Does anyone have a sure fire way to tell what the dealer paid for a used vehicle? If I were to do a title search on a car through the state DMV records office, would that indicate what their purchase price was?
SWS
Not likely, but one thing for sure, is they don't resell them for free, otherwise they just send them to the wholesaler... The only way to know for sure would be to have a friend who works at that dealership tell you. Generally dealerships will pay as little as they can for used cars and sell them for as much as they can get for them.
They definitely don't sell them for free, you got that right - but dealers typically pay far less for trade-ins than blue book and NADA, too. Everytime I've bought or sold a car outright, the state required the purchase price of the vehicle on the title to know how much to tax....that purchase price should be available if one goes to the DMV and does a title search for the car?
there are ways to find this-Consumer Reports, maybe other sources on the internet.
if you talk really nice, the dealer might show you the invoice; i have had them show me the invoice (actually had holdback dollars on it).
SWS
THERE IS NO INVOICE PRICE FOR A USED CAR! And no hold back dollars either. Besides new car dealer invoice pricing is readily available for free from multiple sources on the internet. You would do yourself a great service to already have that dealer invoice pricing information in your possession prior to talking to anyone at the dealership. I always start at invoice pricing and work down. I ended up paying $3000 under dealer invoice price for my 2005 F-450.
sorry-i misread, thought he said new car.
THERE IS NO INVOICE PRICE FOR A USED CAR! And no hold back dollars either. Besides new car dealer invoice pricing is readily available for free from multiple sources on the internet. You would do yourself a great service to already have that dealer invoice pricing information in your possession prior to talking to anyone at the dealership. I always start at invoice pricing and work down. I ended up paying $3000 under dealer invoice price for my 2005 F-450.
Figure about $3000 less than they're selling it to you for. That's what NADA seems to indicate. Believe it or not, that's how they feed their families. The only source of income they have is overcharging you. How would you like that job? I'd starve.
Does anyone have a way to tell what the dealer paid for a used vehicle? ....would a title search on a car through the state DMV indicate the purchase price? _____________________________________________
The price a dealer pays for a used car is not reported to the DMV. The only way to know that price is to have access to the dealer's accounting records.
Rodan.
If the price a dealer pays to buy a car (like in a trade-in deal or just outright purchase) isn't reported to the DMV, how does the state know how much sales tax to charge the dealer for the sale?
Some states don't charge tax, like mine, so here it is an absolute non issue.
Besides if your state does, that still in no way makes that information "public information", or even proves any connection to the true dollar value paid verses that value which was reported.
The only true way to know how much any given car dealer paid for any given used car is to be privy to the details of that particular transaction.
Does anyone have a way to tell what the dealer paid for a used vehicle? ....would a title search on a car through the state DMV indicate the purchase price? SWS. ____________________________________________________
The price a dealer pays for a used car is not reported to the DMV. The only way to know that price is to have access to the dealer's accounting records. Rodan. ____________________________________________________
If the price a dealer pays to buy a car isn't reported to the DMV, how does the state know how much sales tax to charge the dealer for the sale? SWS. ___________________________________________________
The State charges the dealer no sales tax. Sales tax is collected for retail sales only , and charged only to the end-purchaser, the retail buyer.
A vendor's purchase of stock-in-trade (a car in this case) for later resale to a retail buyer is not subject to sales tax.
Rodan. ___________________________________________________
Weird. I've lived in five different states. In all five states, I've bought and sold cars person to person......in EVERY case, it was a requirement to list the selling price on the title so the state knew what to charge they buyer for sales tax...if someone tried to be sneaky and say they sold a late-model car for a hundred bucks or something like that, the state would simply charge tax on the average value of the vehicle. I guess auto dealerships must have it in good with their state reps if they aren't paying taxes on the cars they buy. Meanwhile, the average joe car buyer continues to get screwed.....
It's a wholesale/resale issue on who pays the sales tax. It's not just car dealers who don't pay the tax for a vehicle they buy (wholesale) and turn it around for retail sale to the consumer who pays the sales tax. Many businesses...electricians, plumbers, landscapers don't pay the tax on the materials they buy, but they do charge sales tax when they sell the goods and services to the end-consumer...the end-consumer pays the sales tax.
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