W5 - Used Car Dealers Survey

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The new car dealers that "failed" in the W5 test - I saw the program on TV, don't need the link to it - only "failed" on the extra-charges part, not on the "take three scrap vehicles and weld them together to make one half-arse then get your shady buddy to give it a fake structural certification" part of it.

As for the pricing at new-car dealers, to a large extent I'm willing to pay it for being as secure as I can be (nothing is ever 100%) that the vehicle is basically sound.

I still got a good deal by buying a niche-market vehicle at a different-brand new-car dealer (i.e. not the same brand as the car was sold at new). Same car at the original-brand dealer would have probably been priced 50% higher ... The off-brand dealer just wanted it off the lot.
 
Mina said:
There's nothing wrong with getting a good deal, but you have to be careful of the poorly repaired wrecks such as seen in the video. For that reason alone, I will never buy a branded/rebuilt car.
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also don't kid yourself that some cars that "should" have been branded don't end up that way. Guy has very bad accident but he's uninsured, car gets towed home and sits in the yard for 6 months with no glass in three windows and the hood open. Gets the local buddy to shirt and tie that baby and its goes to the consignment auction. Looks fine except the power window switches were under snow all winter and the dash was soaked. The body mechanic can do suspension and steering parts but doesn't do an alignment, the car went from 100km to 0 sliding backward and later the tranny seems off...... branded wrecks can be fine and not branded wrecks can be worse, you really need to know what your looking at. That whole car fax thing only works on reported vehicle issues. During my auto body phase of my life we did a LOT of this work, but it was a long time ago.
 
Here you go Brian:
3edevyse.jpg

2009 Pontiac Montana with 90 k's from a Toyota dealership. We are selling it here for $6995.
 
Mina said:
Here you go Brian:

2009 Pontiac Montana with 90 k's from a Toyota dealership. We are selling it here for $6995.
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Hahaha, their original "market value" - and their original price - was a joke; yours sounds more in line.

My situation was pretty much the other way around. But a Pontiac Montana is not a niche-market vehicle. It's mass-market old-GM junk. It's a commodity that everyone knows the price of and no one will pay a premium for. I bought a niche-market vehicle that sells in tiny numbers, at a Mazda dealer that couldn't do anything with it (the car is not a Mazda).

How did you get your hands on it? Toyota dealer couldn't sell it at that price (couldn't find the sucker that was born that minute ...) and unloaded it and you snapped it up?
 
Mina said:
Here you go Brian:
3edevyse.jpg

2009 Pontiac Montana with 90 k's from a Toyota dealership. We are selling it here for $6995.
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Baaaaaaa wha wha wha whaaaaaaa.

When they axed Pontiac (and Olds and Saab and Saturn)........ kiss your resale value good bye.

Nobody wants to own a "dead" brand, and certainly pay the suggested premium for it.
 
Brian P said:
How did you get your hands on it? Toyota dealer couldn't sell it at that price (couldn't find the sucker that was born that minute ...) and unloaded it and you snapped it up?
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We only buy local new car trade-ins. We stay as far away from auctions as possible. This particular dealer, tries to retail any trade in they get for 30 days, if they don't sell it, they wholesale them out.
 
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SunnY S said:
When they axed Pontiac (and Olds and Saab and Saturn)........ kiss your resale value good bye.
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I don't see that being a real problem, parts are still available at the dealership and they share a lot of parts across a lot of models.
 
Mina said:
I don't see that being a real problem, parts are still available at the dealership and they share a lot of parts across a lot of models.
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Yeah, I think the main thing is it never had any resale value to begin with (GM and minivan)
 
Hardwrkr13 said:
I'll happily take a Pontiac G8 since nobody wants them ;)
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+1!! For a dead brand they sure hold their price well!

ive been shopping for months now and gave up on used car lots....everything is pristine until you drive it and look at it....

no accident 2009 GTI....oh the reason that the door is crooked...it's built like that

cobalt ss with full maintenance and no mods....suspension bits still in the back seat and different pieces clearly showing

i think I'm going to buy a car private as it's as shady as used car lots but at cheaper! LoL

thankfully my shift allows me to take the car when wife gets home so it's not too bad as a single vehicle family. IF the weather gets warmer it'll be easier riding to work.
 
The Chevy SS will have optional manual transmission and magnetic ride for 2015... that's gonna be a kick-*** sedan.

G8 was awesome too, if only the GXP model got into full swing with the 6MT!
 
SunnY S said:
Pontiac was supposed to release this abortion for 2010 before GM pulled the plug.

Then people wonder why GM went bankrupt and Pontiac got axed. :lol:

http://www.caranddriver.com/news/2010-pontiac-g8-st-pickup-killed-car-news
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Well it's not like they spent any money developing it - that article curiously fails to mention that it's just a Holden Ute (which is very popular in its home market). Probably most of the logistics needed for it were already taken care with bringing the Commodore over as the G8.
 
raginduck said:
G8 is a Rebranded Holden, no?
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Yes, both the Pontiac G8 back then and the Chevrolet SS now are a re-branded Holden Commodore. There is a police version sold in the US which is a re-branded Holden Statesman (same platform but slightly longer). Of course, changing to left-hand drive meant some chassis and interior changes.

All of these are Zeta platform vehicles, same as Camaro, which means they could have been built in Oshawa, and I think that was the original plan, scuttled by the double whammy of high fuel prices in 2007-2008 followed by the recession/depression. The (front-drive) Impala that just came out now was originally supposed to be a rear-drive Zeta platform vehicle a couple of years ago.

The "ute" would have cost them next to nothing to do. It's the same vehicle underneath. The body style already existed in Australia and all the changes to the firewall and instrument panel etc needed to make the Commodore left-hand drive would have transferred straight over. Even if sales volume had been small (likely) it would have been a niche market all to themselves. Think El Camino.

But now ... with the impending cancellation of the Australian rear-drive Zeta-platform vehicles, the Chevy SS and the police-interceptor version will also go away within a couple of years, and the next Camaro will be on a smaller rear-drive platform (same as the new Cadillac ATS) in the same time frame, so the entire Zeta platform is going away. If you like a vehicle like this, get it now while you still can.
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