New or Not New???

[AcousticFrEEk]

i just got a call from the dealer, after i ordered mine...he said he can cancel my order and give me a "good" deal on a vibe he has on the lot...it's the same color and options (exactly) someone bought the vibe, took it home and in two days him and the dealer figured out some way to return it because the finance people w/ the car he traded in kept messin around....so i guess my question is, is this car still new (like the dealer says) or is it used since it was kind of bought??? (it has like 280 miles) thanks again for the knowledge

[AcousticFrEEk]

thanks for the reply...that's what i figured....he told me he'd give it to me "new" for $150 over invoice minus the $2500 rebate (so i keep the warranty) so i was gonna ask for more than $3000 off invoice...whattya think?

[ragingfish]

When I was buying my sunfire, one of the ones I was looking at had 150 miles on the odometer...they said it had been driven down from NY state in a dealer trade.By MY standards, anything under 500 is fair game, so I feel 280 is still new!

[Sputnik]

Yeah I would agree I think. My brand new Cavalier had 241 km when I took delivery. Cars don't float from point A to point B.

[ragingfish]

From my understanding, the financing was never really approved, thus technically, the car never was turned over to the buyer. The dealer never really lost possession of it.No different than a 24 hour test drive IMHO.

[fuel4soul]

If it was YOUR "new" car you wanted to trade-in to the dealers with only ***# of miles on it, You can bet your (removed) they would be wanting $3k+ off of it!

[joatmon]

I wouldn't have a problem with a car that had 280 miles on it, especially if the price is right. Mine had 102 miles on it when I bought it, and the 39k miles I've put on it so far can't have been that much harder than whatever the first 100 miles were. if it was 280 miles of test drives, that would be worse than 280 miles of new owner. Someone checking out the car will be harder on it than a proud new owner., so if the new owner put most of the 280 on it, they were likely 280 easy miles. Find out what the odoometer was when the original owner bought it.G

[DopeVibeGT]

Did you try and get them to knock off a few bills? If they wont do that, I'd just wait until you get the one you ordered.

[spideymike1]

as far as the miles on the car i would say it is new - but the thing I would be thinking about is the financing. I know that here in MA if the car was titled then it is used. That meaning when you go to finance you will get the used car rates not the new car rates. Now I know that you said there was an issue with the other person's finance but that is something I would make sure of.

[hman33]

i agree. i bought my vibe with 175 miles on it. i've put 7,500 more miles on it so far. knock on wood, no probs. if the car was titled already then you're probably gonna get stuck with used car rates for financing.

[jake75]

My 'New" vibe had 230 miles on it as I think it was dealer traded twice. Evidently no one but me wanted a Vibe without a sunroof. My dealer got it in trade for something else. e.g. a Grand Am, so he was probably happy. Everything (almost) has a price. Around here you can easily get a NEW Vibe for $150 over invoice, so that's not any big deal. A lot depends on how much of a hurry you are to get the new car. Someone in a hurry will be glad to have that retitled but essentially new car for perhaps a $300 savings. If that's not you - wait for your order. Maybe the rebate will be $3,000 by the time it gets here (and again, maybe it will be back to $2,000). A car driven 280 miles by a "owner" in mixed driving is probably better than mine which was probably driven 230 miles at 65 mph down a freeway for 4 hours.

[Fialchar]

Wow, I feel ripped off.. >_>My Vibe belonged to the wife of the dealer, and I got it with 11,000 miles on it. I think I ended up paying 15,000 or a little more for it (Base auto). I had enough money then that I didn't care, So I just paid for it in full then and there and drove it home. Now that money's tight I wish I would have talked him down more ><

[1badvibe]

well i considered mine new when i got it. it had 1,500 miles on it and looked like this................

[03VibeGT6Spd]

A car is considered new until it is titled for the first time, no matter how many miles it has on it.Sounds like there credit company change there mind, which happens to people with bad credit or lie on the credit app.

[kostby]

280 miles and a couple of days doesn't sound like a lot, BUT...Let's be VERY clear... 1) It's YOUR money, and YOUR decision. Period. 2) Don't cave to pressure from the dealer. HE didn't screen the buyer or investigate the value and/or the balance due on the trade-in well enough. That's NOT YOUR FAULT!!!3) If you want a NEW car, then you have the complete right to wait for a NEW car.4) It IS NOT a 'demo' unit. 5) It was not a '24 hour test drive', the car was purchased, and then returned/repossessed. 6) It was a SALE, and the fact is, that the sale went bad through NO FAULT of yours.Was the 'repo' car ever titled? If the answer is YES, it WAS titled, then that car is now USED AND technically, A REPO, and, it's instantly worth up to 30% less than it was when truly 'new'. Invoice price (or any other 'new car' figure) is now meaningless, because it's no longer a new car, it's a used car. As someone else posted above, if YOU drove the car 280 miles and tried to trade it in, you can be DANG SURE they'd make you take a $3,000 (or more) hit!Additional questions I'd ask when considering whether or not to take this car:Is the dealer a personal friend? (I didn't let friendship stand in the way of getting what I wanted. My local dealer and personal friend was given the opportunity, but didn't want to find me a used Vibe with the equipment I wanted in my price range, so I found one elsewhere. He's still a friend. I still take my car there for service.)Have you done business with this dealer before? Were you satisfied in the past, or did you choose this dealer because it's the ONLY dealer in the area?Does the dealer have a good reputation or a bad reputation? Do you have any reason to suspect that the dealer is not telling you the whole truth? (e.g. the car was in an accident and is rebuilt?)Do you owe the dealer any favors? e.g. You're giving him your firstborn child to get this deal (j/k)Does the dealer owe you any favors? e.g. He's giving you his firstborn child if you take this deal (j/k)How long will it take for your 'ordered' Vibe to arrive? How desperate are you to get the new car? e.g. is your trade just days/miles away from needing major work to keep it running?Are there special time-sensitive deals, clearances, sales, tax or license changes, financing incentives that will begin or expire by the time your 'ordered' Vibe arrives, thus raising your cost?Are you trading in your current vehicle or buying the new car outright? If you're trading-in and it's more than 2 or 3 days, the dealer has the right/obligation to re-appraise your trade-in and give you a revised (guess what-usually LOWER) trade in allowance than the one quoted when you wrote the original sales agreement.Before I'd make a final decision to accept it, I'd insist on a personal fine-tooth-comb-type inspection of the 'repo' Vibe. I'd also INSIST on the factory warranty for a full 36,000 ADDITIONAL miles beyond whatever is on the odometer (e.g. until 36,280). If it's truly still a NEW car, then the dealer can gladly do that.I'd also INSIST that the dealer give me 48 hours to RETURN the car if I find ANYTHING wrong, even as minor as a tiny scratch or a stale cigarette-smoke odor instead of new car smell.If you honestly think you're going to take it, AND it was never titled, I'd also ASK FOR at least an additional $1,000.00 off whatever best deal you negotiated on the 'ordered' car. If the dealer really wants to move the car, he'll try to NEGOTIATE with you, though he probably WON'T give a $1,000 better deal, he might offer to 'split the difference'. If it WAS titled, you're going to pay USED CAR finance rates for it, and, as mentioned, it's worth up to 30% less.If you do not take the 'deal', the dealer is stuck with a quasi-used Vibe exactly like the one you ordered, and may have to watch it sit on the lot for a LONG time while your order is built, shipped, and delivered.Just my $.02: You may not use any or all of these questions in negotiations with the dealer, but hopefully armed with some additional info, it will help you make an informed decision.You should also read 'Confessions of a Car Salesman' if it's still available on the edmunds.com site.Here's a link to one GenVibe discussion that mentions it. -->http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=7032