Borg

Another member of Team Red

That's right. Dealers generally outsource tinting, so you end up paying cost of tint + profit for tint company + profit for car dealership. You have 2 choices... 1. Try and haggle the price down a little, but still pay a lot to have the tint on the car when you pick it up. 2. Get the tint put on after you buy the car to save a few hundred dollars, but you have to be without your car for up to a day while it is done. It used to be possible to get the tint included in the total price of the car before the haggling begins, but more and more dealers are pulling shifties and not offering tint etc as an option until after the total price of the car has been agreed too. They use "after sales" staff to offer all the extras like tint, paint protection, rust protection, fabric or leather protection, extended warranties, etc which can add $$$$ to your purchase price and extra profit to the dealer if you are not careful and prepared for them.

What did they charge you for the tint?

The efficiency continues to improve with each fill. Latest figure: 27.16 litres for 394.7 kms = 6.88 L/100 km, or 610 kms from a full tank.

I wouldn't be too concerned on deals that other people have managed to get because no 2 deals are ever the same. As long as you got a car with all of the extras you want for a price you can afford, just be happy.

This is so true Zeus. Why is it so hard for so many car salesmen to act like decent human beings rather than shady, lying parasites. No wonder they are respected about as much as politicians. It is so good to find a decent salesman, and when you do it is a pleasure to recommend them to family and friends. They are far more common in new car dealerships, but you still do find "bad eggs" there as well. I get greater pleasure in making sure everyone knows about them, especially when it comes time to fill in the customer satisfaction surveys.

Looks like a poor attempt at a BMW 1 series clone. One positive for Subi though...when they bring out an updated model, it can't look any worse!! Or can it?????

It is a shame that there are still sales people like this, even at large new car dealerships. It is the sort of shonky thing normally associated with used car salesmen. In hindsight all you could really have done is get the dealer to either fax or email a written confirmation of the deal to you so you have it in writing.

Don't be surprised if a dealer offers you a trade in value for your car at the lower end of the redbook value, or even less. They are looking to maximize their profit both on your trade in and the car you are buying. You would be far better off financially selling it privately - you could get up to $4K more for it. But selling privately is a hassle at times, and can take months. You could try one of the car buying sevices to see what they would give you for your trade in, and then be a cash buyer when you get the Sportivo. In the end it is all about the change over price though. Offer the Levin as a trade in first and see what sort of deal you can do.

One of the girls at my work bought herself a new car recently. She was going to get silver but when she saw the same model in black she fell in love with it. Just a 2 months later she took it back and traded it in on the silver one, and lost a few thousand dollars in the deal. All because she hated how dirty it always looked, even though she washed it each weekend. The Aurion comes in that magnificent gold - personally I would go for that colour over black if you were getting the Sportivo.

Latest fuel economy figures - 3rd fill 397.2 kms from 28.86 litres of Shell 91 RON = 7.26 L/100km. Overall 1112 kms from 80.37 litres = 7.23 L/100km.

The best person to deal with is the fleet manager. Don't just go through one of the floor sales staff. Make a booking with the fleet manager and tell them exactly what you want - 2 cars now with the possibility of more later. Also look up Melvin Lau on here, as he works at one of the Perth Toyota dealerships. I think it is Prosser Toyota. He will help you out.

The price the dealer sells your trade in for will always be more than they give you. The reason for this is that dealers have to sell used cars with some sort of warranty, they usually do a full mechanical check and clean the car inside and out, and they want to make a profit on everything they sell. They are a business after all, not a charity service. They also advertise the car for more than they expect to sell it for to allow for some haggling, the same as people who sell their car privately do (or should do!). If you do your research using Red Book or the Glass Guide it will give you an idea of how much they should offer you for the trade in, and what the dealer will try to sell it for. If the dealer offers way less than this either haggle over the trade in price, or go somewhere else. Just remember when buying a car it is the changeover price that is most important, not what they give you for the trade in.

We've had the new auto Yaris Sedan for about a month now (1000kms). The first tank of petrol delivered 7.3 L/100km. The second tank was down to 7.1 L/100km. So far we have been using standard ULP from Shell.

The Sedan only comes in YRS and YRX trims, whereas the Hatch also has the YR. Also the Hatch has 3 and 5 door varieties. It is the YR trim and the 3 door hatches that are cheaper than the sedan. Generally it is better to sell your old car privately first and then be a cash buyer for your new car. This is not always possible though eg one car families or when there are financial issues. Trade ins are one area where a lot of car buyers lose heaps of money for a few reasons. The main one is that they don't haggle on the trade in price. The first offer given for a trade in is always less than what the dealer actually values it at.

More proof that the JDM Type R Civic sedan is heaps better than the Type R Civic hatch Honda are selling here.

Not on the Yaris sedan...just Odometer and 2 Tripmeters. do you have a picture?? where is it located? On the digital window with the fuel gauge and clock. There is a button to scroll between odometer and the 2 tripmeters above the CD player.

Some colours seem to be rare though. Don't see too many Ink, Dynamic Blue or Aquamarine in stock very often. If you want manual transmission, you might have to wait too. It seems that about 90% of sedans in stock are automatics!!

Another vote here for the Tom Tom unit. Just be careful when leaving the car in a public area to not only remove the unit from view, but also the suction caps etc that are used to attach it to the windscreen or dash. There have been a lot of smash and grab robberies of late with thieves targetting cars with portable GPS units. It seems many people remove the unit and hide it in a glovebox, but leave the suction caps there. This is an invitation to thieves to smash a window and go looking for the unit. Even if they don't find the gps, you still end up with a hefty repair bill.

He told me that many of the repos have been thrashed to death by their previous owners. There are many people out there that buy cars they clearly can't afford, and knowing that the car will eventually be repossessed, do not treat the cars very well.

We checked the carsales website, as they list brand new cars in stock for some dealers. We knew that the dealer we went to had 5 in stock in the colours we were interested in. Going to a dealer that has the car you want in stock often helps you negotiate a better price.

A relative of mine buys quite a few cars at Fowles for family and friends. He is a mechanic so he knows what to look for. He avoids the private sales and repo cars like the plague, and only buys ex-government and fleet cars.

$20,500 for a YRS auto sedan.

What did she get? Sedan or Hatch? Auto or Manual? Colour? Get a good deal?

I often drive past the Toyota plant in Altona to visit my folks, and every time I see a truck driving out of the factory with 6 brand new Aurions on board, at least 4 of them are Gold. Often it is all 6 in the gold.