Recent dealership negotiation outcomes for new vehicles?

Kings over Queens said:
I like the negotiate over the phone or via email option. It's helpful when you have the identical or very similar car at two different dealers.
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Just an FYI... you can do it anyhow...

The last new car was my sister... I emailed 20 to 30 dealers all over the state... I got quotes from most of them...

The funny part is that there were only TWO cars in the state that met her requirements... they were all expecting to be able to get one from another dealer and if not convince you to buy something close...

Funny thing is we got the price we wanted from the closest dealership who had one of them... we went in to buy... closed the deal... it was late so they said they would get it ready tomorrow... well, somebody sold it first thing in the morning!!!

They sent someone to drive the other one down to us... a 5 hour drive...
 
I absolutely hated my last experience of buying a new car more than 25 years ago. I found out I have no patience with haggling and the theatrics involved. Thinking about my next car purchase is already giving me anxiety. I may have to go buy a Tesla.
 
I do not purchase cars often. My last new car buy was about 3 years ago. I spoke to a few dealers and one of them met my pricing objective. We went to the dealer in a day or two after our phone discussion.

During the review of the purchase, the sales manager said they made a mistake the price was too low. That lead to a nasty conversation about bait and switch and told him his problem is with the phone sales rep. We want the offer she provided.

So, DW and I walked out. We made it over half way to our parked car when they chased us down and asked us to come back. The negotiation in the parking lot ended up by me saying we have nothing to discuss. We know the price and and I wanted the .09% financing for the entire vehicle.

Upon sitting down again, things calmed down on their end. They honored the original deal and if memory serves, upgraded the floor covers. But, I would never go back. In our case, we have moved thousands of miles away so going back is not an option.

I felt like I was in a movie during this whole thing. All of us had our roles. What an unpleasant experience. Why would they have done that even if they ended up making a few more bucks?
 
Im in San Diego & theres lots of toyota dealers to price shop locally....
Ive been a ford engine tech for 32 years & I already have insomnia, cant imagine getting any sleep with a ford f150 in my driveway....
Truth is only reliable vehicles in the ford line-up is a Mustang & I should have bought one, but wanted a truck...
A small truck...
So I recently bought a Tacoma Trd Sport, 2 wd, auto, 4 door... msrp was $47k
I was able to get $5500 off msrp.....

Love the truck....

Toyota has alot of inventory on their lots....
If you find one dealer not willing to negotiate, move to the next....
Straight-up tell them youre ready to buy right now....
This dealer was willing to do this, what are you willing to do:confused:

When they ask to see the deal on paper, tell them that's not necessary & youre not playing games here....

Found, some toyota dealers way more negotiable the others.....
 
Slater said:
Im in San Diego & theres lots of toyota dealers to price shop locally....
Ive been a ford engine tech for 32 years & I already have insomnia, cant imagine getting any sleep with a ford f150 in my driveway....
Truth is only reliable vehicles in the ford line-up is a Mustang & I should have bought one, but wanted a truck...
A small truck...
So I recently bought a Tacoma Trd Sport, 2 wd, auto, 4 door... msrp was $47k
I was able to get $5500 off msrp.....

Love the truck....

Toyota has alot of inventory on their lots....
If you find one dealer not willing to negotiate, move to the next....
Straight-up tell them youre ready to buy right now....
This dealer was willing to do this, what are you willing to do:confused:

When they ask to see the deal on paper, tell them that's not necessary & youre not playing games here....

Found, some toyota dealers way more negotiable the others.....
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The Tacoma that I bought 27 years ago still runs and runs well.
 
aja8888 said:
The dealer near me has 1/2 dozen C8's sitting on the lot and is wanting to move them. I saw them just before XMAS when I went in for a prepaid oil change. I'll bet he is discounting off MSRP on those.
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Go for it! I can see you in a C-8 now.

I've only had one ride in a C-8. I'd love to own one - if I could just get in and out of it!
 
savory said:
I do not purchase cars often. My last new car buy was about 3 years ago. I spoke to a few dealers and one of them met my pricing objective. We went to the dealer in a day or two after our phone discussion.

During the review of the purchase, the sales manager said they made a mistake the price was too low. That lead to a nasty conversation about bait and switch and told him his problem is with the phone sales rep. We want the offer she provided.

So, DW and I walked out. We made it over half way to our parked car when they chased us down and asked us to come back. The negotiation in the parking lot ended up by me saying we have nothing to discuss. We know the price and and I wanted the .09% financing for the entire vehicle.

Upon sitting down again, things calmed down on their end. They honored the original deal and if memory serves, upgraded the floor covers. But, I would never go back. In our case, we have moved thousands of miles away so going back is not an option.

I felt like I was in a movie during this whole thing. All of us had our roles. What an unpleasant experience. Why would they have done that even if they ended up making a few more bucks?
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If it was a movie, it was an old movie! Most of us have seen that movie.
 
We used to do our research and armed with knowledge we'd enter the viper's pit dressed in armor and ready to do battle. No more. We bought a new '2023 Jeep Wrangler back in May of '23. We sat with the salesman, presented our wish list tonhim and did a couple of test drives. He didn't have anything on the lot that we wanted so he did a 'dealer search'. He found a match and we asked two questions....how soon could he get it and how much? He quoted a price and we wrote a check. Felt gooooood!

And...24-hrs later I was in the hospital with prostate issues. What to do about the Jeep? No problem...sales guy delivered it to us.

Jeep came with a hard top but I wanted a soft top. That. and the running boards had to be ordered. Mr. Sales guy amd a tech came to the house, took the hard top off, drove the Jeep back to their shop, had the hard top and running boards installed and then delivered the Jeep back to our home a few hours later. Can't beat that. BTD!
 
Loooots of good advice. So, the MSRP sticker was 34k. There are no options on this Premium GR86. I made a final offer of 10% below the stickered MSRP. They declined. They countered me at $33,900.

$100 off the sticker price!! I stood there completely confused for a minute and almost left with the keys for the 86 in my pocket. I was literally trying to tell myself, maybe I am doing the math wrong but that is literally only a $100 discount from the car's asking price.

As I pushed back through the glass dealer doors I came in mid sentence to "well pull it back onto the showroom floor and rearrange those other cars!"


I texted my salesman and informed him I felt misled. I don't believe that for all the hassle I went through to show up for a second test drive sitting in rush hour traffic missing dinner with my family was worth simply $100 off their asking price.

So, taking this meager weak little offer across town to find another manual GR86 in a different color seems pointless at this juncture.

So what, they can offer me $200 off the sticker price...lol. I'll keep my money in the stock market.

What an absolutely horrible experience, lol.
 
10% off sticker for out-the-door, all inclusive is the best I would hope for. I bought 2 new Subarus less than a year ago and trade in for another new one every 5 years. Dealerships don't dicker like they used to
 
sdtech said:
While not the primary reason I bought a Tesla last year, the way to buy it online and only show up at a showroom without any dealer hassles was great. I did test drive one before ordering and there was zero sales pressure.
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Yep, that was great too.

Before I got online quotes for the particular model I wanted with details from multiple dealers. I had looked at Edmunds online first. Sometimes the dealers were farish away, but one even delivered our new vehicle to our home which was fantastic. That was back in 1999. The last new car I bought from a dealer was in 2005 and that was a special order just for me at an amazing price.
 
DH recently ordered a new car. Unfortunately the dealers for the two makes we were considering had very limited inventory. We used some online tools to do a regional and even a nationwide search and ultimately could not find the vehicle he wanted with the color and equipment he wanted.

We decided to just order exactly what he wanted. We keep cars a long time, so this may well be the last car he ever buys. We figured at this point in life, it wasn’t worth saving a few grand by accepting something out of dealer inventory when he could order exactly what he wants. The downside is it cost a bit more, and he has to wait until April to get the car.
 
I've used the following strategy with varied success.

The first time was when after a test drive and robust negotiations we were at an impasse and I went home empty-handed on a Saturday. On my way to work on Monday I stopped by the dealership, handed the guy a check for my last offer plus $200 and told him if they wanted to sell the car to me for that amount out-the-door that I would buy it and if not just rip up the check. I hadn't been at my desk for 10 minutes before I got a call saying that we had a deal.

I tried the same thing at a different dealer a few years later, never heard back from the dealer until a few days later when I received the torn up check in the mail.

Last time I did it was in 2015. Write a check to the dealer for my best and final offer for my out-the-door price but didn't sign it. I handed the check to the salesman and told him that if we had a deal at that price I would sign the check but if not I was going home. He went to the "manager" and returned a couple minutes later and said we had a deal.

You might write them a check for your best offer and see what they do.
 
Scuba said:
DH recently ordered a new car. Unfortunately the dealers for the two makes we were considering had very limited inventory. We used some online tools to do a regional and even a nationwide search and ultimately could not find the vehicle he wanted with the color and equipment he wanted.

We decided to just order exactly what he wanted. We keep cars a long time, so this may well be the last car he ever buys. We figured at this point in life, it wasn’t worth saving a few grand by accepting something out of dealer inventory when he could order exactly what he wants. The downside is it cost a bit more, and he has to wait until April to get the car.
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We have ordered our last three cars in 2015, 2016 and 2022. We like ordering because can get the car exactly how we want it and importantly don't have to concede to a higher trim level or overpriced options that we don't value or care for. The downside is that we have to wait a bit, but that has never been a problem for us. By coincidence, all were from local dealers even though our search included dealers within a 150 mile radius. In one instance I made a conscious decision to pay $200 more to a local dealer rather than travel 150 miles to another dealer for a better deal.
 
Scuba said:
DH recently ordered a new car. Unfortunately the dealers for the two makes we were considering had very limited inventory. We used some online tools to do a regional and even a nationwide search and ultimately could not find the vehicle he wanted with the color and equipment he wanted.

We decided to just order exactly what he wanted. We keep cars a long time, so this may well be the last car he ever buys. We figured at this point in life, it wasn’t worth saving a few grand by accepting something out of dealer inventory when he could order exactly what he wants. The downside is it cost a bit more, and he has to wait until April to get the car.
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Yeah, one of my issues was that no Jeep Liberty available in TX had 4 wheel drive! I just couldn’t believe it! Apparently the 4 wheel drive models went to neighboring mountainous states with snow. Then there were safety features no one wanted to pay for like side air bags. And we added underbody skid plates - we were planning on some serious off-roading.

Still I was able to order exactly the car I wanted, it was still a great price and it actually did not take that long to build it - I think only 6 weeks. A big jeep dealer in New Braunfels handled the good deal. And really cool the window sticker has my name on it in big letters - that it was built for me! This was 2005.

I think the dealer that delivered a good price new vehicle to my house in 1999 was in Temple. So the pattern here is that a car dealer in a smaller city outside a larger city may be hungrier and snap up those online requests for quotes.
 
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zangbao said:
I absolutely hated my last experience of buying a new car more than 25 years ago. I found out I have no patience with haggling and the theatrics involved. Thinking about my next car purchase is already giving me anxiety. I may have to go buy a Tesla.
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You don’t have to haggle with dealers, you can walk in and take their first offer, so it wouldn’t be any more painful than a no haggle deal like Tesla.

Most buyers leave a lot on the table, but obviously I’d they made the buy they thought it was a decent deal.

It’s funny the above that talk about discounts as if they were universal - they most certainly not. It’s all supply and demand. You can easily get more than. 10% off MSRP on a model that’s in less demand, and you may pay MSRP or above on an extremely in demand model. Discounts are make/model specific, along with general supply and demand (e.g. during Covid there were few discounts on most make/models because supply was way down).
 
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Kings over Queens said:
I'm fairly certain I got this link on this website, but have never used it. You'll need the VIN for the vehicle in question but apparently this will tell you dealer invoice price.

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The thing about "invoice" is it doesn't include dealer incentives, kickbacks, holdbacks, etc... and that's where you want to be. It's fine to know what "invoice" is but you should be negotiating below invoice... especially at end of model year.


skipro33 said:
10% off sticker for out-the-door, all inclusive is the best I would hope for. I bought 2 new Subarus less than a year ago and trade in for another new one every 5 years. Dealerships don't dicker like they used to
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You'd be surprised. We bought a brand new Subaru WRX a couple years back and found a huge range and the local dealership turned out to be the cheapest at about 10% off. Just google "[car make and model] prices paid" and you'll get several different websites. In the old days, 20 years ago, it was just the Edmunds forums but now there are several useful websites.


Also, as a total side note for anybody leasing go to LEASEHACKR - they have amazing info and deals for leases. We don't even lease but sometimes their deals are so cheap it makes me consider it! Some deals are so cheap and sometimes pre-negotiated for those that don't like negotiating.
 
We have a 19-year old Honda Pilot and both the car and the drivers are getting old, so DW said let's get a Honda CRV this time.

I checked the Honda dealers around our area and used their 'contact us' link to specify our preference for an out the door price. In 2-3 days, 5 came back with a number. We went to the one with the lowest offer and paid cash. I do not know if I over-paid, or under-paid the car. I just want to go to a store, and pick a merchandise and pay.

The only episode of bad experience is their finance manager tried very hard to sell me the extended warranty. I had to walk out of his office to say no.
 
A strategy I always employed was telling the salesman I was also looking at an equivalent car, but a different brand/model. Right or wrong, I figured it gave me some leverage because they would have incentive to lower price to keep me from buying another brand. Anyway, I'm getting too old for this! 3 years ago, I tried the internet negotiation, as others have described here, and for me it was utter failure. So we did the old fashioned showroom visit, but my lawyer-son did all of the negotiating.
 
fh2000 said:
We have a 19-year old Honda Pilot and both the car and the drivers are getting old, so DW said let's get a Honda CRV this time.

I checked the Honda dealers around our area and used their 'contact us' link to specify our preference for an out the door price. In 2-3 days, 5 came back with a number. We went to the one with the lowest offer and paid cash. I do not know if I over-paid, or under-paid the car. I just want to go to a store, and pick a merchandise and pay.

The only episode of bad experience is their finance manager tried very hard to sell me the extended warranty. I had to walk out of his office to say no.
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That is pretty much exactly what we did last year except broadened our search since only two Lexus dealers in town and owned by same people I think. One of the dealers 1,000 miles away was cheaper, even with transporting vehicle here, but for a few hundred dollars was easier to go local. However, as with you if you get 5 dealers to reply you can feel comfortable with what you're paying without a huge hassle. Drive it in good health!
 
In December I was at a Toyota dealership with a relative who was buying a Corolla. Someone was picking up a GR86, and the salesperson said they were always sold before they even hit their lot. No need for them to drop the price.
 
Midpack said:
How so? Just curious.
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One dealer: I made offer via their Internet "manager." An obviously young lady called me, and said they accepted the offer. It took one follow up question to learn that I can come in for them to "discuss my OFFER" despite my saying out the door price. I got nowhere despite additional effort in that call. 2nd dealer: I was given MSRP, plus unsoecified doc fee etc. Again, could not get firm out the door price.
 
mystang52 said:
One dealer: I made offer via their Internet "manager." An obviously young lady called me, and said they accepted the offer. It took one follow up question to learn that I can come in for them to "discuss my OFFER" despite my saying out the door price. I got nowhere despite additional effort in that call. 2nd dealer: I was given MSRP, plus unsoecified doc fee etc. Again, could not get firm out the door price.
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The key is asking for their price. Make them make the first offer. Not you. It's like any negotiation.
 
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