This may not be a completely fitting topic for this forum, so if that's the case I apologize.

We are hoping to buy a used 2017 Expy EL XLT this week. Trade in for our 2010 Pilot. You regulars here may recall my having had a 2015 Expy we bought used, had issues with, and traded in for a new Pilot. So we are trying on the Expy again because we really need the extra cargo space.

Right now I've visited 2 dealers, plus viewed a lot of other ones online. We are considering one of these two, but the price difference both with the car itself and the trade is a big one. Just wondering if anyone can weigh in on why that might be. I *think* they both have nearly the same features, though I am still trying to compare.

This one is $34995 with 29K miles. It is a bigger dealer and they said they will give us 9000-9300 on our trade in (but I wonder when the deal actually goes down if that will change?). https://www.kengarffford.com/used/Fo...15281d0cd4.htm

This one is $38995 with 20K miles. It is a tiny dealer, family owned 3rd generation, with really great reviews on google, yelp, etc. (unlike any of the bigger dealers). The owner says they only buy auction cars of a 4 rating or above. But he will only give me $8000 for my pilot.
2017 Ford Expedition EL XLT 4WD Salt Lake City UT 22779501

Thanks for any used car buying advice!

 

Clean trade on your Pilot is roughly $8500 (and it only takes 125,000 in mileage for the price to drop to under 8K). If the "little" dealer is truly buying high end auction cars, then he would have to pay a premium to get said cars as everybody would want those cars. So the "little" guy may be right on the monies and the big guy just wants to get you in the door to then try to hammer out a deal. And there's a 30% difference in mileage between the two Expy's, so take that into consideration as well. What's the warranty differences between the 2 dealers? Are both close enough to you that you'd consider using them for routine work?

 

Thanks for your input here. Yes the mileage is for sure a factor. Yes I am a bit wary of the big dealer and what kind of shenanigans will happen once we try to make the deal. I am pretty confident the smaller dealer is no hassly, the 8000K is firm, and we will be out of there in 20-30 minutes.

Neither dealer offers any type of warranty, so what you get is the factory warranty. So the lower mileage one still has 16K miles of warranty left, the other about 7K. I so far would not be very comfortable using any of the ford dealers here for service, and the big dealer where the expy is is a big drive so I likely wouldn't use them. The small dealer doesn't service vehicles, although I'm sure they make use of the garages, body shops, and dealers on the same street.

 

[QUOTE=grandisp;17874714]
Right now I've visited 2 dealers, plus viewed a lot of other ones online. We are considering one of these two, but the price difference both with the car itself and the trade is a big one. Just wondering if anyone can weigh in on why that might be. I *think* they both have nearly the same features, though I am still trying to compare![/QUOTE]
Doesn't matter WHY they have different prices. It is what it is.

But to me those two vehicles are as different as night and day.
Where's the window sticker on the white one?
Do you NEED the Heavy Duty Trailer Package on the black one?
Which color do you want? Which color interior do you want?
Are both dealers FORD dealers?
Have you exhausted negotiations?

 

There are three similar Ford Certified trucks in your area, with similar prices. Dollar for dollar, you cannot beat the certified warranty.

Used Search Results in Salt Lake City UT

Another thing you can do with your choice at Garff Ford is ask them to make it certified. It costs them money to do it, but you could use it as a bargaining chip.

 

Can I ask why you feel strongly about the certified? There is another one on the west side of town that I was considering, and is certified, but it is black on black which I'm kind of over at this point.

I've been to the Larry MIller dealer that has the gold one, the first one you linked. That one has an odd sound on start up, and also I did not get a great vibe at that dealership at all. maybe just me.

My hubby apparently is not a fan of the tan interior on the white one I was leaning toward, and I also noticed today it was pretty smoky smelling (though all of the used ones smell smoky to me) so we are going to sleep on it a night.

 

 

https://www.ford.com/certified-used/inspection/

This is what the CPO inspection and warranty are supposed to do for you. There's no down side here as compared to buying a used car without any additional coverage.

 

Why does he not like the tan interior? To me it makes the interior feel bigger and more roomy. I've got the tan interior on all 4 of the Ford products I've got and it's also held up very well. One is approaching 400,000 miles and still looks very good overall. I was worried that it would look dirty quickly, but that has seemed to be the case. Even carrying my pooches around (now 4 of them), the tan has held up well.

Good luck with your searching.

 

Yeah I agree it makes it look lighter and bigger inside which is really nice compared to the dark black interiors where everything you drop is lost forever. He said he thinks it looks 'old' (I need that shoulder-shrugging emoji here). It will hide sand really well, but probably not all the junk my 4 kids toss everywhere. I think I'd push for it except the strong smoke smell is still bugging me - I can handle some smoke smell and have used the charcoal pads to get rid of it in a used car before, but this one for some reason seemed stronger. I'm really picky about smells though!

I'm going to look at 2 certified ones today, so thanks to the above poster for recommending that.

 

Ok, thanks for the link!

 

fair enough on the certified!

we don't really need financing, and i didn't really trust that particular dealer - plus the car had sold, then came back on the market supposedly because the buyer 'couldn't get his financing in order' - which may be true but i'm just too skittish for stuff like that.

 

We ended up getting a 'new' 2017 Expy EL Limited today for about 51K but it has 2000 miles on it (GM drove it is the story). This was the same way we got our Pilot in 2010 so I feel ok about it. Trade in was 8500. Started at 8000 but they wanted us to finance to get $1000 ford rebate or something. we really didn't want to finance and have credit checks run, etc. as we eventually need to buy a new home in the coming year, so hence the slightly higher trade value but no rebate. we probably should have negotiated more but honestly we didn't have much time and liked the car and needed to be done. It was the last one, on a 72 hr special or some such thing, there aren't many in this area left, and it drove great and WOW we were amazed at how much quieter the cabin was in the Limited version vs the 2015 XLT we had! My favorite thing about cars with 2000 miles is that they don't smell new anymore, but in this case it also did not smell like smoke, or perfume, etc.

It was quite a bit less than I have been quoted by at least one other dealer for a new 2017 - maybe just due to it being a 'demo' I dunno.

So, wish us luck!

 

Good luck to ya....I remember the hassles with the 2015 and suggested shopping deals on new 2017's. Your price sounds really good given that you got a Limited if the 51k was before your 8k trade in.

Buying a vehicle this early in its life means it has not missed any scheduled maintenance, so take care of it and it should take care of you.

George