Purchasing New Car

[JoeWras]

Are dealers back to negotiating? When I bought my new car early last year every dealer was asking MSRP, nothing higher or lower, no negotiating. At least they weren't asking above MSRP like in a lot of places around the country.

Depends on the brand.

 

[Koolau]

Depends on the brand.

And model!

 

[Kings over Queens]

Are dealers back to negotiating? When I bought my new car early last year every dealer was asking MSRP, nothing higher or lower, no negotiating. At least they weren't asking above MSRP like in a lot of places around the country.

My recent experience with Hyundai dealers in the Denver area tells me "sort of." One dealer offered a discount off MSRP and when I countered he politely told me to pound sand. Their policy is no negotiation. Price is what they say, but they don't tack on charges for other silly services . Another dealer offered what appeared to be a deep discount that was then clawed back with "dealer adjustment charge" to the point it was almost the same price as the first dealer.

I went with the first guy based on his transparency.

 

[Gotadimple]

If inventory is still low, you probably won't find any room to negotiate. If you have to have a new car, time your buy to right before the new models start arriving.

Offer to buy last year's model (inventory will be very low - but it's a new car), and if there are several of the same model in your local area, put dealers in competition for the best price.

Even better if the dealership is owned by a company with a few dealers of the same brand in the local area - put those dealers in competition for the best price.

And do it all on the internet (except for the test drive). That means NO negotiation at the dealer, just a test drive. Your offer is handled via email. And if you can swing it, make it an all cash deal.

1. Dealers need to make room for the new models.
2. Dealers need to move cars that they have been financing off the lot.

 

[75Norton]

We just bought a new Honda Pilot and took advantage of the 3.9% loan offer rather than take money out of investments. We also drove the Telluride but my wife preferred the Pilot although the Telluride is usually rated higher in road tests. We bought the Pilot at MSRP after some effort and I think we could have bought the Telluride at MSRP although the dealers don't want to admit it.

 

[Koolau]

We just bought a new Honda Pilot and took advantage of the 3.9% loan offer rather than take money out of investments. We also drove the Telluride but my wife preferred the Pilot although the Telluride is usually rated higher in road tests. We bought the Pilot at MSRP after some effort and I think we could have bought the Telluride at MSRP although the dealers don't want to admit it.

Heh, heh, when you walk out and they try to beat you to the door, you know there's more discount to be had.

 

[a60dan]

For once, we lucked out in this area.

Needed a tow vehicle and bought a 2021 Ford F150 that we got months later in 2022.

By giving up one $1000 rebate, we got 0% financing which came out to ~0.25% over 4 years.

I’d set aside cash in tIRA in late 2021 anticipating the bubble would pop soon.

Now the cash is earning almost 5% in money market account, and we can keep our income down the 4 years we need to. Saved way more than $1000 in income taxes here in NY.

I only buy new when it makes financial sense, and used was way too high at the time. We actually paid “invoice” price too, when I expected to pay MSRP.

Never let the dealer interleave the financing with the cash price.

They need to know they’ve got one chance to give their best price, and then talk cash vs financing.

Ford has given rebates if you finance too. Depending on the rate, we have paid off first month when it made sense. Not in 2022

 

[arch57]

Can’t over emphasize to negotiate an OTD price first. If they want to offer an additional discount for financing it should be off the negotiated price. Secondly, the Telluride is in high demand and it took me a couple months to find one without all the dealer add ons and markups. Bay Area dealers in California all want $5-$10k above MSRP, with no interest in negotiating it down.

Ended up finding one in Irvine at $3.5k under MSRP. They tried some of the add ons but I held firm and got the car at my price before flying down to get it. Love the car so far. I usually buy used but the prices for used Tellurides were very strong, not losing much off the price of new.

Good luck.

Also consider the Hyundai Palisade as Hyundai owns Kia and the 2 SUV’s are twins, they share the same engine and drive trains. Interior and exteriors are different. For some reason the automotive press raves about the Kia and that drives up the price. I test drove both and couldn’t tell any difference but went with a 2022 Palisade at MSRP. Eighteen months and 30,000 miles later BEST vehicle I ever owned. My daughter had a $90k BMW X7 that I often drive with our small grandkids and I much prefer the Hyundai. More room, easier 3rd row access, more intuitive controls and touch screen.

 

[67walkon]

We bought a Hyundai 5 years ago. I negotiated a price first and then told them I would pay cash. The sales guy said he had to let the finance guy talk to us. I blew him off but then he said Hyundai would give me a $6,000 incentive to lease. I asked to see the lease and it had no prepayment penalty. The negotiated price was around $34,000. The amount financed by the lease was around $29,000 because there were some fees. Paid it off after a couple of months and saved around $5,000 over a cash purchase. The only issue was fighting with them over an additional fee they wanted to charge but the eventually gave up.

If the manufacturer has a lease incentive and hasn’t closed this loophole, it’s worth looking at.

 

[sroby2020]

We made our most recent auto purchase last December. We intended to pay cash, but got a $500 price reduction for financing (decent interest rate, too). No extra fees on the loan (which was strange to me, because that's how the dealers make more money).
The dealers around here no longer discount cash purchases, and we're lucky the we didn't have to pay over MSRP. We paid off the loan on the first payment, and the title came in with the lien already released.

 

[FLJim]

Our last car loan was 1983. Paid cash since then. But 2 months ago we bought a new Ford, intending to pay cash along with the trade-in. (~$60K out the door, $30K trade, $30K cash). But the dealer pushed HARD for us to take a 36-month loan at 0%. We did, and have kept the $30K in a MM @ 4.9%. But WHY would Ford Motor Credit want to loan money at 0%? And that is likely in addition to "something" that they pay their dealer to convince cash buyers to debtors! What am I missing?