I ask because I found out that the dealership I got my car from isn't a true car dealer I thought all dealerships were at the time I can save over $3,000 going to another dealership in the next city over
Not sure what you mean by this. Do you mean they aren't a legitimate Toyota dealer, or you just mean they don't honor the
www.truecar.com pricing.
I know with gas stations - most are franchised, but a few are corporate-owned.
I assumed ALL car dealers were franchised. If they have a big Toyota sign out in front and aren't authorized by Toyota, they can be sued (not to mention, it makes me wonder how they get inventory).
Pricing on new cars is ALWAYS negotiable. i.e. the dealer in the next town might be ADVERTISING the car for $3K less. That doesn't mean the dealer you bought from won't sell for that price if you negotiate hard, and you also might find that the car the next car over is more expensive after the documentation fees, low-ball offer on your trade-in, expensive financing, dealer installed options, etc.
Also - you can usually get the
www.truecar.com price or better by negotiating well.
A couple more suggestions:
- If you are trying to trade into an S model, are you looking to trade your car with the custom rims and stereo? The reason I am asking is b/c if you find a dealer that thinks they have a buyer for your car who doesn't care about the paint, they will be in a position to offer you more for the car to put you into the car you want.
- You can always go to ANY dealer you want and trade your car on ANY car you want, regardless of what Toyota does or doesn't do on the paint - you just have to know pricing to avoid taking a bath on the new car and trade-in also.
- In either case, you might want to take the car to either a detail shop or a body shop and get an idea of what they think it would cost to restore the paint. This helps with your decision. (i.e. You want it in writing, but if they say they can buff it out for $200 and you will have a mirror-smooth finish on the car - you are better off eating the $200 loss than trying to trade into a different car (and Toyota will probably foot the bill for $200). If they say they have to strip all the paint off and re-spray for $6K - you probably don't want to eat that, but you have documentation to show Toyota and a starting point for what they can do to make it right. i.e. "Anyone who buys this car will need to spend $6K re-conditioning the paint, so it is worth $6K less when I try to trade it, so I should be compensated for that."