Negotiating New Car Price?

[RetiredGypsy]

I think it's time to trade in the Civic for something a little more accommodating to my deteriorating derriere. I have no idea how to go about negotiating for a good new car value, and I have no idea if any article from any online source is reliable or not.

I'd love to hear how you managed to walk away feeling like you got the best deal you could have when you got your last vehicle.

 

[Whisper66]

#1 - decide what you want
#2 - get price for that choice from TrueCar app and also from Carmax website. Use these as a doublecheck that any price you are given from dealers is not ridiculous.
#3 - Go through the internet to ask for quotes from the dealers you are interested in working with. Can use their website / email system to ask for a quote.... or can use some online services. Consumer Reports used to offer such a service. Our local Credit Union also offered that service. Here's some tips from Edmonds https://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/how-to-get-an-internet-price-quote-for-a-car.html

When you get a price you like, THEN go into the dealer to close the deal. Talk only the person that sent you the offer. Be ready to walk out if they add costs to their original offer (which typically they try to do). Also if they get up to go ask for management permission for anything....wait 5 minutes and then start walking out. Typically it's all smoke and mirrors and they'll come running out to catch you before you go.

Warning: I hate working with dealers. Bought only 1 from a dealer in recent years, the rest from Carmax.

 

[Dash man]

Also, if you're considering an extended warranty, they are very negotiable. I got a 7 year/100K miles for just under $600.

 

[Texas Proud]

If you rarely buy a car then do not worry about trying to get the bare minimum price that someone said they were able to get.... just not enough in it to worry about...

But as suggested, you can look at the web and get a good idea of what one should sell... just make sure they do not add on a bunch of 'extras' or 'fees'...

I always ask for the drive out price to compare... most all dealers are pretty close... say within a few hundred, but not always... you can either take the price of the lowest or the dealership that seems to be the best...

 

[RetiredGypsy]

If you rarely buy a car then do not worry about trying to get the bare minimum price.... just not enough in it to worry about...

I forgot I had worked the math on this before I bought the Honda. Used and new car values here are so similar that over a long enough period of ownership (I figured both 15 and 20 years) a difference of several thousand was minimal.

 

[W2R]

I think that some of us are always going to feel we got a great price (even if it was only so-so), and others of us are always going to feel that we could have done better (even if we squeezed the last nickel out of the sales person). This has more to do with one's personality than with negotiating success for many of us.

It goes without saying to do your homework before you go to the dealer. Then decide on a net price (including the trade in), because they will bring the car price down and then pay you less for the trade in, if they feel that will boost your ego enough to make a deal.

I don't buy any extras like an extended warrantee; in fact, I always only offer a set price for everything, including TT&L, prep, and everything else, an "out the door" price so to speak.

Once it is over and you have driven home in your new car, let it go and stop fussing about how much you paid. It's done, so enjoy your purchase and don't let the price ruin the experience.

 

[Texas Proud]

I think that some of us are always going to feel we got a great price (even if it was only so-so), and others of us are always going to feel that we could have done better (even if we squeezed the last nickel out of the sales person). This has more to do with one's personality than with negotiating success for many of us.

It goes without saying to do your homework before you go to the dealer. Then decide on a net price (including the trade in), because they will bring the car price down and then pay you less for the trade in, if they feel that will boost your ego enough to make a deal.

I don't buy any extras like an extended warrantee; in fact, I always only offer a set price for everything, including TT&L, prep, and everything else, an "out the door" price so to speak.

Once it is over and you have driven home in your new car, let it go and stop fussing about how much you paid. It's done, so enjoy your purchase and don't let the price ruin the experience.

Yes, that is when you know you have a good price if they will not give you any more on your trade in....

We had gotten a good price on a car for my sister... but the trade in was below what the web said it should be... they said they could not go any lower... so, we went to CarMax and they gave her a much better price...

On my last car purchase, when I did that CarMax was only a bit more than the dealer, so with the tax savings it was a wash and I just traded it in... it was listed for twice what they gave me.... but I do not want to try and sell a used car.... just not worth it to me...

 

[travelover]

Get a price through Costco, then start asking one dealer after another to beat it, send the lowest bid around to be beat, then send that lowest bid around.....until you get no lower bids. Do this via email. I ended up almost $700 under the Costco price on a popular model.

 

[Ronstar]

Find an internet forum for the vehicle you wish to purchase.
Find what kind of percentage discount that others have received off sticker price.
Call some dealers to see if they will sell for that pct off sticker
Get the value of your trade (and value if you sell it) in from Kelley's Blue Book
See if dealer will sell you new car at pct off sticker & accept Blue Book trade in value.
If so, then do the deal.
If not, buy the car without trade in at pct off sticker and sell your old car to a third party

 

[easysurfer]

I think it's time to trade in the Civic for something a little more accommodating to my deteriorating derriere. I have no idea how to go about negotiating for a good new car value, and I have no idea if any article from any online source is reliable or not.

I'd love to hear how you managed to walk away feeling like you got the best deal you could have when you got your last vehicle.

If you hate the process, you can also hire someone to do the negotiating for you.

If you’ve ever dreaded going to the car dealership, you’re not alone. That’s why services exist that help people buy cars without ever setting foot on a lot.


Once you decide on a car model, car-buying services use certified representatives to do all the searching and haggling for you. And online car shops enable you to buy from your living room couch.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/loans/auto-loans/car-buying-service/

 

[FIREmenow]

Get a price through Costco, then start asking one dealer after another to beat it, send the lowest bid around to be beat, then send that lowest bid around.....until you get no lower bids. Do this via email. I ended up almost $700 under the Costco price on a popular model.

I did something similar, but I sent only one email with ALL of the dealers in the TO: line - that way they all new that they were competing against each other. I told them the lowest price on the return email would win my business.

 

[lhamo]

I got quotes from both TrueCar and Costco, but then ended up finding an advertised sale at a significantly lower price at another dealership in the region that included the VIN# (so I knew it was not bait and switch). They did tell me I would be eligible for one $500 discount that later got pulled -- I decided not to fight it because with the other discounts I was getting the car was still roughly $2000 under MRSP and well under the other prices I had been quoted. That included a $1500 discount for dealer financing at a somewhat high rate, but I paid it off with the first payment so only paid about $80 in interest, which seemed worth it for the $1500 overall discount.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

Some good advice here. As with most things, knowledge is king. You can get a 'decent' deal by using TrueCar, Costco, etc. But knowledge of what the dealer invoice is, what the hold back on the vehicle is, and various levels of employee and friend pricing is also useful. Look online, including other states for better deals to use as leverage (or even to purchase). [Note, if you are in a California emissions state you will need to buy a vehicle from one of the California emissions states or sometimes border states or 50-state emission vehicles.]

In the end on my last purchase (done Jan 2016), I ended up doing better than any of the services, but it took work on my part. (Ended up with 23% off MSRP.)

Even better is to not buy a new vehicle In my case, I didn't need one (already had two decent vehicles and an RV), but made the mistake one day of just stopping to see what was out there (which got my must have new vehicle craziness started).

 

[JohnnyBGoode]

Even better is to not buy a new vehicle

Generally speaking that is my approach as well. Perhaps as OP said with a high quality Honda or Toyota the price difference between new and slightly used is so small that it is not really worth it getting used. But otherwise I've always espoused the "buy used and let the other original owner eat the initial depreciation of a new car" philosophy.

That being said, I do have an order in for one of those new Tesla 3's coming out, so I guess I'm not exactly consistent here.

 

[pb4uski]

I have bought 2 new vehicles in the last 18 months. In both cases I ended up ordering a car. I found that the vehicles on the lot frequently had trim levels or options that I didn't value enough to pay for and by ordering I was able to get exactly what I wanted and avoid those expensive add-ons.

On the first one, I had a defined make/model/trim/color and it was a car that was in high demand. I sent requests to a half a dozen dealers within 200 miles for an "out-the-door" price.... I had a phone conversation with the lowest (about 150 miles away) and was prepared to go with them. I called our local dealer, told them that I preferred to do business with them and that they needed to "sharpen their pencil" and I even shared with them the out-the-door price of the other dealer. They called me back and said that they could not meet the other dealer... they claimed they would lose money at that price but the countered with a price that was ~$250 more. I ultimately decided that buying local and not having to make a 300 mile trip was worth paying the additional $250 and placed an order with the local dealer.

On the second deal, my truck wasn't going to pass inspection so I needed to do something quick... I was ultimately between two makes of similar trucks and pitted the two against each other until I got a deal I was happy with. In order to get a better deal I agreed to 5% financing but then paid it off after a couple months of payments.

On the first deal after I had negotiated a cash price the manufacturer offered 1.9% financing so I decided to go with it... put the payments on auto-pay and I hardly know it is there but I have definitely made more than 1.9% on my investments since so that has worked out well to.

 

[travelover]

I did something similar, but I sent only one email with ALL of the dealers in the TO: line - that way they all knew that they were competing against each other. I told them the lowest price on the return email would win my business.

In my experience, additional rounds will drive the price even lower, but one can stop whenever you're happy.

 

[kjpliny]

I recently purchased a new car and did a lot of research with the online sites and eventually got a great deal via e-mail with one of the internet sales agents at the dealer I purchased from. My best advice to you is to shoot for a manufacturer or dealer incentive which can be applied to the dealer INVOICE price (ignore fair price and MSRP price) so that you pay under dealer invoice for the car. I paid $1k under invoice. The dealership will still make money from their built in "holdback" value which they receive when they move inventory.

 

[Ronnieboy]

All good advise here. I'll throw in my $.03

Decide what you feel is a fair price for the car and go from there. I typically shoot for $500 over invoice. It all depends on the brand, model and popularity of the vehicle but that is what I usually plan. I will typically go on Edmunds.com, figure out the price of the car (and options) that I want, all based on dealer cost. Edmunds will usually give you an estimated price that 'people in your area are paying'. You should be considerably under that estimate, then I might try the Costco pricing but only to see their price that I also want to be under. I'll then take a look online at the dealership's inventory and go to the one with the most on hand.

I will do the test drive, so the salesperson has a little skin in the game and then tell then that I want xxx vehicle and this is how much I will pay. I believe it to be fair for both of us. if they say they have xxx but with zz extra package, I tell them tough I don't want the zz package so I'm not paying for it. If they have to 'talk' to their manager I say go ahead but I am leaving in 5 min. When they see you get up to leave they suddenly show up quickly.
Last but not least plan on walking away completely if you don't get the deal. When we bought our last vehicle, a 4Runner, I had barely turned out of the parking lot before I got the call to come back because they could make the deal. I also believe that going towards the end of the month does help with getting deals if the dealership is close to hitting sales goals.

 

[jollystomper]

My approach is to primarily consider dealers that only provide a "bottom line" price - no negotiation, but you know exactly what you are paying (and the only additional upsell they try is an extended warranty). A few even post their price as compared to the blue book value. of course, I don't get picky over colors and features - new and recently used cars these days seem to have way more "comfort" features than I'll ever use.

 

[Bamaman]

If you're in a big city, go to the newspaper classified advertising from Thursday to Sunday and see if any pricing is published. Those are usually cut to the bone--at least before the small print (i.e. documentary charges.)

Unfortunately today dealers are mostly advertising very low payments on retail leasing, and they can make any payment look attractive--with big capitalized cost reductions (down payments.) If I was going to lease, no down payment is the attractive feature.

I agree about going to Edmunds and figuring out what cost on a specific is. Then look for the current published manufacturers' sales incentives to subtract. $300 over cost is enough for most vehicles not including luxury brands.

Another angle is to stay away from Honda and other high demand brands. I prefer to stick with dealers that don't "go for the throat" profit wise.

A Ford or Chevy dealer has pickup trucks paying their overhead, and they're willing to cut the price on cars to move'em off the lot. The factories often make'em order X number of slower selling vehicles to get the high profit vehicles.

There are just so many angles to the car business, and an uninformed purchaser is not going to beat'em at their game. I worked in the auto business 24 years, and have friends with dealerships of many brands. My sister also owns a big city luxury car dealership. A personal relationship with a dealer helps you get a straight deal.

 

[Texas Proud]

Just another view on this....

What is your time worth IOW, when my sister was buying her new car she was only upset about the trade in price... we solved that by going to Car Max a few miles away....

But, she thought she had a good enough price with the dealer near us and did not want to spend time and effort to try and get a better deal... I told her we could do this or that, but she said 'It is good enough for me'....

 

[Midpack]

#1 - decide what you want
#2 - get price for that choice from TrueCar app and also from Carmax website. Use these as a doublecheck that any price you are given from dealers is not ridiculous.
#3 - Go through the internet to ask for quotes from the dealers you are interested in working with. Can use their website / email system to ask for a quote.... or can use some online services. Consumer Reports used to offer such a service. Our local Credit Union also offered that service. Here's some tips from Edmonds https://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/how-to-get-an-internet-price-quote-for-a-car.html

When you get a price you like, THEN go into the dealer to close the deal. Talk only the person that sent you the offer. Be ready to walk out if they add costs to their original offer (which typically they try to do). Also if they get up to go ask for management permission for anything....wait 5 minutes and then start walking out. Typically it's all smoke and mirrors and they'll come running out to catch you before you go.

Warning: I hate working with dealers. Bought only 1 from a dealer in recent years, the rest from Carmax.

+1. Exactly what I've done, and would recommend. Though I don't hate working with dealers, it's all a game, and it's fun if you know how to play it well. I've actually helped other family members buy cars, happy to help.

- Never, never, never let them know they have exactly what you want. I give a range of colors and options I'll accept, you don't want to say gas to X color with Y options exactly - if they have it, they know they've got you cornered.
- And if they tell you, 'come back after you've been to all the others, and we'll match/beat the other dealers price,' - I always tell them 'I won't be back, so you might want to give me your best price now' and walk out if they don't. They know they can call you if they want your sale. And I won't take an offer that just matches another dealer, doesn't seem fair to me, I'd go back to the first dealer that made the best offer. YMMV
- Timing can be a factor. End of a month, end of a quarter, especially in slow months (winter where I am) can yield lower prices. Late March can be ideal where I am...

 

[Texas Proud]

+1. Exactly what I've done, and would recommend. Though I don't hate working with dealers, it's all a game, and it's fun if you know how to play it well. I've actually helped other family members buy cars, happy to help.

- Never, never, never let them know they have exactly what you want. I give a range of colors and options I'll accept, you don't want to say gas to X color with Y options exactly - if they have it, they know they've got you cornered.
- And if they tell you, 'come back after you've been to all the others, and we'll match/beat the other dealers price,' - I always tell them 'I won't be back, so you might want to give me your best price now' and walk out if they don't. They know they can call you if they want your sale. And I won't take an offer that just matches another dealer, doesn't seem fair to me, I'd go back to the first dealer that made the best offer. YMMV
- Timing can be a factor. End of a month, end of a quarter, especially in slow months (winter where I am) can yield lower prices. Late March can be ideal where I am...

Yes.... end of month can be a big help if you are a bit flexible and they have what you want on the lot... I let it be known to a number of dealerships what I was looking for and what I would accept... I did tell them the color and trim I wanted, but nobody had it... I was not willing to pay up for it so they could have it shipped... so I waited... I was contacted a few times, but always with a higher price...

However, I was looking at one that had been sitting on the lot for a few months... at the end of Nov they sent out an email to all interested parties that they would take off $500 from the lowest price they gave... so I went in the next day to close the deal... it has to be done THAT weekend or the deal was off... so they were trying to get to some sales level to get some incentive.... I helped them out!!!

We love our SUV and actually love the color more than what I had asked about... now that we have actually seen it up close and not a paint chip in a book or online...

 

[seraphim]

We had three car models in mind. Went to multiple dealerships, picked a car from each and told them to give me their best deal, and that I would choose from the dealership and manufacture where I got the best deal. I would not dicker - their offer was final. One took off $500. The winner came down $4400 and gave me a $500 better trade in on a similar car. These were $35k - $40k cars. He also gave us an excellent drop on a smaller model car, which my wife preferred, but she gave in to my desire for a 6 cylinder. The salesman whose boss made the $500 drop called me later to check up, and I told him I bought elsewhere. He said we should have come back, they could have done better. I told him apparently he and his sales manager weren't paying attention when I said I wouldn't dicker.

Always deal on price, never on monthly payment. Tell them you plan on paying cash, else they manipulate monthly figures with length of term or jiggling rates. Dealers can add points to a bank's interest rate and make extra profit in that manner. It's legal. They'll also charge you a finance fee for doing the application or you. Finance seperately through a bank or credit union and know your best rate before you start looking for cars - you can generally get a pre-approval on a dollar amount before choosing the type of car you want. Make it into a game and be willing to walk away from anything.

 

[urn2bfree]

We have done the Internet deal twice. Most dealers around here have a special salesperson dedicated to Internet sales. Test drive, look at the available options and decide what you want. Tell each dealer what you want and ask for their best "Drive Off the Lot" price. Otherwise there will be all sorts of shenanigans trying to add on transport fees, floor mats, filing fees, convenience fees, and so on. After you get the price you like - nail it down- but watch out because you won't be leaving until they try to sell you some extended warranty BS. Just demand the car and leave if they do not give it to you. Let them think beforehand that they will be selling you some add on warranty so you can get their best price.
Having sat through one of these BS warranty add ons perplexed me. The guy offerd it to me at one price. When I declined, he said, oh what if I get it for you at half this price. How does anyone fall for this nonsense anymore? Offering me a price and only lowering it after I decline doesn't make me think you are doing me a favor, it makes me distrust everything you say. Why should I now believe anything this guy says? He just revealed he was willing to soak me for twice the current offer. I despise sales BS.