Who is good at negotiating a new car purchase?

[DeniseM]

I am going to buy a new 2017 car.

I am going to pay cash.

The window sticker price (MSRP) of the car I want is $44,075

The dealership's first offer to me is $39,500 - out the door.

What would you offer?

 

[harveyhaddixfan]

I bought a Prius in 2014. Looked at pricing in Columbus Oh, I’m in Springfield an hour west. It was $3500-4500 under sticker on a few dealer websites. My local dealer came close to matching at $4000 off sticker. Checking pricing at other dealers is where I’d start. Even if they are 2 hours away.

Is the $39,500 with tax? I’d guess that would put the price closer to $35k which isn’t too bad. But it is long past end of year closeout sales, so you may be able to talk them down more.

 

[hncgregoraz]

Couple of items,

Don't say you are paying cash. Say that you have not decided, and it depends on the offers. Dealers often get paid on the financing side too, so they may deal on the price more if they get that $, you just need to make sure that you don't have a prepayment penality.

Second, shop your configuration to the Internet sales rep at multiple dealers.

Determine options you are willing to accept in addition to your must have items.

Dealers make a lot of their profit with ads, such as tint, weather protection, tire and wheel warranty, extended warranties, etc, but they also tend to have the most flexibility with these high margin items.

We skipped the dealership BS with our most recent purchae. Tesla sells direct only.

Harry

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[DavidnRobin]

I would not buy a new car nor would I pay cash.
Check Costco - they have set prices. That is how a bought my last new car with cash (last time).
IMO YMMV
Buying a brand new car is akin to buying from Developers. {wink}


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[DavidnRobin]

Lease a new car - drive for Uber/Lyft - write it off...



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[DeniseM]

$39,500 is "out the door" - that means the total with all fees and taxes.

Dave - I just want a new car.

I have been looking around - availability of the car and model I want is low.

 

[SMHarman]

Want to name the car and spec?

Also ask them if they prefer cash or finance.

A buddy of mine got a crazy deal that was improved by taking their 0.9% financing.

The small print of the financing said it could be repaid in full after 3 months.

So three months later he repaid the financing. The tiny interest bill was made up for in spades on the additional discount.

 

[harveyhaddixfan]

Assuming 8% tax and a few fees, that puts the purchase price around $36k. That’s not terrible to get $8k off. But since you’re essentially buying “last years model”, you may be able to do a little better. A friend was offered 25% off sticker on a few Chevy models.

 

[DeniseM]

If I name the car - you guys will all just pile on and tell me why I shouldn't buy it!

 

[harveyhaddixfan]

If I name the car - you guys will all just pile on and tell me why I shouldn't buy it!

There’s also the option of getting a really nice 2015 XXX for less!

I’ve seen a lot of local sales in the Facebook marketplace that would be nice fun cars. One was a 2006 BMW 525i with chocolate brown leather seats and only 90k miles for $6k! I’m sure you could find something local too if you wanted to go that route, but if you can get 20-25% off sticker already, might as well buy new.

 

[DaveNV]

Denise, do yourself a HUGE favor and look at the Costco Auto Buying program. You may save a boatload of money on your new car. https://www.costcoauto.com/enterzip..._medium=services_page&utm_campaign=bau&cmpc=1

Dave

 

[amycurl]

There is also a credit union auto buying service that is great and easy to use. Also, Consumer Reports can provide you with the true dealer's price for the car you want with the features you want (what the dealer paid for the car from the manufacturer.) You always negotiate the price up from there, not down from the sticker. Using the car buying service, we told them what we were willing to pay for the car (no more than $1,000 above dealer invoice,) and it only took them about a week to find a dealer willing to sell the car at that price. I never went into the dealership (the auto buying service delivered the new car to my door.) We've done this twice now and we'll never look back.


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[DeniseM]

Dave - I looked at the Costco program, but I'm unclear abou how it works - dumb it down for me.

 

[DeniseM]

amycurl - do you have a link to that service?

 

[amycurl]

I think the Costco service works similarly to the CUABS. Tell them the make, model, features, color and then they find a dealer to sell that to you at the price point you want (Costco may only come back with a "standard discounted'" price, I'm not sure.)


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[PigsDad]

It really depends on the car, as some makes/models have much more markup than others, so that will taint any advice you get here. Since you don't want to reveal what model you are purchasing (certainly your prerogative), just Google the make, model, year, and "invoice price", and you should get a close approximation of the dealer invoice (you need to find a site that you can put in the options your car has as well). I have always paid below dealer invoice (that's not what they really pay for the car) by at least $500.

Next, consider negotiating w/ dealer financing. As was stated above, dealers get incentives for financing a vehicle, so they will give you a better price. If you want to pay cash, just pay off the loan right away. I have never seen an auto loan with a pre-payment penalty in recent times, so it won't cost you any more. We just purchased a new car in May, and that is exactly what we did.

Good luck!
Kurt

 

[amycurl]

Google "credit union auto buying service." You don't have to be a member to participate, but if you are, they may be able to refer you. That's how we found out about it.


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[Elan]

Go to one of the big online car shopping sites and see what pricing is available on comparable cars. As Kurt said, discounts will vary substantially based on model.

As a point of reference, 2017 F150s with MSRP near $50k can be bought for $37k or less right now.

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[CalGalTraveler]

We bought our teen a 3 year old car at CarMax. It's a no haggle dealer and we were able to purchase a 60 month 100,000 mile warranty. Two years later when we did not need the car anymore (she prefers to use Uber at college), we sold it back to CarMax and they gave us a credit for the warranty. Overall it was cheaper than leasing a car and a lot cheaper than buying new.

 

[VacationForever]

I usually just ask for internet price and not worry about getting a better deal than that.

 

[IngridN]

Check KBB, Edmunds, etc. what you would pay for that car in your area. You can then tell if you got a good deal. We recently purchased a 2017, got $3K mfg credit, $2K dealer credit, and $750 credit for financing it. Plugged the numbers into KBB and Edmunds and was very pleased with the deal. We paid the car off a few days later, incurring about $50 in finance charges. I also believe, but am not sure, that 'out the door' does not include taxes and license fees.

In my experience, the Costco program is a joke. The most recent experience resulted in the Costco dealer presenting us with 4 cars that did not include all of the bells and whistles we wanted and when I asked for a price of a car that did, no response. Never again will I waste my time.

Ingrid

 

[DeniseM]

I have a written quote - "out the door" absolutely does include taxes and fees.

 

[remowidget]

I would do a nationwide search for your car on Autotrader and see what the cheapest one in the country is going for and compare to what they are offering you. Just another data point. I'd check Costco too.

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[DaveNV]

Dave - I looked at the Costco program, but I'm unclear abou how it works - dumb it down for me.

Basically, you register, and tell them the brand and model of car you're interested in. Costco will send you to a specific salesperson at a specific dealership, who has agreed to abide by the terms Costco asks for. You work with only that salesperson, and if you agree the price is right, you buy the car and drive away. If not, you leave anyway. No obligation or cost to you. They're supposed to show you the invoice on the vehicle you want, and then you both figure the Costco price for the car. It generally is far below normal retail pricing. I've used it a few times, and it was always good for me. As they always say, YMMV. It costs nothing to try it out.

Dave

 

[buckor]

Denise,

We bought a car over the summer and did a lot of research. We started off looking at new cars (though I said we would never buy a new car again after buying our last vehicle brand new) just to see prices, features, etc. Then we started looking at used models (we were only looking at one make and model).

We looked at 5 different vehicles from 5 different dealers and compared prices using www.truecar.com. I knew I didn't want to pay $50k+ for a new vehicle.

We ended up paying $33k, out the door, with a 5 year 125k warranty, for a 2014 model, 17k miles, 1 owner vehicle. Basically brand new for about 30-40% less than new.

We were honest as we shopped and told every dealer we were not making a decision that day (shouldn't we get a gift card as a gift for these presentations, too?!). We also had financing lined up through our bank and was honest about that.

In the end, we didn't "pit" anyone against anyone else...we just asked for their best offer, told them we weren't going to haggle, and walked away with a vehicle at a price we are very happy with compared with what others were paying for the exact same car.

We did make our purchase the last couple days of the month to take advantage of their quota needs for the month. I never buy a vehicle at the beginning of the month having had several friends in the industry who said the deals are better at the end of the month.

But, this is just us....

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