07-30-2009, 04:59 PM
Psurfer,
It depends on the model of car. For example, if I went for a Jeep Patriot, I'd be saving $8000 off the MSRP immediately. That's $4500 clunker cash for the Cherokee and the $3500 discount that Chrysler is offering on the Patriot. However, I would never let them get away with charging me the MSRP for the car. I'd negotiate the price down from the MSRP and then factor in my clunker cash and the $3500 promo.
So, my final price would be "Whatever good low price I can negotiate for the Patriot" minus clunker cash minus promo. So, imagine the MSRP of the Patriot is $28,000 (which is pretty close to what the Patriot would cost the wayI'd configure it). I'd negotiate that down to the lowest price I can convince them to agree to. Imagine that is $26500. Then I'dget the $3500.00 promo. The price is now $23000. then I'd get the clunker cash. The price is now $18500.00.
If I were to see which is the better deal, then I'd compare that price to that of a late model used Patriot. All things considered relatively equal, I'd definitely go for the new Patriot, even if it was a bit more money. That's without taking into consideration the '09 Patriot is a noticeable improvement over the '08 and earlier models. For what it's worth, I saw some '08s for between $14K and $18K. Looking at that, I'd seriously consider the brand-new one.
Robert
It depends on the model of car. For example, if I went for a Jeep Patriot, I'd be saving $8000 off the MSRP immediately. That's $4500 clunker cash for the Cherokee and the $3500 discount that Chrysler is offering on the Patriot. However, I would never let them get away with charging me the MSRP for the car. I'd negotiate the price down from the MSRP and then factor in my clunker cash and the $3500 promo.
So, my final price would be "Whatever good low price I can negotiate for the Patriot" minus clunker cash minus promo. So, imagine the MSRP of the Patriot is $28,000 (which is pretty close to what the Patriot would cost the wayI'd configure it). I'd negotiate that down to the lowest price I can convince them to agree to. Imagine that is $26500. Then I'dget the $3500.00 promo. The price is now $23000. then I'd get the clunker cash. The price is now $18500.00.
If I were to see which is the better deal, then I'd compare that price to that of a late model used Patriot. All things considered relatively equal, I'd definitely go for the new Patriot, even if it was a bit more money. That's without taking into consideration the '09 Patriot is a noticeable improvement over the '08 and earlier models. For what it's worth, I saw some '08s for between $14K and $18K. Looking at that, I'd seriously consider the brand-new one.
Robert