Tweet
I took my 2011 Subaru Forester with 37,700 miles in to be serviced for a check engine light. (It turned out to be the evap purge solenoid and valve.)
While I was sitting in the customer area, a young lady approached me and introduced herself. She explained that there was a buyer who had arrived wanting to purchase a 2011 Subaru Forester just like mine. She noted that due to having a buyer interested in my vehicle, if the dealership would buy my vehicle they would have an incentive to sweeten the deal for me.
I have numerous times in the past received flyers in the mail from various dealers exclaiming that my specific vehicle is in very high demand and that they would be willing to give me top dollar for it. This also happened more times than I can count when I had a 2004 Subaru Legacy with 135,000 miles. I always believed that this was a marketing tactic to have someone rush in with starry eyes, get ripped off on a trade-in, and sign the dotted line to purchase an overpriced new vehicle.
When this lady today stated this, I felt as if I were living in one of these mailers I had received before. Out of curiosity, I mentioned that I would be willing to get more information. She directed a competent-looking young salesman over to me to ask questions such as when I purchased the vehicle, which bank had financed it, and how much I currently owe for it (approx $14,500). He looked up their blue book value for it (never did tell me what it was), then took it over to have it appraised. A little while later, he returned with the good news that I would likely break even by selling it to them, which he further explained to mean that they would be willing to give me about what I owe for it. He never told me the exact figure they may be willing to give me, and the papers he carried were doubled in his hand so I couldn't have had opportunity to nonchalantly glance at the offer. Fortunately he did not attempt to pressure me into any deal. I told him I would go home and think about it, and he handed me his business card.
I normally prefer to pay off a vehicle and not have any car payment while driving it to the point that potential necessary repairs exceed the value of the vehicle. I would also normally prefer to save up and pay for a vehicle without having to finance it, but that wasn't an option for me when I purchased this one due to my old vehicle becoming unusable without much warning.
At home, I looked up the value of my Forester on Edmunds.com, and the trade-in value is fairly in line with what I owe on it, so maybe I wouldn't be majorly ripped off as long as they wouldn't somehow manage to tack anything back on to a vehicle I may purchase. I looked at their new and used vehicle inventory on the internet. I really didn't see anything that caught my eye. For me to consider this, I would have to see a vehicle I love with around the same mileage or less as my Forester for about the same price as what I currently owe. I would not want to go backward at all. I haven't even been in the market for another vehicle. I have plans to pay this Forester off within 14 months.
I am a single mom who looks much younger than 41 (people are shocked to hear that I am no longer in my early 20s), so I probably seem like easy prey. Having been fairly naive in my younger, more inexperienced years, I feel that I have become quite a skeptic at things like this. But I have never been personally approached before with an offer to buy my vehicle while I was simply waiting to have it serviced. I tried to Google this probable marketing tactic, but didn't come up with anything.
I am not at all tempted to take them up on this offer. I was just wondering, have any of you heard of this marketing ploy before?
While I was sitting in the customer area, a young lady approached me and introduced herself. She explained that there was a buyer who had arrived wanting to purchase a 2011 Subaru Forester just like mine. She noted that due to having a buyer interested in my vehicle, if the dealership would buy my vehicle they would have an incentive to sweeten the deal for me.
I have numerous times in the past received flyers in the mail from various dealers exclaiming that my specific vehicle is in very high demand and that they would be willing to give me top dollar for it. This also happened more times than I can count when I had a 2004 Subaru Legacy with 135,000 miles. I always believed that this was a marketing tactic to have someone rush in with starry eyes, get ripped off on a trade-in, and sign the dotted line to purchase an overpriced new vehicle.
When this lady today stated this, I felt as if I were living in one of these mailers I had received before. Out of curiosity, I mentioned that I would be willing to get more information. She directed a competent-looking young salesman over to me to ask questions such as when I purchased the vehicle, which bank had financed it, and how much I currently owe for it (approx $14,500). He looked up their blue book value for it (never did tell me what it was), then took it over to have it appraised. A little while later, he returned with the good news that I would likely break even by selling it to them, which he further explained to mean that they would be willing to give me about what I owe for it. He never told me the exact figure they may be willing to give me, and the papers he carried were doubled in his hand so I couldn't have had opportunity to nonchalantly glance at the offer. Fortunately he did not attempt to pressure me into any deal. I told him I would go home and think about it, and he handed me his business card.
I normally prefer to pay off a vehicle and not have any car payment while driving it to the point that potential necessary repairs exceed the value of the vehicle. I would also normally prefer to save up and pay for a vehicle without having to finance it, but that wasn't an option for me when I purchased this one due to my old vehicle becoming unusable without much warning.
At home, I looked up the value of my Forester on Edmunds.com, and the trade-in value is fairly in line with what I owe on it, so maybe I wouldn't be majorly ripped off as long as they wouldn't somehow manage to tack anything back on to a vehicle I may purchase. I looked at their new and used vehicle inventory on the internet. I really didn't see anything that caught my eye. For me to consider this, I would have to see a vehicle I love with around the same mileage or less as my Forester for about the same price as what I currently owe. I would not want to go backward at all. I haven't even been in the market for another vehicle. I have plans to pay this Forester off within 14 months.
I am a single mom who looks much younger than 41 (people are shocked to hear that I am no longer in my early 20s), so I probably seem like easy prey. Having been fairly naive in my younger, more inexperienced years, I feel that I have become quite a skeptic at things like this. But I have never been personally approached before with an offer to buy my vehicle while I was simply waiting to have it serviced. I tried to Google this probable marketing tactic, but didn't come up with anything.
I am not at all tempted to take them up on this offer. I was just wondering, have any of you heard of this marketing ploy before?
Comment