Critique my New Car Buying Plan

[FlaMariner]

We'd like to buy a new Acura MDX the last week of 2025.

I could use feedback on my purchase plan.....

I'm agnostic as to the year (2025 or 2026) and the base model and any color is fine.

Here is my game plan w/a goal of getting the "best price":

Reach out to 3 to 5 dealerships (via email) requesting their best "out the door" price for the above vehicle. Explain we will use their promo financing offer and we will come by to purchase and take delivery on 12/27 or 12/28. Provide the dealership with our location for tax/tag and include a screen print of our credit bureau scores. Inform that we will be trading in our 2014 Acura MDX but we can wait on their appraisal once onsite (Based on what they offer, we will then decide on the "trade in" but it is not in a great condition).

Once the offers arrive, decide on further negotiations or confirm the offer we want and go get the car.

What do you think? Anything I am missing?

 

[Slim11]

Not what I would do. But it may be less hassle that way. I usally go in person to 3 places. Then get a price wait a week and go to the one with the lowest price and renegotiate. Of they know you are set on a specific car and model they will most likely be less inclined to negotiate. And always check the trade in value of the car. And remember you will save the sales tax on the trade in if your state has sales tax. So they will offer less then the blue book value but the tax savings may be worth it.

 

[imjustawarrior]

I would not do a trade in. I would sell the old car to carmax or one of the other places.

I would go on the Acura forum and see what people are paying to set what I am willing to pay.

I would use a site like cars.com to look at inventory. Look in the area that you are willing to travel. There are dealerships that are much lower than others. Some dealerships will pick you up at the airport.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

Determine a trade-in range for your existing vehicle that is acceptable to you. Get online quotes from KBB and Carvana and Carmax or more. Get an in-person quote from a nearby Carmax store if feasible. If the dealer won’t match or exceed those prices, consider selling it separately. You’ll get more by selling yourself but it’s more of a hassle.

Some dealers may not offer any “deal” via email. You can usually get better by negotiating in person.

Doing online research, you can usually find what a fair selling price for the new car is. I have all these numbers written down in my folder before going into a dealership.

 

[sakowitzm]

I second the idea of selling the old car to CarMax, et al. I did a fair amount of research the last time I did that, and came up with what I thought was a REASONABLE price. Wasn't looking for the best price; the highest price; just what was fair to me and likely to be successful. Because, as we say in my house: 1) easy is good, and 2) done is better than not done. When I actually went to CarMax, the offer they gave me was EXACTLY what I had come up with. Couldn't say YES fast enough. In and out in less than 90 minutes. No multiple visits to places, no haggling.

 

[SnowballCamper]

I hate buying cars. Because in my experience they can't just tell you the price. There is always some additional option BS they try to pull. But I'm getting older and need a more comfortable grocery getter, so I hope to learn something in this thread.

 

[sakowitzm]

I used to hate buying cars; now I get a little fun out of it. Mostly because you can deal with "the internet guy" at the dealership. I do a little research, mostly on cars.com and/or edmunds.com. Maybe there are others/newer ones since I last bought a car.

I come up with a "good price"; not the lowest, just a price that if I catch them on a good day, I might get. And then I email a few and see what we can do. I *expect* to pay a few hundred more than my best price and I'm willing to do that because my time is valuable (also, see my previous post above.)

If that first round isn't successful, I KNOW I will start receiving emails from them, and I use that to my benefit. I reply that I'm ready to buy but their price is off; that if they can come down a few hundred, we may have a deal.

This process works fairly well, and: 1) I don't have to drive to several different places, 2) I don't have to negotiate in person, and 3) wait for the guy to "check with his boss", yada, yada, yada.

Yeah... my idea of "fun" may be a bit screwy.

 

[frank05]

I have used the Truecar app as a starting point. You can input fairly detailed preferences and it shows you cars available at dealers with the prices and gives you a price range graph.

 

[brett]

Have to agree with the above.

I believe that you will achieve your best bottom line price by only dealing with the new purchase, ie not including a tradein.

I would also consider requesting quotes for dealerships that may be outside of your immediate trading area but within fairly easy driving range. A colleague of mine asked for an Infiniti quote from dealer in a rural area near his mothers home. The quote was much better that his local quotes from city dealerships.

 

[Jerry1]

Not sure why you want to wrap up the deal on a specific date, but time is on the buyers side. Unless you need a car, I'd be flexible on that. However, I do see the likelihood of the dealer being willing to deal given it's month and year end.

 

[finnski1]

Have you even driven the new model?
I go to my closest dealer and do a test drive. If we like it, I then just do as you said and get the best OTD price I can from 2 or 3 local dealers. Then I see if my closest dealer will match the others. If not, I just go to the one a little further away and complete the purchase. I don't mention financing at all.
Just did this less than 2 months ago for our new Subaru Outback. Of course, I got lucky as they had 0% financing for 36 months which I took, got a very good deal as the 2025 model is being replaced by a complete redesign 2026 model. I did not do a trade in as this completely muddies the water on what kind of deal you end up with.

 

[OddGuy]

The very best deals go to finance customers, not to cash buyers. Announcing you are a cash buyer strips so much of your leverage. Think of movie theaters...they make more from popcorn and candy than they do from ticket sales - that's the way it is with dealers and cars. The average buyer is saying, "I'd like to buy car and I'd like to buy financing," and you're just saying, "I'd like to buy a car."

A strategy is to get pre-approved by your bank, and show the dealer your pre-approval letter. This also works to qualify as a customer who is actually in the market, not just a tire kicker. Then once you've worked a deal, you can say, "I'm willing to consider going with your financing instead - can you take some more off the price?" You can then admit you intend to prepay the loan, "but I don't want you to be affected, so how many payments does your bank require to avoid them clawing back your commission?" It will typically be 3 to 6 payments, and across those, the interest will be negligible compared to the additional savings you may get...it could be thousands more off MSRP vs what a cash buyer would pay.

 

[marinauser]

CarMax paid us double the best trade in offer from the dealer.
And CarMax really was very little hassle. Since we have three of them within 15 or 20 miles, we get the online offer then just make an appointment with the one in the direction we wanted to go that day. Both times, we have received the amount of the online offer.

 

[Texas Proud]

When my sister was looking a few years back I emails 35 (IIRC) dealers to get the best price...

I had speced out what she wanted... so I did not have to deal with 'we got this cheap' not being what she wanted... but even then some tried to sell me something with fewer options as they had them on the lot..

AND, that is something else you need... something on the lot...

I would check CarMax myself, but be OK with a trade in.... back in '15 Honda did not match CarMax but with the savings in sales tax I was only a few hundred less... so I traded mine in at the dealer...

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

I had a MDX for about 5 years. Good vehicle.

For the last 8 years I buy my cars online. No waiting around. No salesman annoying me. No finance department. No upselling me paint protection.

If I want to test drive it first I make that appointment online as well.

 

[freedomatlast]

Go ahead and get your best deal over the internet without mentioning the trade. See what Carvana and Carmax will give your for it. When you show up at the dealer to see the car you're going to buy, have them work up a price with your trade. Now you know the true price of the car you're going to buy and you'll know what they'll give you for the trade without confusing the two. If the price they quote plus any tax savings from trading it in is better than Carmax or Carvana then go ahead and let them have it. If not give it to Carmax or Carvana the next day.

 

[imjustawarrior]

I would also consider requesting quotes for dealerships that may be outside of your immediate trading area but within fairly easy driving range. A colleague of mine asked for an Infiniti quote from dealer in a rural area near his mothers home. The quote was much better that his local quotes from city dealerships.

When I bought my DW's car this summer, I found the lowest quote I could find in the country. I took that into my local dealership to work out a price. I paid the lowest quote plus about half the travel cost to go get that car. It was a really good price compared to what I saw on line.

 

[Pointby2]

I predict you'll find this an extremely frustrating task. I tried that tactic and the dealers will do anything to not give you a price via email. They rarely answered a direct question, and it was like they didn't even read my emails. If you can get them to give you a price, it won't be a good price.

I hope I'm wrong.

 

[OldShooter]

We'd like to buy a new Acura MDX the last week of 2025. ...

1) In a negotiation, he who is in a hurry loses. I would never go into any kind of deal negotiation with a personal deadline. If I were without wheels due to an accident or other issue, my going-in assumption would be that I'd rent a car while I shopped.

2) Agree on not including the trade in an initial discussion and on getting others' offers.

3) Your best deal will be for a "left-over" last year model or a low mileage CPO. DW's Mini Countryman was a CPO previously driven by a Mini zone rep. Don't remember the mileage but IIRC it was technically a new car since it had not been registered. It has every possible option, even the HUD, which is kind of a pain but the price was right.

4) Wise to be very flexible on model, color, and options. That attitude opens up more choices.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Carvana paid double what car max offered me.

 

[Route246]

I would not do a trade in. I would sell the old car to carmax or one of the other places.

I would go on the Acura forum and see what people are paying to set what I am willing to pay.

I would use a site like cars.com to look at inventory. Look in the area that you are willing to travel. There are dealerships that are much lower than others. Some dealerships will pick you up at the airport.

I traded in and convinced the dealer to match carmax which they eventually did. You can have your car appraised anytime but be prepared to be lowballed. Carmax is a good way to figure out the neighborhood of your car's value. Don't fall in love with your car or become sentimental, nobody cares about that but you probably knew that. The value of trade-in is you do the deal clean at the time of taking delivery. For some people this is no big deal but for me, I hate to waste time so I'm willing to pay a little for that convenience and safety.

 

[pb4uski]

What you are planning to do is similar to what we did when we bought our 2016 Subaru Outback limited in December of 2015 but with a few differences.

We were ordering a car so it was the exact same car for all dealers and so we could get exactly what we wanted. Also, we were not including a trade so that made it more straightforward. I had test driven an Outback at our local dealer and was satisfied that it was what we wanted.

We live in a rural area so I reached out to 5 or so dealers within a 3 hour drive for an out-the-door price for the car ordered to our specifications. It turned out that the lowest price was ~$250 less than the local dealer so I decided to go with the local dealer for convenience.

I sold our trade on craigslist and gave the dealer the paperwork they needed to reduce the sales tax that I paid on the purchase for the proceeds from the sale of the car it replaced.

In your case, I would get quotes for sale of the trade to Carmax or Carvana, et al. and negotiate out-the-door prices with or without the trade. Good luck.

 

[Teacher Terry]

When I bought my car, I inquired online about prices within a couple hundred miles where I lived. I also bought a 2024 and this was in January 2025 because they were cheaper. I got a really good deal on financing otherwise I would’ve paid cash. They couldn’t come near Carvana‘s price as a trade-in so I just sold it to Carvana.

Carvana had the most thorough process online to see if they wanted your car. It Involved taking a picture of the title and many pictures of your car inside and out. Then I had to wait about 30 minutes to see if they were going to make me an offer so I think a person probably reviewed it and once I accepted the offer they asked me if I wanted a check or the money put right in my bank account. They gave me an appointment and I brought it out to them and they drove it around the parking lot and handed me my check. It was very easy.

 

[Aerides]

Have you looked at their inventories online?

Things I would do differently:

Get a quote for your trade in value via carmax etc. Do not mention it until you have an OTD price. Do not mention financing until you have the price you want. They will assume you are taking their financing. I would not ask in advance for offers, most dealers play games and "oh it sold when you were on the way over here" is common. Be prepared to get up and walk out at the first sign of such shenanigans.

Also "any color is fine" has never come out of my mouth. I know exactly what I want, inside and out, colors and specs. You'll end up with White and drive around in an ambulance with 3-5k of extras you never knew you'd want and still might not, because that's what they have tons of. You'll also end up paying more because the on-the-lot cars almost always come heavily loaded. I don't want all the bells and whistles, most Acuras an that class of car are perfectly good with their base trim. Your model might start at say $45, and what you want with a couple add ons is $48, but their inventory is all $53 and up.

I like to build online, then try to match dealer inventory, and if they don't have it, wait.

Also look at their 1-2 year old CPO's, often a major deal.

 

[Drake3287]

When I bought my Acura it didn't come with a spare tire and tool kit like most new cars. At the last minute before signing I told them I'd only sign if they threw in a spare tire kit. Well worth the peace of mind vs the fit-it kit that's almost worth less.