Hi all,

I'm looking to buy my first Crossfire. I found this one at a CarMax in Houston: 2005 Chrysler Crossfire Limited in Houston, TX- 6802582 at carmax.com

The vehicle history report (viewable for free on the CarMax site) indicates that this 2005 model was first titled in August 2006, then sold at auction in Nov 2007 (with only 8400 miles). Now it has 21k miles.
Does this mean the car sat on a dealer lot for over two years? Should I be worried that this is a lemon?

Also, is $18k a reasonable price for this car? It is about $1000 higher than NADA retail value, but slightly lower than KBB dealer value.

Any advice from veteran XF owners would be greatly appreciated.

 

WARNING CROSSFIRE NEWBIE: At Carmax you will pay more than at any dealership. Sure, there are guarantees you won't get anywhere else (like 5 day buyback and 30 day warranty) but you WILL pay more than anywhere else.

The car did NOT sit there for two years... gonna go read it myself.

EDIT: REad it again, it did NOT sit for two years, you can see that from the reported odometer readings.

EDIT AGIAN: I paid $17645 for my Limited auto ROadster July 6, 2009 wiht 13351 on it. THeir price is just a bit higher than mine was .... but then, I paid a LOT considering it was at a Chrysler dealership and not CarMax.

If it's the car you want, I'd go for it ... but this is NOT a one owner car, mine was. Looks like a two owner, the second owner stuck with the car for some time - good sign. Not sure why the first one got rid of it so fast, but I like the fact that the second owner kept it for some time!

 

I bought my 2005 Limited Roadster brand spanking new...... in July of 2007! Poor little thing bounced around a couple of dealer lots during that time, getting a new battery in the process. But it's been 100% trouble free for me since taking delivery with a mere 32 (apparently test driven) miles on the odometer (it now has 13,200 on it).

$18k sounds a bit high, though. I paid $21k for mine brand new and highly doubt I could get $18k for it today, and it looks much better today than the day I brought it home. I wouldn't assume that it's a problem car, but I would bargain hard on that price.

I have read a couple of articles lately talking about the uptick in used car prices lately. Seems with several million fewer new cars being bought last year there are several million fewer used cars on the market today (Cash for Clunkers having killed off many used cars as well). Used car supply is down, which is driving prices up. While this does seem to be impacting the very low end of the used car market the hardest, it is having a broad effect on the entire industry.

If you can get a feel for how long CarMax has had the car, that may be a bargaining chip for you. No dealer of any kind likes to sit on a car for any length of time.

 

I'm pretty sure CarMax is a "no negotiation" dealer.

 

Well, they post "No haggle" prices because they are supposedly lower than ....well, acutally they advertise "you can get a car at Carmax for less than new". BIG DEAL!

I am unimpressed by their filthy cars (took a roadster for a test drive last month - what a filthy car - who would put one on their lot looking awful like that?

 

Chances are that the car didn't arrive at the dealership until late 2005. My CJD dealership had new 2005 XF's arriving in 2007. Maybe it sat in Detroit, but so did a lot of XFs.

As far as Carmax goes I'm going to have to disagree with my friend Pizzaguy. Carmax prices their cars based on what they buy them for + a set mark up. If they buy the vehicle for too much money then the car will priced too high. If they steal the car then you can too.

I bought my XF at a Carmax. They stole it on trade in. They knew I was looking for a clean yellow XF and told me they might have one coming in on trade. I told them how much I was willing to pay "out the door" and they worked the deal "backwards" to buy the car for the right price. I walked out paying under clean black book for the car including everything.

Carmax doesn't have to follow traditional purchasing guidelines on their vehicle because they own their own finance company. It allows for different purchasing guidelines.

Don't get mad at Carmax about their pricing. Have a number in your head - if it is the right car & hits that number then buy it, if not walk away. There is an old saying in the car business, "the wrong car always costs too much."

 

Thanks for the responses.
I know CarMax supposedly has "no haggle" pricing, but do they ever accept lower offers?
I found a dealership with a decent selection of lower priced Crossfires closer to my new home in Dallas: Bonham Texas Dodge Dealers - Bonham Chrysler Home Page I guess I'll check out CarMax while I'm in Houston, offer them a reasonable price and leave if they insist on close to $18k.

 

Keep an eye on the car. Carmax will NOT negotiate at all & won't even entertain any offers. Your sales person won't even take an offer to a sales desk.. These aren't sales people, they are order takers. That being said we have all established that they probably won't sell the vehicle for $18k - as the car ages they will mark it down. One the vehicle hits a certain lot age they have to start paying off the floor plan on the car. You get close to the day when a dealer has to start paying for they cars they have on their lot and the prices start to drop. I'm not sure what the average turn on a Carmax lot is, but most dealer start paying on used cars at 60 days - can go as high as 120 days (unusual).

Hope this info helps!!!

 

Mike-in-Orange, you're breaking my heart. I bought my roadster in 2005 and paid $37k, but it had zero miles!!! If only I had waited a couple years...but those first two years were the years I put 30k on her driving to Detroit weekly (summer only).

 

FYI this is one of the last batch of 05's (Built date 05/05). The 06's went in production in 06/05. So like many other XFs it sat somewhere for 14 months before the first owner took delivery. I wouldn't worry too much about it at this stage. If it had any storage related problems, they should have been taking care of by now.
IMO price is on the high side for an 05 with a 6 speed, I would negociate for some extended warranty and/or some maintenance to be included. Oil changes are expensive on this car.
good luck

 

Kimpossible had some good advice here. If you can wait, you might let them know you will be willing to "take the car off their hands" if they still have it a while and it goes on the "featured vehicle" list or the "last chance" list. Those prices will definitely be lower.

 

I've learned something in this thread, Kim. And, anyway, if ANYONE is qualified to disagree with me on this, it's you.

Didn't know they put that much thought into the process at CarMax - not that I thought there were robotic idiots, but I got the idea that corporate rules applied that made them inflexible and impossible to deal with. That is to say, I "gathered" that the sales people are more ordertakers than sales people, just by visiting a few CarMax lots in the past several weeks.

Also, this appraisal process of theirs... sure seemed like a forumla they followed, and I still think this is the case. But in YOUR case, they knew they effectively had the car sold when it came in because you'd talked with them.

But I STILL think their cars are too expensive most of the time. I see better deals at Chrysler/Ford/etc. lots than at Carmax (not always, but it sure seems to be the case). Perhaps it's also becuase CarMax SEEMS to specialize in the lower-mileage cars?



Well, that part confused me. EXAMPLE: THe lot I just came from this one, for instance.... what do you mean "paying off the floor plan" on the car????

Do you refer to the (I guess) borrowed money they used to buy the car? I mean, I always thought NEW cars were on a dealer's lot on the graces of the manufacturer and after so many days, the dealer had to start paying "interest" to the manufacturer - but I dont' get the reference to the used market.

I know that you know what you are talking about (since you work in the industry) but I don't understand. THe sales guy tonight (who owns the little dealership) referred to "paying interest" on the car, but I wondered if that wasn't a sales pitch or something. I suspect that the guy has been in business long enough to have the cash to run the business ---- like my boss does. But that may not be the case after all.

Never thought that much about all of this ---- but you got me thinking by disagreeing with me.

 

Very few dealers actually OWN any of their cars. Floor plans are basically the borrowed money used to pay for the vehicles on any given car lot. Pretty much the only dealers that don't have cars on floor plan are the shady ones that can't get credit extended to them even by the auto auctions (MAFS is Manheim's floor plan). I do know 3 totally liquid dealers that are really awesome but their owners are really old school & really, REALLY rich. That being said each dealer gets to keep the vehicle for a predetermined number of days before they start to pay interest on that vehicle's floor plan money. They also have to pay off the floor plan as soon as they sell the car. A huge reason that dealerships fail (new & used) is because they fail a floor plan audit. Next thing you know there are car haulers lined up out front because a floor plan got pulled and the bank is taking all the cars back. My last dealership lost cars all the time. I remember two times we had to write $600k checks to Chrysler for cars we couldn't locate. As far as time frame - can be as little as 30 days but that's usually small independant dealers. I worked for a large group that got 160 days but that was a little extreme. Many dealers try to keep a turn (average lot time until the car is sold) less than their floor plan limits. Hope this helps.

 

If you consider purchasing a car from Bonham, please contact me by PM. I've got a story for you that might change your mind. I bought our 07 there back in May and drove it back to L.A.

 

It always helps to learn something, Kim.

 

Bingo.

When I bought my Crossfire, my Miata before that and even the lightly used Cobalt we got for my wife (hey, her choice, NOT mine) I mentioned to the respective dealers that it appeared they'd had the cars for quite a while and obviously they needed to sell them much more than I needed to buy.

So I made an offer, and said I had check in hand.

They balked.

I got up and started walking away.

They stopped me and said how about we meet half way.

I told them I didn't need to buy the car - but they do need to sell it.

Restated my offer.

They hesitated and I started for the door again (had my hand on the door, as a matter of fact, with the Miata purchase). In every case I got the deal I wanted.

If there's a "No haggle price" to be stated, I'm the one stating it, NOT the damn dealer!!!!

 

I remember seeing my grandfather do this years ago when he was buying a van (gotta be a long time ago..... I don't remember seeing a van on a dealer lot in over a decade!).

He would look over a vehicle he wanted and wait for a sales guy to walk out. The sales guy always goes into their pitch while gramps basically ignored him and said he'd "find him if he needs him". After a while, maybe 15 or 20 minutes, he'd approach the sales guy with a basic question...... "what's the lowest price you can let that van go for? If I like it I'll buy it right now, if not then I'm going to turn around, leave, and never come back."


He always got his cars for the prices he thought was fair to pay.

 

I purchased a vehicle from CarMax once before... more than likely won't do that again.

"No Haggle" means just that. They won't budge a penny on their "sticker" price. The vehicle I purchased (03 Nissan Xterra SE 4x4) was priced lower than the surrounding dealers "asking price" but that was based on sticker prices. Chances are I could've easily negotiated at another dealer for the same or less than I purchased from CarMax.

They draw a big crowd thanks to the "No Haggle" stuff because most folks hate the negotiation of price part of the car buying experience and that's their huge selling point. It'll cost you thousands extra though.

Keep shopping, there are plenty of great deals on Crossfires out there.

 

Carmax will not haggle over the price of the car. However as the floorplan is reached, ( Thanks Kim I had forgot that Term.) They will Lower the price of the car. The only car that sits over floorplan is the great car that the owner or senior sales manager are driving!

Last Year I found an 09 focus coupe ses fully loaded for only $12,001
It was listed as an Internet special Had 100 miles on the odometer 17 in sport rims and a rear fairing, Kinda gave it a 3 series look!

I bought it for my Youngest son as we wre moving out of district for hissenior Year, ( And the fact that He is a Straight A Honors student!)
I know the owner of the dealership and the sales man who helped Us and they both told me That the car had been on the lot for 8 months and they were paying $ just to look at it !


BTW Fords Sync system really does kick serious ***.

 

Thanks for the lessons on car buying -- it was great reading!