 185/65/15 tires .. Can i go any smaller in rim size ?No ... smallest rim size for 05+ is 15".
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Bought A 2005 Ses - sunny - 10-21-2008
ZTWsquared,Oct 20 2008, 10:36 AM Wrote:sunny,Oct 20 2008, 10:37 AM Wrote:Also kinda OT: What kind of rims and tires can I run during winters ?? From what I read its 15" rims with 4x108 pattern and 185/65/15 tires .. Can i go any smaller in rim size ?No ... smallest rim size for 05+ is 15".
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Thank you !
Bought A 2005 Ses - sunny - 10-21-2008
Ok so I went to the dealership and they wouldn't budge from their asking price .. Their admin fees is an extra $700, so that brought the asking price of the car to $9700 .. The car is in great shape and has all the options on it but I don't think it was worth $9700 .. I said that's too much and walked out .. my girlfriend really really liked it though and it was hard to see her sad ..
I tried finding other cars in the Ottawa area with mp3, leather/heated seats but couldn't find any at that price .. maybe I should just pay the asking price ?
here's the car i am talking about : http://apps.dealerconnection.com/dealers/c...lerPACode=B1711
Bought A 2005 Ses - CanadaSVT - 10-21-2008
Admin fees $700 ? How do they come up with that amount?
The only detail I can find on this Focus is that it was taken to Edwards Ford Sales in Kingston in July 2007. The front rotors were warped causing the steering wheel to shudder when slowing down. They machined them but any good mechanic would have replaced them instead.
On July 25/07 it had 34815km.
That $700 admin fee sounds like robbery.
Bought A 2005 Ses - sunny - 10-21-2008
I looked at the pads and they had quite a lot left on them .. machining rotors is not that much cheaper than just getting new ones, wonder why they didn't do that instead ..
Thinking about offering $9500 On the Road ..
Bought A 2005 Ses - ZTWsquared - 10-21-2008
sunny,Oct 20 2008, 04:36 PM Wrote:Ok so I went to the dealership and they wouldn't budge from their asking price .. Their admin fees is an extra $700, so that brought the asking price of the car to $9700 .. The car is in great shape and has all the options on it but I don't think it was worth $9700 .. I said that's too much and walked out .. my girlfriend really really liked it though and it was hard to see her sad ..
I tried finding other cars in the Ottawa area with mp3, leather/heated seats but couldn't find any at that price .. maybe I should just pay the asking price ?
here's the car i am talking about : http://apps.dealerconnection.com/dealers/c...lerPACode=B1711
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$700 admin is outrageous ... if your plan is to pay cash for the car, then paying what their asking I guess is an option - assuming you've checked out all the other Ford dealers and compared what they have - but if you're financing any significant part of this vehicle, you probably shouldn't overpay for the car because you may be perpetually "upside down" - that is the car may never be worth what you owe on it ... until of course the loan is paid off.
On the face of it, there is nothing outstanding about an '05 with 76k on it ... a quick autotrader search came up with 35 '05 Focus in the Ottawa/Gatineau region for under $9,000 ... a number of them had fewer than 70k but they were also manual transmission (I assume the Campbell Ford one is automatic, but it doesn't say on the listing) ... there were a lot of '05 Foci with really low km --- ie: under 40k, but they all had "Call for $" on the listings. Not encouraging, but probably worth a few phone calls.
The only way to know if that piece is worth 9700 is to know what else is available in the market - research is your friend.
Good luck and cheers.
Bought A 2005 Ses - sunny - 10-21-2008
Yeah i have been looking online but cant find one with similar features .. oh well, lets see what the girlfriend thinks ..