2001 2.7 Intrepid...a deal?

well, you'd have to give the group the BUYING PRICE before we can determine if it's a deal or not. Which makes us wonder, why you hid the price offered.

besides, if you are so PRO-JAPANESE about cars, why are you now looking to buy a BIG THREE- CHRYSLER product ?

Is this another BS story like you 1955 Lancer thread ?

most likely...because you're too ANTI-AMERICAN to buy a Chrysler.

but I hope you do buy it- because you'll have nothing but problems with it- you're too stupid to just buy a GM already.

Huh? Too "anti american" to buy a used car made in Canada by a German company? Please troll elsewhere, Charles / epix.net.

My wife's Sebring 2.7L 2001 at 35Kkms is clean as a whistle; well as much as one can see in the fill access. No evidence of carbon at all. It does get about 25% highway driving. We were using Chryslers oil, but have just switched to Castrol. Personally I can't see why one would sell (dump) a car with this engine if the mileage is so low. There will be lots of life left and even if the engine fails the body is worth something. IMO better to run it into the ground. We are keeping our Sebring. other than TCM reflashing to eliminate the

What's that. Our Sebring shifts very smoothly, except for the shift in/out of park; a big bump!

That about right. We get similar.

Thanks for you input. I looked into this car's filler and see now carbonization or gooey sludge anywhere, as this car has had oil changes about every 3-5K miles, at 6 mos.

She hasn't decided on a new car yet, but I'm going to offer her above whatever any dealer will give her...which can't be very much!

If she trades it in at the dealer, then the price usually comes off the top of the negotiated price for the vehicle. The net result here is to reduce the sales tax by the amount of the trade-in. In most states, this would be more than $100, so I would say "no deal" to your generous offer.

Bob

The closer will probably try to dissuade her, but I note that 2.7L DC products are a dime a dozen out here, due to the "sludge horror" reputation. We'll see what she does, but if my offer's more than the sales tax, she may go for it. It's a very clean car that shows no signs of sludging, at least on the rocker arms or in the PCV hose, and would fit my needs just fine for a daily driver. High book in this area on these is around $6100, but a quick survey shows them all selling retail for what I'm offering. I note some late VW Jettas are also selling for just over low book everywhere except VW dealerships, for the same reason. I did check one of those out, and a peek inside the valve cover did indeed shows a nasty amount of sludge.

That is one of the dealers "tricks". They may offer her 5K trade in toward a new car which looks great to the person trading in the car but in reality if she had no trade at all she could have gotten the price of the new car down another couple of thousand.... So really she is only getting 2 or 3k for the old car at most, it just looks good on paper.

You could probably find the same car on a dealer lot (maybe event the exact same car) for less money than the dealer is offering her for it. I would keep looking if it were me unless you just really want that particular car.

Steve B.

Oh yeah, I know all about "fluffing the trade." They take it in for $5K on paper, pad the new car $2K to cover the diff between their trade and what they want the trade for and they go for it every time.

Let's say they do offer her $5K on the trade, which would be a fair midrange on this car for retail. They throw on $2 or 3K onto the invoice before she even knows what's happening, they get the trade for $2 or 3K, put it on the lot for $500 over high book and then can comfortably "haggle" down below high book and still make a fat profit on the back end of the trade.

My only thing here is that dealers are very wary of 2.7L cars and generally don't want them on trade due to their reputation, deserved or not. This car is near showroom and shows no signs of oil sludging, and I thought since I know the history of the car, it'd be worth it to offer her a little more than the dealer would. I really don't want to try to "program" her (she IS a neighbor!) but, I do like the car and know that the "sludging" problem wouldn't be a problem with my kind of maintenance.

We'll just see what they do offer her on trade to try to pad the new car price and go from there.

That is true here as well with regard to the tax being on the difference, however it is well known that buying without a trade results in a significantly lower price on the new vehicle. Well more than a $100 saving. Trades the dealers don't want go to auction clearance sales here.

With VWs it's much more than sludge; VWs have been a terrible maintenance problem. Even VW implies to that by mentioning their "much improved" build quality recently.

So after your agreeing that the dealer would be scamming her out of a grand or two by fluffing on the trade, out of the goodness of your heart, because she is a neighbor, you're going to do her a favor by taking that value out of it rather than point out the fluffing scam and you are offering her $1 more than the dealer claims to be offering her on trade. I hope she some how reads this to understand the true nature of your "altruism". What a jerk.

If you're going to take advantage of her, then go ahead, but don't couch it like you are doing her a favor because she is a neighbor. Admit at least to youreslf that you're part of the scam, just without the dealer's knowledge, and that you're not giving her "special treatment" because she is a neighbor..

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Hi...

I'm lucky enough to have about the best neighbors in the world; after

I intend keeping it that way by being neither a seller nor a buyer :)

Respectfully suggest that the OP perhaps gently hint that she might do better selling it privately (to someone else); then change the subject to the weather, or the grandkids, or fishing, or ...

Take care.

Ken

Probably sage advice.

I snipped Putney's outlashing. Those rightards are getting a bit testy now that their political heroes are swirling down the toilet of ignomy and their "enemy" party is taking over in a scant three weeks!

First, I don't think she can sell the car privately for more than I can offer her in cash. 2.7L DC products are drugs on the market, period. I just opened yesterday's LA Times, and there was a slough of '00 2.7 Intrepids for low book and below, NONE at high book. My offer's for midrange, NOT high book, which is around $6.1K on this particular car.

All these "free marketeers" espouse all this "market forces" crap until someone they don't like follows their advice. What hypocrites. If I were being truly altruistic, I'd try to tell her that her son's full of beans and if she just changes the oil regularly, the car will be just fine. However, I'm not about to tell her her son's a Putney...er, jerk...because you just don't do that. If she's going to dump the car, she's going to dump the car, period. One cannot meddle too deeply in other peoples' families' dynamics.

It's like when I sell this house. Realtor crooks have a new scam in which they bring in unqualified, shady buyers from "de ghetto" and then demand that, instead of me dropping the price of the house $10-20K to close the deal, that I keep the price high and just pay the unqualified buyer's closing costs. It's the same basic scam as "fluffing the trade," and also "fluffs" the realtor's commission (as well as boosts sales taxes.) That isn't going to happen here, but they talked my father-in-law across the street into it, and ripped him off for $12.5K. Hey, I tried to warn him, but you just don't tell dumb people they're being dumb sometimes.

I offered her $5K for the car this morning. She can take it or leave it. However, I got to thinking that if indeed she trades it in at the Chrysler dealership, the car will probably wind up on the lot for around the same selling (not asking) price. These cars do NOT sell well. If I take my chances and just grind down the dealer, I can probably get a warranty as well...IF they even will offer a warranty on a 2.7.

So whenever you see something for sale that's priced lower than it's true value you explain that the price is too low and offer more? I doubt it. Don't be such a righteous ass.

Admit nothing. See above. It's not our job to educate everyone we meet on the true value of something. It's all part of getting a good deal. If she is happy with the price than nothing else matters. No one is forcing her to accept it and she is free to ask others if the offer is reasonable or not.

Oh - I was just challenging where you said "I really don't want to try to 'program' her (she IS a neighbor!)". I suspected you were lieing. Thanks for confirming. But even still you don't see your own contradiction in your behavior as well as your treatment of your "neighbor". No doubt if you do make any further comments, you will continue to contradict yourself in this regard (i.e., "I won't take advantage of my neighbor, but hey - it's not my job to educate her, so I'll take advantage of her" - and all the stuff about poor market value is just rationalization, unless you don't believe what you said about fluffing, so you've pretty much trapped yourself either way).

Hmmm - I though you kill-filed me. Oh well. Doesn't matter.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

The only thing that has been confirmed is your not as smart as you think and you need to get something straight before you continue to make a complete ass out of yourself.

I'm not Bob.

Bob lives in California and I live in Pennsylvania.

My statements are mine alone and do not contradict anything. I'm not trapped. I'm not her neighbor. I'm not taking advantage of anyone. I'm not offering to buy anyones vehicle. I haven't killfiled anyone.

That being said, my comments still hold true. If she is happy that's all that matters for her and I doubt you offer people more for something that's priced lower than it's true vale.

As far as I'm concerned, you and he are interchangeable. A troll is a troll. You contribute nothing.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

He never said that, idiot. I did. Learn how to read an NNTP header, "Google Grouper."

Putney, you're full of shit, and it's starting to leak out. Only way I see your trolling is when people quote you. Shut the hell up.

...and yes, I DO have you kill filed. Only way I see you is when you're quoted.