Tips on going to a car dealership?

[HelloNasty]

I've never purchased a car before but will being going in to get my 1st new car sometime soon, anyone have any tips on getting the best price? A dealer emailed me a price on a car I wanted and the MSRP was 17.1k he said he would sell it for 15.2k, how much more can I get the price down? Also, I'm going to be paying in cash would this make any difference on how much more I can save? Thanks guys.

[Sooga]

try this page

[squeek12]

look up the invoice price on kbb.com, print it, bring it to the salesman. add $600 to that price and don't budge.

[DasLeben]

First off, make sure that you're negotiating the sticker price, not the monthly payment. I cannot stress this enough. It already looks like you're doing this, but I just wanted to mention that to anyone else reading this.

Now, MSRP on a car is highly marked up from the dealer invoice, if you haven't already guessed. Many cars are marked up in the range of $3,000-$5,000 or more, so it's your job to try to get the car for as close as you can to invoice. Now, doing this is actually pretty damn easy. Here's how the whole thing works, from the salesman's side:

1. He sits you down, and fills out a little form with the sticker price (MSRP) and any trade-in information that you may have. He'll then go to the "desk" and speak with a sales manager. The sales manager will punch numbers and give the salesman the "first pencil," which is simply a monthly payment, or if paying cash, an "out the door" price based on MSRP. The first pencil is always higher than what people get. Don't freak out.

2. You'll say "That's too high!" The salesman expects it. He'll normally ask "what's too high?" If you say that the sticker price is too high, he'll ask you what you think is fair. If the car is stickered for $18k and you ask for $17k, the salesman will cross out the original sticker price and write "$17,000." He'll go back to talk to his sales manager, and more often than not, he'll come back and shake your hand.

But do you see how that all worked? The salesman was controlling the deal. He's not going to lowball the dealership when you say that the price is too high. He'll ask you what you think is fair, and get you that price. Now, you may smile and think to yourself that you have great negotiating skills, but the price that you gave him is probably still well above the invoice price. You think you got a great deal, and the dealership still pockets a couple grand in profit.

Now, here's what I suggest that you do. When you sit down with the salesman, ask him to see the dealership's invoice on the car. He'll go talk to his sales manager and try to get it for you (because afterall, he'll still make money on the deal regardless). If the sales manager comes in to talk to you personally to try to avoid giving you the invoice (only the bad ones will do this), stick to your guns. More often than not, you'll have no problem seeing the invoice. Hell, I've made copies of the invoice for people to take home. Once you see that invoice price, it's fair game to ask for that. You'll get it.

Enjoy.

[balkii]

buying a car new is ridiculous. it loses so much value the minute you drive off the lot. why not just buy a very nice 1 year old used car?

[DasLeben]

[ QUOTE ]
buying a car new is ridiculous. it loses so much value the minute you drive off the lot. why not just buy a very nice 1 year old used car?

[/ QUOTE ]

That's true that the car depreciates once you buy it, but it's all dependent on what you paid for it. Say that you bought a car for MSRP and drive it off the lot. Suddenly, halfway home, you want to take it back and trade it in. The dealership will give you wholesale (invoice) price for it, not the original MSRP. If MSRP is $21,000 and invoice is $18,000, the car will depreciate $3,000 right as you drive off the lot to go home. That's pretty huge.

But, assuming you can get the car for invoice, the car's value will drop $0 right as you leave the lot.

Also, I'd like to point out that many people are very concerned with warranties, which many used cars don't have.

[OtisTheMarsupial]

Here's what I got:

Go toward the endof the month. Dealers have quotas and if you go at the end, they might be more willing to negociate because they want to make their quota.

When you test drive, do exactly that. Don't talk price at all. Just test drive. Talk about the weather or the car's performance. If you can't get the dealer to shut up, turn on the radio really loud.

Know what the car should cost before you negociate anything.

You can negociate from home or office instead. Do it on the phone or even email or fax. This gets you out of their manipuative, high pressure situation.

Find your own financing before you buy. The dealership will rip you off with their financing.

[HelloNasty]

Thanks for the replies guys, I appreciate all the advice.

Balkii I was originally gonna do exactly what you suggested but a slightly used Honda Civic is almost the same price as a new one.

[Randy_Refeld]

I bought a newq var about a year ago. After I decided on what kind I wanted I bought the dealer pricing info from Consumer Reports. It was $12 and this is important because there is a discount not represneted on teh invoice (I forget what it was called, but on teh car I bought the dealer stood to make $600 if he sold it at invoice). I went to two different delaerships and drove a car at each one that woudl be acceptable. At the first dealership I heard his best offer and left. At the second dealership (I had already been there earlier in the day) he had his "best offer" ready and I offered to buy the car at $150 below invoice (leaving the dealership $450 profit) and they stalled for a while and said there was no way they could lose money on the car (they denied taht GM was going to give the $600 when they sold the car). I went back to the first dealership and made them the same offer and drove home in my new car allowing the dealer $450 profit.

[Ray Zee]

there are also rebates. you must know about them or the dealer keeps them for himself. if they easily sell for near invioce there are ussually rebates that you we entitled to they keep. thousands of dollars at times.
after that and getting the invoice.( dont ever buy a car from a dealer that wont give you a copy to check its the same car.) the dealer gets 3% holdback from the manufacturer if its and american car and also close to that for others. this is their hidden profit.
sticker price without add on is about 15% higher than invoice price in most all cases.

a fair price on a model not too late in the year is 500 over invoice and you get all rebates.
hot cars and limited ones you cant get this deal.

buy a buddies car and get the fair price from kbb.com. new car buying is too painful unless you want to get screwed.