This is one of the best pieces of advice that you have received so far. ALWAYS be willing to WALK AWAY. NO CAR is so important, so rare, so cherry, so tricked up, so special that you cannot aford to walk away. Don't buy into the mindset that he's doing you a favor or that you MUST buy or commit. Always be ready to walk away.

I just phone walked-away. Figured I'd throw out a number before driving out to Olympia and he's not budging.

Let someone else pay him his price.

Expect a call by the end of the weekend, asking for $500 less.

You might also consider getting a CarFax report.

It's $45 for up to 5 reports, which is more expensive than it used to be, but gives you information that you really do want to know before spending thousands of dollars (was it in a wreck? am I the 2nd owner or the 10th owner? was the odometer replaced? etc).

www.carfax.com

Carfax is a godsend. I would never buy a used car without a Carfax report.

Trying to get the VIN right now. He's only had the car for a year so who knows what its story is. It's old.

5 owners, front end damage, he's only had it for two MONTHS, and won't go much closer to KBB value. I'm counting myself out.

That's why I said CarFax is a godsend. I think you can definitely find a better option than that!

Congrats, RM. You got away clean.

If you follow this process every time, the car that you ultimately buy will probably treat you well, and you'll forget what a pain in the ass it was to find.

My husband and I kind of fall into the whole "good cop bad cop" thing quite naturally, because I hate anyone trying to sell me anything and get surly. He used to be a salesman, so he schmoozes and sympathizes with them about how hard I am to deal with. It works pretty well. ;-)

My boyfriend comes with- he's kind of a sucker, but I'm a jerk who sticks to my guns. We looked at another car a while ago and he thought I was mean. I'm just glad I didn't get screwed.

Geni: I'm the same way. Any time I detect even a hint of the hard sell, I dig in my heels. I bet having a salesman around makes things much better. I'm envious.

RM: Sounds like you don't need to bring a bad cop along, but maybe you can borrow Geni's husband :D. I saw in rickibot's answer above that the truck won't work out for you, but I hope you find one that does soon.

Women can be really good at dealing with car salesmen precisely because they get annoyed by the assumption that the guy with them is the one making the decision. (Not what you said, but watch a man and a woman at a car lot some time and see who the salesperson talks to, if the salesperson is male.)

Printed off KBB, checked Edmonds and it's about the same, printed off Carfax, and his add as it appears on CL. I actually just called him to go over those both since it's going to be an hour drive for us. Refusing to budge, so we're not even going. Bummer for me, but that's his problem!

From what else you've said here, it sounds like a good call on your part. Anyone who's asking a buyer to drive 2 hours round trip to hope that the car is good had _better_ make the case for the extra 2K.

Good call.

Just for future reference, replacing or repairing standard parts will never put the value over KBB. Ever. It will only affect what condition it falls under.

As for accessories, you can't put a $1k stereo in the car and just jack the price by $1k, for mostly the same reasons you can't drive a new $20k car off the lot and sell it to a private party the next day for $20k.

The only reason to go $2k over KBB is if they just put $4k of brand new aftermarket stuff in it, yesterday. MAYBE. Then you would have to seriously consider whether you really want those accessories, because their value will likely depreciate quickly along with the rest of the car.

From the CL post "In the last month I have put a brand new clutch, brand new brakes, and a brand new flow master exhaust in it! It has also had a full tune-up. The truck runs very smooth, and shifts very well. This truck is ready to go 100,000 more miles at least. I also just installed a brand new top of the line Panasonic deck that has an auxiliary and USB port. To go with the new deck I installed brand new Kenwood door speakers; the sound system is great in this truck. " so it's a combo of both. The thing that is kind of ticking me off is that I just ran the Carfax and none of his repairs are listed- he's also only owned the truck for two months. HMMMM

Hmmm is right. It sounds like he made these repairs/mods himself, or his friend's shop did the work. Something like that. I'd ask all about who owned the truck prior to him. Either that owner burned up the clutch, or this guy managed to do that in about two months. The brakes are less of a concern, since that would need to be done eventually anyway. Flow Master exhausts are usually code for "I like loud things that may increase my gas mileage a little bit". Ask if he's off-roaded much. Also ask if the sound system comes with the truck - this would be the reason he's asking $2000 over KBB. I'll bet that system cost him a pretty penny. I'd be very curious as to why he's selling to begin with, given those modifications.

I just called him to go over all that, since it was going to be an hour drive for us- and we're not going. He won't budge, due to the exact reasons I expected "I just put all of this work into it, and it's highly desirable so someone will go for it". It's a Toyota 4x4 which I actually used to have and sold for over KBB because he's a little bit right. He bought it for his son, but didn't say why his son wasn't driving it. Too much isn't adding up for me.

Ah. That sucks, but there are better truck deals to be had. Toyotas do tend to hold their value well, even ones that have been beaten up and modified all over the place. Jeeps are the same way. This guy may find a buyer, or he'll get wise and drop his price at some later point. But screw that. There are still reasonable people selling decent vehicles at reasonable prices. You've just got to find them. Good luck, RM!