Toy with me, baby! or How to handle a used car salesman?

[SamIam]

I have always been fond of Toyotas. Not only do they go forever, they go where-ever you want - the 4wd ones, anyhow.

Yesterday, I inspected a very clean used 1995 Toyota T100 with camper shell at a used car lot. They gave me an auto-check report on it which said that the vehicle had only one owner, never was in an accidence, and showed it maintenance schedule which is very good. The vehicle has 200,000 miles on it, but my past Toyota's have always gone 300,000 plus, so I figure that baby has many more adventures left in her.

Sounds good so far - yes? Except when I test drove it, the "check engine" light went on. That's a deal breaker for me unless they can show me the mechanic's diagnostic printout stating the "check engine" is for some trivial thing?

Also, the price on it is way too high - $6,495. Even without the "check engine," the price is too high.

I told the salesman that I'd be interested in negotiating for the truck if they resolved the "check engine" issue. She said the manager might just decide to send the truck off to be whole saled rather than spend any money on it.

I'm thinking that if I could get them down on price - esp if they are going to wholesale it anyway, I would strongly consider buying it IF my own mechanic took a look and discovered that the "check engine" thing can be cheaply resolved.

Do dealers ever sell to customers at whole sale prices? If not, what's a reasonable amount over whole sale for me to start negotiations?

Any thoughts, oh wise Cellar?