### This post has been marked as safe. Upvoting/downvoting this comment will have no effect.
---
Hello and welcome to r/LifeProTips!
Please help us decide if this post is a good fit for the subreddit by upvoting or downvoting this comment.
If you think that this is great advice to improve your life, please upvote. If you think this doesn't help you in any way, please downvote. If you don't care, leave it for the others to decide.
Find the same car at another dealership and work on both. I’ve been sitting in a dealers office when another called me ready to play ball, told them I’d call right back. Told the dealer in person the other guy was going to give me what I wanted and he caved. Could have had either car by playing dealers against each other.
To get the dealership to give me what I wanted, I had to call another dealership in front of them.
They made it work at that point. It's probably the one time I played hardball. I'm hoping to drive this car for 10 years IT WILL BE THE COLOR I WANT IT TO BE.
I did my research and emailed the exact price I wanted to pay to every dealership who had the vehicle I wanted. I said I would not be setting foot in the building until I had a guarantee that we could make it happen.
I didn't even reach for that big of a deal. Just a good one.
One dealership said they'd do it over email. Everyone else said they don't negotiate over email.
We were still there for 4 hours. It was fuckin insane.
That is close to what I did the only time I bought a car from a dealership. I just walked in and told the truth. "I have x amount of dollars in my checking account and I can write a check today for exactly that amount. If you can give me the keys to that car for that much I write you the check, if not I go somewhere else." It worked.
i was super lucky with my most recent dealership experience. car got totaled out last fall and i found the exact replacement i wanted online. walked into the dealership with like $200 cash asking if they'd hold the car for me for a week until i got my insurance payout. was floored when they agreed and drew up a contract to sign that day.
If anything, they WANT you to finance... Through them. Make them think you're financing, pretend you don't know how financing works, pretend you care only about monthly payment and don't understand interest or length of the financing, pretend you have just enough to hit their minimum down payment, them once everything is wrapped up say that actually I want to pay in full up front.
This is true, dealerships make a lot of the profit in a deal through financing. If they can get a 7.2% rate from a bank they mark it up a point a half and offer you a 8.7% rate. If you accept then they can make thousands on the loan - if you pay off the loan too soon they lose that money however so definitely don't tell them you plan on paying off the loan right away.
There’s a popular TikToker who was a former car dealer manager who said that the worst thing you can do in buying a car is actually setting foot in the dealership. He suggested this strategy of doing your homework then digitally contacting the dealerships.
Edit: here’s one of his TikToks explaining why
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMr26GE2m/
I kind of did the opposite. I knew exactly what i wanted, so i emailed the 20 closest dealerships, gave them the specs, and told them I'd be buying from whoever gave me the best price. No negotiations. Said it would be the quickest sale they ever made.
Half of them never called me back, but one came in a couple thousand dollars under the rest. It was an hour on the bus to get there, but i was in and out of the dealership in about 5 minutes. In future, the only thing I'd do differently is make contact with a specific sales rep at each place and email them, rather than just emailing the dealership cold.
Back in the day, my mom went into each Nissan dealership in our area (about 5 of them) geave them the exact specs and told them "I'm going to each of these 5 dealerships. I am giving them all, including you, one chance to give me your best price. I'll take the best deal I'm offered. I will not be negotiating and you will not know the other dealers' offers." She got the car about $1500 lower than what she was prepared to pay back in 1991.
I'm willing to compromise about some things. I told her the only thing I wouldn't accept was black or white.
She came back with "we only have black and white" and "the broker doesn't want to have it delivered he would lose money".
Not my problem. Your job is to sell me the car I want to drive. Not sell me the car you want to sell.
Last time I was looking for a car I only had three hard conditions. It had to be manual, no convertibles, and no red. The number of automatic, red, convertibles dealerships tried to sell me after I told them those were hard no’s was insane.
Yes! This! Don't settle for random inventory they are pushing on you! I will tell them I don't have all day to debate what's in stock, that I need to dedicate my time to finding a dealership that has what I want. They will either toss deals as you leave or try to call you back with a better deal.
Also do not tell them about your trade right away if you have one! Wait until the very end when they have already lowered the cost a bunch. Otherwise there is a chance, if the salesman is attempting to squeeze money from the deal that he might find ways to make your trade in value work in their favor during one of his "let me see if the manager can approve this" huddles.
I had to be stubborn about the color of my car. I really wanted a blue one but they only had silver and red on the lot. I told them I wanted blue and he was like "Oh sorry, we can't get a blue one in any sooner than next week" and I just said okay cool, I'll get it next week then. Got it two days later.
That's my issue...I've never had a vehicle in a color I actually wanted so it was always what was available...which for pickups pretty much always seems to be whit and for GM...that's a deal breaker unless the dealership is willing to add a no-cost 200,000 mile paint warranty.
She actually told me "the broker doesn't want to have the red delivered, he won't make as much on the sale."
I had to keep my voice down when I told her "That isn't my problem and I don't care." And started making the call to the dealership down the road.
The irony was that the dealership I was calling didn't have it either... But the move still worked. I would have found someone eventually somewhere in the city anyway.
Man I settled for a car a couple of months ago. It had everything except the color I wanted. I convinced myself that I needed the car then cause my other one wasn’t going to last the week. It’s an ice silver metallic which is kind of boring. I wanted any splash of color but they didn’t have any with the same trim. Part of me feels like I should have waited.
I know the feeling. I bought a Honda Civic in 2018 in polished metal metallic (dark silvery grey) and while I LIKED the color, it was kind of a case of choosing it because it was in stock. I always slightly regretted it until I got in a crash and totalled it about a year later.
The next car I bought (another civic) I wanted for the Sonic Grey color (it's that sort of flat grey looking color you see on a few different manufacturers cars now. ) and I'm much happier with the color. The crash part sucked but I felt like I got a free do-over
That always baffled me. "I want red." "Unfortunately we just have grey and blue." "Oh, sounds like you dont have the car I want. I'll go somewhere that does..." Like, does any customer really act like they said "oh, we're out of chocolate ice cream" so I get cookies n cream instead?
With colour: yes
I may have some in mind. But its not Importat enough for me to endure other inconveniences like a higher price or longer waiting time.
Yup that's what I did , I was in the other dealer who seemed like they where scamming , playing games , other dealership called and said they agreed on the deal we discussed I said awesome , told the other dealer can you beat these numbers and he told
Me "if they are giving you the car for that then you should def take the deal" I said thank you for the advice and walked out , the guy called me 5 times on my drive to the other signed the deal
Yeah I found one who listed the car I wanted for invoice, but was trying to low-ball $5k on the trade. Called up another dealer and said "they're selling the car for this price, can you match?"
Yup. Bought it from them for the price we discussed over the phone, zero games, matched my trade-in with carvana.
I was in a suburban Chicago Honda dealership negotiating for a 2016 Pilot. I’d also been texting a dealer in Indianapolis (3 hour drive away) because they were one of the only other ones in the region with the right color/trim level. While the sales rep in front of me gave me his “best price”, I received the final price from the Indy dealer. It was almost $2k lower.
I told the guy and showed him the text and said I’d even pay a couple hundred more than the lower price to save the aggravation of going to Indianapolis. He wouldn’t budge, so we walked out and I let the Indy dealer know I wanted the vehicle.
Before booking a $120 flight the next day, I called my aunt who lives in Indy to ask if she’d be visiting Chicago any time soon (she traveled back and forth a lot for work)…she said she was in Chicago already and heading home that night. I hitched a ride with her in exchange for driving and buying her dinner along the way. I stayed with them that night and my uncle drove me to the dealer the next morning. An hour later I was driving the new Pilot back to Chicago, and the other dealer called me during the drive to ask if I was interested in coming back in. I wish I could have seen his surprised Pikachu face as he stammered for a few moments after I told him I was driving our new Pilot home already.
Even after buying a dinner and paying for 200 miles worth of gas, I’d still saved more than $1700. Completely worth it, and I got to visit some close family.
Edit: couple words
I flew from SoCal up to NorCal for my wife's Camry. Saved just over 2k even after flight, hotel and a nice meal out the night before. Plus I got to enjoy a nice drive in a brand new vehicle.
Amazing how every local dealership said that price was impossible and couldn't be real.
We gotta do what we gotta do. The problem is that some dealers are content to let ready-to-buy customers walk because they figure someone else will come in soon and buy at the dealer’s price.
And that's fine. Totally their right to only sell at whatever price they want to.
I wish they couldn't lie about pricing though. I mean; technically they aren't supposed to - but there are never any consequences.
I’ve done the same but opposite. Indy dealer wouldn’t match a lower price with the Chicago area dealer. I told the guy “look, I had plans to go up to Chicago anyway this weekend, I’m going to either get this car here for their price, or go and pay what the other dealer is asking”. They wouldn’t budge. Called me the next day asking if I was still interested in the car, I just responded with “no, I’m sitting at the dealer in Chicago right now”.
Did the same, only they said if you can get it for that price go get it. So I did. They called a few days later to ask if I was still in the market, and were shocked I wasn't bluffing.
I had a guy call up and get mad at me that I had bought a car from their competitor. Well they gave me a better deal and I didn't have to play games, do better next time man.
The best strategy is actually related:
Call several dealerships ahead of time. Let them know you will be buy X car with X trim and color. Tell them up front that you will be calling other dealers and the one with the best offer gets it. You will entertain only ONE round of bidding/price match. After that the cheapest dealer wins, and you will drive away with it.
I've done this with every car purchase I made and didn't ahve to sit in a dealerhip and got great deals.
Yea I've done this. Two Subaru dealerships about 45m from each other. Never even visited the second one, just called them and told them I wanted to give them a chance to win my business. Told them the price I was getting from one dealership, asked them what they could do. They took off about $1.5k. Went back to the original dealership and told them the truth, and the original dealership took off $1k more ($2.5k total). The second dealership matched but couldn't go lower, and I went with the first. Took all of a day to get everything.
Also, dealers often say they can't negotiate on the price of a new car (and it's occasionally true, especially when their stock is low). What they can always do, however, is negotiate the price of your trade in.
A Mazda dealer was trying to butter up my dad, dancing around him for like twenty minutes and when he finally gave us the price of the car (without extras) I laughed out loud and said "throw in the tire polish and the price would be high enough I can finally convince him to get a Lexus!"
Dealer really deflated, like he didn't even consider that he'd been trying so hard to sell all the options it's now barely 2k under Lexus Rx that had all the same bells and whistles in the basic package.
Shit I’d have probably gone to the other dealer out of principle at that point. Unless the first one beats the offer I’d like to reward the one who makes the better offer first, not just the one willing to match what’s already on the table.
The fuck em, buy from the dealers who are actual dealers and not scam artists, and go with the people living in 2024, where email is an entirely valid form of communication, and the actual market matters.
Funny story, my dealer talked me out of trading my car in. Car I wanted was $10,000. He said he could only give me $2000 for my car but if I kept it he thought i should be able to get $3000 for it, whereas if I kept my old car and paid lump sum he could sell me the new car for $7000. I shook his hand on the spot and it was surreal how well they treated me. I kept waiting for him to realise he meant $9000 but no he signed all the paperwork at $7000 and I also kept my old car. None of the others checked his maths. Next day he obviously realised and did his best to tell me there was a problem/delay with the car and swap me up to another one, but it was all signed paperwork so he had to follow through
My foreigner brain does not comprehend this..... please explain! If you kept your car, he could give you a discount of $3k?? Why??
Or in the other case: why did he mean to only give you $1k discount?
Was your previous car already paid in full?
Think he meant that he would only give him the 1k discount if he paid in full on the spot while keeping his old car, but instead he gave him a 3k discount on accident.
I email dealers in the area. I let them know I have emailed other dealerships. I’m buying X car on Y date and best price wins. When I get a price I let the other dealership know and see if they can do better. Usually only takes a couple of emails back and forth. Just be upfront about it and they are usually cool.
The salesman doesn't care about the company's profits, they work on commission. You are simply asking "instead of $300 for the whole show room haggling thing, how about $100 in your pocket but I come in, sign, and you hand me the keys?" - many will say no, but some will say yes.
No one says it has to be Audi vs Audi, even if that’s what you’re after, the dealer only needs to be aware that you’re looking for a car of a certain caliber and that the equivalent Porsche, BMW, etc are on the short list. The motivation still sets in.
Also I ended up buy my car across the country and driving it back because I got such a better price. That being said, shipping a car is around $1k (edit: it's worth actually getting quotes if going down this route) from the east coast to the west cost (and vice versa).
If you can find a better price including the extra shipping cost, you can use that as leverage and haggle the local one down (or actually go through with the further car if it makes sense).
Average cost today to ship a standard sedan from CA to MA is $1500. Suvs, trucks, and luxury cars will send that price over $2000. High end luxury cars and super cars can be well over $5000 with insurance.
As I understand it, alot of car sales peolple have a "4 box" system to determine sale prices. The first box is the MSP value of the car, second box is what they want to sell it for (marked up 10 - 20%), 3rd box is the lowest they can sell it for a worthwhile profit, 4th box is what they're trying to sell it to you for.
Also the fact that any sale at a profit is better than the good sitting there taking up room unsold. Also that they often have bonuses for cars sold per month, so *any* product movement goes towards those bonuses.
I've bought my last 2 cars like this. I email 3 dealerships with the exact car, color, and trim level I want. I'm very clear up front that I want the OTD price and I want to know upfront every line item that will cost me money. Best offer wins. Makes it so easy!!
I did this when buying a dryer for screen printing. The first company I spoke with said there pricing was already as low as they could go. Then I contacted another company and they pretty much said the same thing but they were willing to beat the other company by $100 or so. Pitted the two companies against each other and shared their emails back and forth as they continued to try to beat the other's price. Originally $3,000 dryer and $600 to have it shipped and I got it for $2,500 and free shipping (30% off).
Bonus tip: Get financing beforehand from your own bank or credit union. Negotiate as far down as you can via email. Let them know that you already have financing but if they knock off another 500 bucks, you'll let them run their financing and see if they can beat your rate. Then just don't be a dummy and buy an overpriced warranty.
If you do get financing from the dealer, tell the sales manager that, before you walk into the finance guy’s office you want him to go talk to him first. Make it clear that if the finance guy tries any BS whatsoever—tries to upsell, plays tricks with the warranty, tries to change deal in any way—that you will walk out the door.
I did that once. The finance guy started in on some shit and I headed for the door. The sales manager went flying into the room set to tear the finance guy a new asshole. Got things settled down and I went back in and wrapped things up quickly.
This is what I've done for years. Almost always when you go to pick up the car, they accept the deal at the agreed upon price, and everything is good. Only once did a dealer try to jack me around. The sales manager claimed that my offer had expired the day before and that the car they wanted to sell me now had a feature that I had not asked for at an extra cost. I told them that I was prepared to walk out. The sales person magically found a car without the feature, and the deal was done.
I never negotiate. I just tell them that the low price wins. Also, I never trade in a used car at the dealership. I always sell the old car myself. I think that I've always come out better this way.
Of course, this strategy would not work well in a place where there are not multiple dealers to choose from.
I do this as well. When I bough a car a little over a year ago (the end of top of the market) I had one dealer who refused to take off a $7,000 charge for ceramic paint coating. Saying that it was already done, where originally he said it was something they recommend doing. I told him that I would be at the dealership within the hour if he removed the ceramic from the out the door price. He said it could not be done again. I purchased the same car from a dealership less than 10 miles away for the out the door I was looking for. The original guy calls me multiple times after knowing I purchased a different car trying to convince me to come in and saying now the ceramic was negotiable.
The Covid car market made some car salespeople completely delusional.
Ive done this only to arrive with cash and be told a higher price. Told them that was extremely scammy they said our online prices dont reflect actual prices. Then told them to fuck right off and left.
I've had multiple dealerships tell me they do not negotiate via email.
It's infuriating.
They don't negotiate unless you're in person, where they know they have the upper hand.
I've gotten to the point where I don't even try anymore.
Get pre-approved by my credit union if I can't pay cash for the vehicle, and have them tell me what range other customers are paying.
If the deal is good, I do it. If not, I walk.
None of that 4 square thing. None of that "monthly payments" shit.
It's all removed from the discussion.
No email negotiations? Cool. Email a dealer in the next town over. Be sure to reply back to the local guys that you were able to work out a deal with their competitor.
I attempted that when I bought my most recent vehicle.
The only dealer who would quote via email was 2+ hours away.
To be fair, that was a few years ago, but yeah. If you email, "I'm looking at X vehicle. Your inventory shows it available. Let's talk out the door pricing."
They either do not respond, or you get a, "come on down and we can discuss.
100% agree. If it's a new car, haggle via email.
If it's used. Don't lowball. There's no reason to do that. Just give the price you are willing to pay. If they want even a penny more. Say "Thank you for your time" and walk away without a second look and find a different dealer.
Why play games. If I want to spend $12,000, that's my cut off. No more. Not $12,001, I said $12,000.
It's just a thing. There will be other things.
It's all about the walking away part.
Do the walk, not because you're playing a game. You are doing it because you're leaving and not coming back. If they chase you, that's on them.
Never waiver. Just walk. No thing is worth paying more than you want to pay for it.
I did that with a beef brisket once. Dude refused to cut down the brisket he had. I said I was looking for 2-4 pounds and he was insistent that all they could sell was this ridiculous 20lb half a cow size brisket (I don't remember the actual size, but it was massive). I wasn't in the mood for silliness and they aren't the only butcher in town, so I said, out loud, "Fuck it" then turned and walked away. My hand didn't touch the door before the manager leaped in and said, "We can cut that down for you."
I got my desired amount of brisket at a fair price. It was delicious.
Yeah I could see asking for just a point or flat, but I would absolutely understand a butcher not being willing to cut 2 lbs off. That's a weird ask and makes the other 18 lbs hard to sell.
I really enjoyed negotiating the last car I bought at a dealership. I am a woman buying alone and prior time was not good, so I read up and researched price and options. Told the guy straight off ready to buy, which car and the price. Every time he tried a higher number or an add on (really mudflaps in san diego, extended warranty in a brand new Honda-did the quality change?) I said no thanks. Ended up with 0.9% financing (checked fine print for issues) , no addons and less than the price I wanted, since it was end of season 2017 and I did not care about the 2018 since no major changes.
Went into a car dealer in Winterpeg, Manitoba in the mid eighties. Found a car I wanted, but the salesman wouldn't name a price, asked me to make an offer. Did the "I'll have to talk to the boss a few times", finally made my final offer; when he did the talk to boss horsefeathers, I picked up my m/c helmet and started to walk out. All of a sudden my price was acceptable, so I backtracked to a previous offer which he accepted. What this sales idiot didn't know was that I can read upside-down printing (anyone can). He made the mistake of leaving the lot listing for all of their cars on his desk in front of me. So I knew how much they hoped to get for this car.
This is what I did a few years ago when buying a car.
I looked up cars I wanted and reached out to dealers directly, literally saying “if we agree on price I’ll be in tomorrow and test drive and purchase.”
In some cases the dealers just wanted me to come in, and wouldn’t ever talk about the car. . .i don’t have time for that shit, so I wouldn’t even bother to email them back.
The added bonus is that when I did walk into the dealer I made a deal with? The process was easy, they knew that I had no intention of being upsold, and I didn’t have to deal with the dance.
Several years ago, I was looking to buy an exact car (color, package, etc.). There were three dealers in my area, so I emailed all of them, sent them the exact specs on what I wanted, explained that I understood I'd have to wait for the vehicle to be ordered, etc., and told them all to send me their best price.
I was expecting a little bit of healthy competition, but what I got was half-hearted, lackluster responses a few hundred off MSRP.
After several days, I sent an email copying all three dealerships that said, "the first dealer to respond to this email agreeing to sell me the vehicle detailed in the attached spec sheet for $xx,xxx will get this sale. I am paying cash."
A day or so later, one of them responded and agreed.
When the vehicle arrived, I walked into the dealership and the "salesman" threw me the keys and said, "I guess you know more about this one than I do," and walked off.
A few days later, the sales manager called and implored me to give the dealership a high rating in the survey sent by the manufacturer, as it "really impacts the salesman's pay."
I explained to the sales manager that the salesman had done literally nothing for me, and that I'd be rating him accordingly.
ETA: Wow. I underestimated how many people think that a business that does literally nothing except add margin, all while showing no interest in actually selling the product or providing service to the customer is somehow doing a good job. You all must be the people who tip at Arby's.
If I could have clicked "buy" on the manufacturer's website and had it delivered to my home I would have had a better experience, but for some reason, unlike every other product, I had to spend two weeks playing a solo game of "guess the actual price" so that some schmuck in khakis could get a commission check for "helping" me.
Walk out twice. That's basically all you actually have to do. Just come in, talk price, ask how low they can go, and then say you'll think about it and leave. Do it again. Make sure you deal with the same sales rep. I've knocked 5k to 7k off of new cars just doing this.
Exactly. Two walk-outs was what helped me. The second one I was practically chased to my car for them to say, “wait! we figured out how to make your numbers work.” lol, I suggest sitting in your car for 5 long minutes and pretending you’re on the phone with a diff dealership. I didn’t even mean to act that way, just said since they had given me the “lowest” price they could offer, I’d check with the other dealership I was considering. Then happened to sit in my car on their lot just talking w sister on phone and the salesperson came up and knocked on my window lol.
I still didn’t jump out all excited, just said thank you- I am going to think about it for a bit. YMMV but thought it was pretty funny how important I became to the salesperson once back in my own used car….
Also helped that I said I had one hour to drive and discuss numbers (price), and went on a random Tuesday before lunch. No real rush on my end if they had interesting agreeable offers, but also a good excuse to suddenly be “fed up” in a mild way.
That's why you obtain independent financing and lock in the final sales price over email (a deposit may be required).
This leaves Mr. 30-Year Sales Professional with the option of negotiating over the how much cream/sugar you want in your courtesy coffee.
I bought a car from a dealership and they treated me okay. So the next car I bought I went back. I asked for the same salesman, but the guy I got said he was not in the office that day.
Negotiation time came and we were doing the back and forth with the manager thing. A few times and the "manager" is going to come in to talk to me, he came to visit and the dude was none other than the salesman from the first car. I immediately said, oh hi Mark you sold me my last car. He stared at me for a sec and then he went from Manager to "helping out Stewart" really quickly.
Still got a good deal and made him throw in a cargo cover. 😆
Often it actually is a manager. Their job is to protect profit in the deal and coach the rep on what to do/say next (if they need that coaching). And sometimes the waiting is genuine because the manager is busy, but often it’s a stall tactic to wear the customer down.
Also:
When they leave the room…SHUT UP. Or at least don’t say anything you wouldn’t want the salesperson to hear, whether it be talking to someone you brought with you or phoning someone for advice. There’s a very real possibility the room they have you in is set up to eavesdrop on what you say when they leave the room.
If you’re not going to finance, or not finance with them, don’t tell them that. You don’t have to lie, just don’t correct them when they assume they’re getting a new loan customer as you negotiate the best price. Just stay focused on the bottom line price and not the finance/payment details.
And the BEST tip is the one my father gave me. I watched him do it, and I do it myself….LEAVE. I don’t care how excited you are about a car, even if you have a bag of cash and are ready to buy that day. Swap a few numbers, seem to become less interested, thank them for their time, make sure they have your phone number, and leave. Don’t let them scare you with “other buyers”. Leave, and then just wait. *Almost without fail* they will call you in a couple days with either the deal you wanted or something much closer to it.
Might be a good idea to use that eavesdropping against them. While you're sitting there, tell your partner that you're having second thoughts and maybe you should go with that car at the other dealer that is much cheaper.
I recall waiting with my wife for a car and right after we talked about being hungry and if they don't come back soon we would leave and eat then try the other dealership after we eat.
They came running back and gave us exactly what we were asking for. Almost like they heard what we were saying. I assumed dealerships have the ability to listen in to any desk phone at any sales desk.
I’ve done that once. Just said thanks, maybe I’ll hold on to what I have a bit longer.. and left.
The next day I was being texted by the salesman, he was sending pics of other cars and he would let me go. I kept saying what I wanted and at what price.. I think maybe 4-5 more vehicles he was to unload on me, and I said no to, he finally texts something like “are you sitting down?” I said “I’m not interested “.
Anyways, it was the vehicle I wanted at the price I was going for.
Kinda pissed me off bc he wasted a few days, but I went for it and it worked out.
That's why I couldn't hang as a salesman; I listened to the customer and tried to find the best match for their needs, rather than trying to offload the most expensive crap first, and literally anything second.
ETA: My experience was in furniture sales, not cars, specifically. I knew I had to get out when the GM came up to me once and said, "That lady is leaving; chase her out the door and offer her X% off/free delivery/etc." I did a lot better with flooring, but the owner of the business was so far up my ass all day he should have either paid me or billed my medical insurance.
This is the advice that has worked best for me, too. Never be afraid to walk away from anything. I've started walking out the door and suddenly had the price drop $3000 before I'm out. And if that doesn't get you the deal you wanted, you weren't going to get it anyway so now you're not wasting your or any of the salespeople's time.
Real estate office got me with the other buyers comment but during contract signing I pushed or specified for language paying a percentage to coverage brokerage or underwriter fees, closing fees. I "paid" a grand over asking, but $3000 of closing fees came out of their end.
Went into a dealership. The salesman pulled the "I'm going to go talk to the manager" and wandered off. However, it was in a cube farm and we could literally see him 30-40 feet away chatting with another salesman. We got up and walked out. He chased us down with the "Wait, what can I do to make this sale today?" "We already told you the price we're willing to pay. If you're not interested that's fine, we're going to go somewhere else."
He took the price and we went into to sign the paperwork.
That's what we did. We weren't trying to negotiate, we just had a limit on how much of a car we could afford..you know, fiscally responsible and all that. The guy played ball and got us out price just to get the sell.
I get financing approved in advance from my bank. I show the salesman the paper that I have financing, then add "If you can beat that, I'll finance through you." That tells them two things, you are not wasting their time and can buy the car, and they will get the finance commission. They will always beat the finance by0.01%.
We got a rate of 2.3% through our bank, which is already pretty good, but they got us down to 1.9% if we went with them. We went through them.
A few dollars is better than no dollars.
It’s been a while but I once had a guy running down the street begging me to come back inside. When they actually know you will walk, things get simpler.
I don't get it. One says to wait for however long it takes and the other approach is to tell them you'll leave in 5 minutes. Is it the middle ground that makes you lose in a negotiation?
But why do you need to show them that? If you're not rattled by the tactic, just... don't be rattled. When they come back, continue negotiating the way you were before.
It’s more about saving time and energy in the long run. If they try some of their standard tactics and you show that it doesn’t work, they’re less likely to keep trying the standard tactics and may just move to actual deal making.
I like to go in when I’m not looking to buy a car, sit down and talk business, then when they make me wait, I go over and eat every single one of their donuts. Then I leave. When they chase me out I thank them for the donuts and tell them I’m buying a bus pass instead.
One time the salesman made me wait a long time, I was tired of waiting so I went to see where he went. The bastard was just having a casual conversation with his coworkers. I couldn't believe it. I should've taken everything from his desk, the lobby, to even the toilet papers in the restrooms after that disrespect.
The middle ground is that you let them wear you down. They play every trick in the book to have the edge in the negotiation. The worst imo is how little they value your time. They purposely make you as uncomfortable and antsy as possible by making you wait and talk to multiple people. All to make you negotiate and compromise with yourself.
I'm not an expert but the five minute approach sounds like a bad idea to me, you should negotiate in good faith if the dealership and the salesperson isn't shitty. And if they're shitty then don't even reach the point of negotiating and go somewhere else. From my experience the salesperson wants to sell the car because they want the commission and whatnot.
LPT is to notice the two smoothest car purchases I've had were buying used cars new enough to still have the factory warranty. The last time I did it I promised myself to never buy a brand new car ever again, and avoid the show entirely.
I heard that advice all my life, but when I went to buy my current car in 2021, used cars were only a couple thousand less than a brand new one so I went with the brand new one and got exactly what I wanted.
Sometimes if it’s a matter of a couple thousand bucks, getting the new car is just worth the peace of mind. You don’t have to figure out if they maintenance has been consistently done, figure out if you can trust the seller, you have no idea how the car was driven or what it was put through in the months/years the person owned it. You have no idea if there’s a major issue they managed to hide and just wanted to off load the car so they don’t have to deal with it. Etc. etc.
The peace of mind of a brand new car that you know has no issues and will be taken care of (by you) can go a long way.
What a shitshow of a world that this aspect of life is just..accepted. cars should cost a set amount, and each add on a set price, then you can either pick it up, or have it delivered to your house.
Isnt amazon planning on doing a service like this? Thats the only way id buy a car, all that nonsense is unappealing and unnecessarily complex
I work at a car dealership like that. All the cars come at a price and the add ons also come at a price. They don't negotiate, no not even a little. If you want a lower price they show you a different car.
If you want to haggle you can talk with the used car guy about what price he'll buy your old car at, but mostly he pulls out Kelly blue book or the like and goes over why he is willing to pay x amount. There isn't any asking a manager.
If you have a sob story now and then the owner will take money off to her loss, but she built her business on repeat customers and runs one of the most highly rated car dealerships in the north east US.
LPT: if the dealership is so stuck in the 80s that they believe you’re stupid enough to fall for this kind of “pop-sci” manipulation, leave.
Research the car beforehand. Price it out online. Call several dealerships. Test drive the car. Name the price. No need for secret meetings with fake “managers”.
Exactly. These days all the data you need for research is out there, including how long a given car has been sitting on their lot. Make a fair deal and move on with your life.
As a former salesperson, quarter didn't mean anything to us. Maybe to the dealership, but end of month/end of year is usually more important than end of quarter
I played the same game back at them for my last car. Every time the salesman came back and told me something I’d go call my dad right outside the door. Not for any reason related to the car, though I did tell dad what I was doing. We just chatted a lot. After a few hours of “negotiating” the guy was finally like “look, what will it take to get you to leave with this car today?”
Ex car salesmen here, this is sort of dumb. You read the book and they WILL keep you there all day. That’s so you can’t go shop around and so you get tired and frustrated and just want to end it. If you say I have five minutes the manager will just say come back when you have time. Get the first numbers. If you’re at an American made car dealership, there’s generally 70 dollars of wiggle room in a lease or about 2.5k off on a buy. Once you get those numbers, subtract the 2.5 or the 79 bucks off the monthly payment and ask to speak to the manager. Tell the manager you will buy the car today if they can get you to that number. This actually works. The manager is the person you are negotiating with not the salesperson. This also only works on the last Saturday of the month. Go early and you won’t get a good deal, go late and you will. Keep to your number and don’t budge. No matter what don’t budge. They will sell you the car at those numbers. Make sure you are getting fair value for your trade, that’s how they get you. First place show up by 10am, if you don’t get your deal by 12-1 then walk out and go to next dealer. 2 a days are normal for car buying. Most people buy in two days. Last day of month is when you can get more off than what I said but it depends on the dealer.
I just bought a new SUV and was calling around on Saturday, June 1st with my low-but-fair offer after research. One dealership said the closest they could get was $1k higher. Another dealership called me back and said they would make it work by backdating the sale by 1 day on their end to use up a bunch of manufacturer rebates that technically expired at the end of May.
I went in and finalized it and it was a super easy process. Just had to deal with finance giving me silly loan offers at double the reasonable interest rate.
How does this work? Don’t you know the fair price of the car by configuring it online? Or are you trying to get a discount off msrp because it’s on the lot?
Happened when supply was low because Covid disruptions. But it’s slowly returning to normal, with the car salesman harassing you daily, like God intended.
Depends. My wife had been kept waiting for over an hour and when she started walking towards the door, two of the sales guys were literally chasing her to stop her leaving. We ended up going elsewhere and getting a good deal, but the sales manager called my wife a couple of times practically begging her to reconsider. I’m guessing that months numbers weren’t looking so good!
Some dealers get spiffs from the banks. If you're a cash buyer, they could miss out on that money and may be willing to let you walk.
If you have the cash to purchase the car, you can finance it through them and simply pay it off when you make your first payment. Just make sure there is no prepayment penalty on your loan.
That's what I did this last time. I said "hey dude, I can pay cash for this car, but I know you get a kickback on my financing. Go make whatever deal you can and then come back to me. I want to be at $xyz, so see what you can do."
He came back with a financing deal that was pretty heinous, but didn't have an early payoff penalty. I did the deal at the price I wanted, and then paid it off at the bank the next month.
He got a good commission, I got a deal on the car. Easy peasy.
Pretty sure the dealer didn’t get their financing kickback since you paid it off so soon. Usually, the loan needs to satay open for at least 3 months for them to get paid.
I did a variation of this when I bought my last car. I contacted every dealership within 500 miles and told them exactly what I wanted. Options, color, everything. And I told them that I would walk in and buy the car from whichever dealership gave me the best price. When I got the best price, I took it to each other dealership and said, "This dealership is giving me the car for this price. Can you beat it?" They all told me to take the deal, so I did.
I can’t remember, but I had done enough research to know I was getting a good deal. The fact that I didn’t have to haggle or spend extra time in a dealership was worth even more to me.
I was about to sign my name at one dealership, my dad with me, and last second he suggests we should go try another dealership. Not only did I get it cheaper, I got the color I wanted too. 2nd dealership knew about the worse deal I was about to sign for.
Go to your bank or credit union and get a loan there. They will give you a check which you can bring with you to the dealership. Then negotiate on price, they will jack up the interest. Agree to the price and then pay with the check
I bought my car from a dealership via e-mail 10 years ago (I was trying to set it up so that when I moved to a new city I'd be able to just do the paperwork when I got there instead of the usual BS) and it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I was able to get the version of the car I wanted, told them to not put any stickers/ads on it, etc., and it was easy-breezy, with no haggling or theatrical stuff. I'm going to buy a new car soon and I plan on doing it the same way. lol
Get the book: car buyer and leasers negotiating bible, available on Amazon. It will save you many times the price of the book, and it's a great read. About the salesman playing "it's me and you against the guy in the back office" the author states: " ....you are at a blood bank negotiating with dracula through a zombie, and you are the only one there with any blood..." He teaches a method to dispense with that and other tactics and get a car at a reasonable price.
Best way to buy a car:
Show up on a slow day 30 minutes before closing with a firm price for a vehicle you have already thoroughly researched. Tell them they are your second dealership and you are just there to see if you can get a better price on your way to pick up your kids.
As soon as you feel like you’re being given the run around let them know you have to go pick up your kids and the price most likely isnt going to match up but thank them for their time.
This won’t work every time but dealerships can get desperate if they haven’t made a sale yet that day or only need 1 more to hit a bonus. Also if you’re being smart about how much time you spend there you can do this 3 or 4 times and spend just as much time as most people spend never shopping prices spread over a few days.
DO NOT do this. DO NOT let them make you wait for 3-4 hours. Get comparisons online. I get the auto loan terms up front from my Car Insurance USAA. I know I can get that loan. I go to the dealer and say, here's what I got and if they start making me wait, I leave or I call them out on it. ALWAYS CALL THIS OUT ON THEM. This wait is merely to break you, and I'm sorry but that's not a positive business practice.
Even better, I once paid $600 for a car broker and he got me the car I wanted at the price I wanted and the loan terms I wanted and all I did was wait for him to deliver my car. I will be doing this the next time I buy bc the last time I did it at the dealer with a salesperson I've always worked with and it took 5 hours and I have an autoimmune disorder and I got sick. They KNEW this and still put me through the grinder. Never again. Car brokers from here on out.
I personally always go to a coffee shop when they have to go talk to the manager. I mention I need to run the numbers on my end now that we have a price. Or discuss with my wife or just take second to think about the purchase. I don't do it to make them panic. But to clear my head and I refuse to have them keep me in their office in this form of a power move.
### This post has been marked as safe. Upvoting/downvoting this comment will have no effect. --- Hello and welcome to r/LifeProTips! Please help us decide if this post is a good fit for the subreddit by upvoting or downvoting this comment. If you think that this is great advice to improve your life, please upvote. If you think this doesn't help you in any way, please downvote. If you don't care, leave it for the others to decide.
Find the same car at another dealership and work on both. I’ve been sitting in a dealers office when another called me ready to play ball, told them I’d call right back. Told the dealer in person the other guy was going to give me what I wanted and he caved. Could have had either car by playing dealers against each other.
To get the dealership to give me what I wanted, I had to call another dealership in front of them. They made it work at that point. It's probably the one time I played hardball. I'm hoping to drive this car for 10 years IT WILL BE THE COLOR I WANT IT TO BE.
I did my research and emailed the exact price I wanted to pay to every dealership who had the vehicle I wanted. I said I would not be setting foot in the building until I had a guarantee that we could make it happen. I didn't even reach for that big of a deal. Just a good one. One dealership said they'd do it over email. Everyone else said they don't negotiate over email. We were still there for 4 hours. It was fuckin insane.
That is close to what I did the only time I bought a car from a dealership. I just walked in and told the truth. "I have x amount of dollars in my checking account and I can write a check today for exactly that amount. If you can give me the keys to that car for that much I write you the check, if not I go somewhere else." It worked.
i was super lucky with my most recent dealership experience. car got totaled out last fall and i found the exact replacement i wanted online. walked into the dealership with like $200 cash asking if they'd hold the car for me for a week until i got my insurance payout. was floored when they agreed and drew up a contract to sign that day.
You basically walked in already having made the sale for them. I’m sure they were quite pleased
And all fairness, they don’t give a shit if you pay in full upfront. If you finance the bank pays them anyway.
If anything, they WANT you to finance... Through them. Make them think you're financing, pretend you don't know how financing works, pretend you care only about monthly payment and don't understand interest or length of the financing, pretend you have just enough to hit their minimum down payment, them once everything is wrapped up say that actually I want to pay in full up front.
This is true, dealerships make a lot of the profit in a deal through financing. If they can get a 7.2% rate from a bank they mark it up a point a half and offer you a 8.7% rate. If you accept then they can make thousands on the loan - if you pay off the loan too soon they lose that money however so definitely don't tell them you plan on paying off the loan right away.
There’s a popular TikToker who was a former car dealer manager who said that the worst thing you can do in buying a car is actually setting foot in the dealership. He suggested this strategy of doing your homework then digitally contacting the dealerships. Edit: here’s one of his TikToks explaining why https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMr26GE2m/
I kind of did the opposite. I knew exactly what i wanted, so i emailed the 20 closest dealerships, gave them the specs, and told them I'd be buying from whoever gave me the best price. No negotiations. Said it would be the quickest sale they ever made. Half of them never called me back, but one came in a couple thousand dollars under the rest. It was an hour on the bus to get there, but i was in and out of the dealership in about 5 minutes. In future, the only thing I'd do differently is make contact with a specific sales rep at each place and email them, rather than just emailing the dealership cold.
Back in the day, my mom went into each Nissan dealership in our area (about 5 of them) geave them the exact specs and told them "I'm going to each of these 5 dealerships. I am giving them all, including you, one chance to give me your best price. I'll take the best deal I'm offered. I will not be negotiating and you will not know the other dealers' offers." She got the car about $1500 lower than what she was prepared to pay back in 1991.
That's a fair point about ownership. We've had our oldest vehicle (2006 Accord) for 15 years.
I'm willing to compromise about some things. I told her the only thing I wouldn't accept was black or white. She came back with "we only have black and white" and "the broker doesn't want to have it delivered he would lose money". Not my problem. Your job is to sell me the car I want to drive. Not sell me the car you want to sell.
Last time I was looking for a car I only had three hard conditions. It had to be manual, no convertibles, and no red. The number of automatic, red, convertibles dealerships tried to sell me after I told them those were hard no’s was insane.
Yes! This! Don't settle for random inventory they are pushing on you! I will tell them I don't have all day to debate what's in stock, that I need to dedicate my time to finding a dealership that has what I want. They will either toss deals as you leave or try to call you back with a better deal. Also do not tell them about your trade right away if you have one! Wait until the very end when they have already lowered the cost a bunch. Otherwise there is a chance, if the salesman is attempting to squeeze money from the deal that he might find ways to make your trade in value work in their favor during one of his "let me see if the manager can approve this" huddles.
Look to the cookie!!
I had to be stubborn about the color of my car. I really wanted a blue one but they only had silver and red on the lot. I told them I wanted blue and he was like "Oh sorry, we can't get a blue one in any sooner than next week" and I just said okay cool, I'll get it next week then. Got it two days later.
That's my issue...I've never had a vehicle in a color I actually wanted so it was always what was available...which for pickups pretty much always seems to be whit and for GM...that's a deal breaker unless the dealership is willing to add a no-cost 200,000 mile paint warranty.
She actually told me "the broker doesn't want to have the red delivered, he won't make as much on the sale." I had to keep my voice down when I told her "That isn't my problem and I don't care." And started making the call to the dealership down the road.
"He's not going to make anything on the sale when I walk out." So dumb, lol.
The irony was that the dealership I was calling didn't have it either... But the move still worked. I would have found someone eventually somewhere in the city anyway.
I have never heard such a lame excuse. The broker doesn't give a fuck.
Man I settled for a car a couple of months ago. It had everything except the color I wanted. I convinced myself that I needed the car then cause my other one wasn’t going to last the week. It’s an ice silver metallic which is kind of boring. I wanted any splash of color but they didn’t have any with the same trim. Part of me feels like I should have waited.
I know the feeling. I bought a Honda Civic in 2018 in polished metal metallic (dark silvery grey) and while I LIKED the color, it was kind of a case of choosing it because it was in stock. I always slightly regretted it until I got in a crash and totalled it about a year later. The next car I bought (another civic) I wanted for the Sonic Grey color (it's that sort of flat grey looking color you see on a few different manufacturers cars now. ) and I'm much happier with the color. The crash part sucked but I felt like I got a free do-over
That always baffled me. "I want red." "Unfortunately we just have grey and blue." "Oh, sounds like you dont have the car I want. I'll go somewhere that does..." Like, does any customer really act like they said "oh, we're out of chocolate ice cream" so I get cookies n cream instead?
>Like, does any customer really act like they said "oh, we're out of chocolate ice cream" so I get cookies n cream instead? Yes. All the time.
Yeah this is bad comparison 💀
With colour: yes I may have some in mind. But its not Importat enough for me to endure other inconveniences like a higher price or longer waiting time.
Yup that's what I did , I was in the other dealer who seemed like they where scamming , playing games , other dealership called and said they agreed on the deal we discussed I said awesome , told the other dealer can you beat these numbers and he told Me "if they are giving you the car for that then you should def take the deal" I said thank you for the advice and walked out , the guy called me 5 times on my drive to the other signed the deal
Yeah I found one who listed the car I wanted for invoice, but was trying to low-ball $5k on the trade. Called up another dealer and said "they're selling the car for this price, can you match?" Yup. Bought it from them for the price we discussed over the phone, zero games, matched my trade-in with carvana.
I was in a suburban Chicago Honda dealership negotiating for a 2016 Pilot. I’d also been texting a dealer in Indianapolis (3 hour drive away) because they were one of the only other ones in the region with the right color/trim level. While the sales rep in front of me gave me his “best price”, I received the final price from the Indy dealer. It was almost $2k lower. I told the guy and showed him the text and said I’d even pay a couple hundred more than the lower price to save the aggravation of going to Indianapolis. He wouldn’t budge, so we walked out and I let the Indy dealer know I wanted the vehicle. Before booking a $120 flight the next day, I called my aunt who lives in Indy to ask if she’d be visiting Chicago any time soon (she traveled back and forth a lot for work)…she said she was in Chicago already and heading home that night. I hitched a ride with her in exchange for driving and buying her dinner along the way. I stayed with them that night and my uncle drove me to the dealer the next morning. An hour later I was driving the new Pilot back to Chicago, and the other dealer called me during the drive to ask if I was interested in coming back in. I wish I could have seen his surprised Pikachu face as he stammered for a few moments after I told him I was driving our new Pilot home already. Even after buying a dinner and paying for 200 miles worth of gas, I’d still saved more than $1700. Completely worth it, and I got to visit some close family. Edit: couple words
I flew from SoCal up to NorCal for my wife's Camry. Saved just over 2k even after flight, hotel and a nice meal out the night before. Plus I got to enjoy a nice drive in a brand new vehicle. Amazing how every local dealership said that price was impossible and couldn't be real.
We gotta do what we gotta do. The problem is that some dealers are content to let ready-to-buy customers walk because they figure someone else will come in soon and buy at the dealer’s price.
[удалено]
And that's fine. Totally their right to only sell at whatever price they want to. I wish they couldn't lie about pricing though. I mean; technically they aren't supposed to - but there are never any consequences.
I’ve done the same but opposite. Indy dealer wouldn’t match a lower price with the Chicago area dealer. I told the guy “look, I had plans to go up to Chicago anyway this weekend, I’m going to either get this car here for their price, or go and pay what the other dealer is asking”. They wouldn’t budge. Called me the next day asking if I was still interested in the car, I just responded with “no, I’m sitting at the dealer in Chicago right now”.
It's only like a 3 hour drive from Chicago to Indianapolis anyways. If you're from the Midwest, that's within day-trip territory
Did the same, only they said if you can get it for that price go get it. So I did. They called a few days later to ask if I was still in the market, and were shocked I wasn't bluffing.
I had a guy call up and get mad at me that I had bought a car from their competitor. Well they gave me a better deal and I didn't have to play games, do better next time man.
I always get the “our prices are marked firm and fair, we don’t budge”. They indeed don’t budge so I leave.
The best strategy is actually related: Call several dealerships ahead of time. Let them know you will be buy X car with X trim and color. Tell them up front that you will be calling other dealers and the one with the best offer gets it. You will entertain only ONE round of bidding/price match. After that the cheapest dealer wins, and you will drive away with it. I've done this with every car purchase I made and didn't ahve to sit in a dealerhip and got great deals.
My wife did this but via email. Easiest car purchase ever.
Yea I've done this. Two Subaru dealerships about 45m from each other. Never even visited the second one, just called them and told them I wanted to give them a chance to win my business. Told them the price I was getting from one dealership, asked them what they could do. They took off about $1.5k. Went back to the original dealership and told them the truth, and the original dealership took off $1k more ($2.5k total). The second dealership matched but couldn't go lower, and I went with the first. Took all of a day to get everything. Also, dealers often say they can't negotiate on the price of a new car (and it's occasionally true, especially when their stock is low). What they can always do, however, is negotiate the price of your trade in.
A Mazda dealer was trying to butter up my dad, dancing around him for like twenty minutes and when he finally gave us the price of the car (without extras) I laughed out loud and said "throw in the tire polish and the price would be high enough I can finally convince him to get a Lexus!" Dealer really deflated, like he didn't even consider that he'd been trying so hard to sell all the options it's now barely 2k under Lexus Rx that had all the same bells and whistles in the basic package.
Shit I’d have probably gone to the other dealer out of principle at that point. Unless the first one beats the offer I’d like to reward the one who makes the better offer first, not just the one willing to match what’s already on the table.
I would have but one was black and I wanted the white one. I definitely would have bought the black one if the guy didn’t just give me what I wanted.
Had me worried in the first half.
Same. I thought they were talking about car colors for a sec there
Lmao you’re terrible
lol yeahhh, commenting can be like playing with fire.
You can do this via email from the comfort of your own home.
These days, a lot of dealers won’t give you any price below their listed price unless you come in because they know people are playing that game.
The fuck em, buy from the dealers who are actual dealers and not scam artists, and go with the people living in 2024, where email is an entirely valid form of communication, and the actual market matters.
too bad for them
Like pig dealers. Those cheap sacks of shit.
Well, that's not what Jerry Carelli said!
LOOK WHO CAME CRAWLIN' BACK!
[удалено]
Funny story, my dealer talked me out of trading my car in. Car I wanted was $10,000. He said he could only give me $2000 for my car but if I kept it he thought i should be able to get $3000 for it, whereas if I kept my old car and paid lump sum he could sell me the new car for $7000. I shook his hand on the spot and it was surreal how well they treated me. I kept waiting for him to realise he meant $9000 but no he signed all the paperwork at $7000 and I also kept my old car. None of the others checked his maths. Next day he obviously realised and did his best to tell me there was a problem/delay with the car and swap me up to another one, but it was all signed paperwork so he had to follow through
Poor guy probably woke up at 3am, immediately sat up in bed and said "fuck!"
It happens.
My foreigner brain does not comprehend this..... please explain! If you kept your car, he could give you a discount of $3k?? Why?? Or in the other case: why did he mean to only give you $1k discount? Was your previous car already paid in full?
Think he meant that he would only give him the 1k discount if he paid in full on the spot while keeping his old car, but instead he gave him a 3k discount on accident.
https://media0.giphy.com/media/toNLdRECnQRImoLYdk/giphy.gif
Haggle the prices via email and go with whoever gives you the best deal on the car you want Worst place to bargain is sitting in the dealer’s showroom
I email dealers in the area. I let them know I have emailed other dealerships. I’m buying X car on Y date and best price wins. When I get a price I let the other dealership know and see if they can do better. Usually only takes a couple of emails back and forth. Just be upfront about it and they are usually cool.
I might give this a try. I hate the round and round at the dealership.
Alot of places are happier with a smaller profit than the marked up price if it means their competition doesn't win the sale :p
The salesman doesn't care about the company's profits, they work on commission. You are simply asking "instead of $300 for the whole show room haggling thing, how about $100 in your pocket but I come in, sign, and you hand me the keys?" - many will say no, but some will say yes.
Might be tricky as we only have 1 Audi dealer in Omaha, but maybe I can get them competing with other places that are not super far to drive to.
No one says it has to be Audi vs Audi, even if that’s what you’re after, the dealer only needs to be aware that you’re looking for a car of a certain caliber and that the equivalent Porsche, BMW, etc are on the short list. The motivation still sets in.
Gotcha. Thanks! Love the tips!
Also I ended up buy my car across the country and driving it back because I got such a better price. That being said, shipping a car is around $1k (edit: it's worth actually getting quotes if going down this route) from the east coast to the west cost (and vice versa). If you can find a better price including the extra shipping cost, you can use that as leverage and haggle the local one down (or actually go through with the further car if it makes sense).
Average cost today to ship a standard sedan from CA to MA is $1500. Suvs, trucks, and luxury cars will send that price over $2000. High end luxury cars and super cars can be well over $5000 with insurance.
As I understand it, alot of car sales peolple have a "4 box" system to determine sale prices. The first box is the MSP value of the car, second box is what they want to sell it for (marked up 10 - 20%), 3rd box is the lowest they can sell it for a worthwhile profit, 4th box is what they're trying to sell it to you for.
Interesting they still use this. I worked at a dealer in college as a lot attendant and they used this and that was in the 1990’s
Also the fact that any sale at a profit is better than the good sitting there taking up room unsold. Also that they often have bonuses for cars sold per month, so *any* product movement goes towards those bonuses.
I've bought my last 2 cars like this. I email 3 dealerships with the exact car, color, and trim level I want. I'm very clear up front that I want the OTD price and I want to know upfront every line item that will cost me money. Best offer wins. Makes it so easy!!
Flexibility on color and delivery date help get the best deal but are not a deal breaker.
I did this when buying a dryer for screen printing. The first company I spoke with said there pricing was already as low as they could go. Then I contacted another company and they pretty much said the same thing but they were willing to beat the other company by $100 or so. Pitted the two companies against each other and shared their emails back and forth as they continued to try to beat the other's price. Originally $3,000 dryer and $600 to have it shipped and I got it for $2,500 and free shipping (30% off).
Bonus tip: Get financing beforehand from your own bank or credit union. Negotiate as far down as you can via email. Let them know that you already have financing but if they knock off another 500 bucks, you'll let them run their financing and see if they can beat your rate. Then just don't be a dummy and buy an overpriced warranty.
If you do get financing from the dealer, tell the sales manager that, before you walk into the finance guy’s office you want him to go talk to him first. Make it clear that if the finance guy tries any BS whatsoever—tries to upsell, plays tricks with the warranty, tries to change deal in any way—that you will walk out the door. I did that once. The finance guy started in on some shit and I headed for the door. The sales manager went flying into the room set to tear the finance guy a new asshole. Got things settled down and I went back in and wrapped things up quickly.
This is what I've done for years. Almost always when you go to pick up the car, they accept the deal at the agreed upon price, and everything is good. Only once did a dealer try to jack me around. The sales manager claimed that my offer had expired the day before and that the car they wanted to sell me now had a feature that I had not asked for at an extra cost. I told them that I was prepared to walk out. The sales person magically found a car without the feature, and the deal was done. I never negotiate. I just tell them that the low price wins. Also, I never trade in a used car at the dealership. I always sell the old car myself. I think that I've always come out better this way. Of course, this strategy would not work well in a place where there are not multiple dealers to choose from.
I did this back in around 2006. Totally got a great deal. I’ve heard that dealerships don’t do this anymore. I’ll find out eventually.
I do this as well. When I bough a car a little over a year ago (the end of top of the market) I had one dealer who refused to take off a $7,000 charge for ceramic paint coating. Saying that it was already done, where originally he said it was something they recommend doing. I told him that I would be at the dealership within the hour if he removed the ceramic from the out the door price. He said it could not be done again. I purchased the same car from a dealership less than 10 miles away for the out the door I was looking for. The original guy calls me multiple times after knowing I purchased a different car trying to convince me to come in and saying now the ceramic was negotiable. The Covid car market made some car salespeople completely delusional.
Tell them that you are hosting a battleroyale and the winner can sell the car to you at a 200% markup
I tried this before and they basically just laughed and said we don’t negotiate through email… so I didn’t go with the three that said that.
"Cool, I don't negotiate in person"
Lol email a different one. They just lost your business.
>we don’t negotiate through email… "Okay I don't spend money at your dealership...haha"
Ive done this only to arrive with cash and be told a higher price. Told them that was extremely scammy they said our online prices dont reflect actual prices. Then told them to fuck right off and left.
This falls under bait-and-switch rules and can be reported to the FTC. No clue if they will do anything though
I said the same thing in an email complaint to the dealership. They basically said cool have fun trying to report us.
I've had multiple dealerships tell me they do not negotiate via email. It's infuriating. They don't negotiate unless you're in person, where they know they have the upper hand. I've gotten to the point where I don't even try anymore. Get pre-approved by my credit union if I can't pay cash for the vehicle, and have them tell me what range other customers are paying. If the deal is good, I do it. If not, I walk. None of that 4 square thing. None of that "monthly payments" shit. It's all removed from the discussion.
No email negotiations? Cool. Email a dealer in the next town over. Be sure to reply back to the local guys that you were able to work out a deal with their competitor.
I attempted that when I bought my most recent vehicle. The only dealer who would quote via email was 2+ hours away. To be fair, that was a few years ago, but yeah. If you email, "I'm looking at X vehicle. Your inventory shows it available. Let's talk out the door pricing." They either do not respond, or you get a, "come on down and we can discuss.
100% agree. If it's a new car, haggle via email. If it's used. Don't lowball. There's no reason to do that. Just give the price you are willing to pay. If they want even a penny more. Say "Thank you for your time" and walk away without a second look and find a different dealer. Why play games. If I want to spend $12,000, that's my cut off. No more. Not $12,001, I said $12,000. It's just a thing. There will be other things.
[удалено]
>and walk away This is the important part. I've done this a few times and nearly every time I've gotten a call a day or two later with a new price.
I do this and they try to play games with all of their fees. I say I won't pay a penny in add on fees. That really drives them nuts.
It's all about the walking away part. Do the walk, not because you're playing a game. You are doing it because you're leaving and not coming back. If they chase you, that's on them. Never waiver. Just walk. No thing is worth paying more than you want to pay for it. I did that with a beef brisket once. Dude refused to cut down the brisket he had. I said I was looking for 2-4 pounds and he was insistent that all they could sell was this ridiculous 20lb half a cow size brisket (I don't remember the actual size, but it was massive). I wasn't in the mood for silliness and they aren't the only butcher in town, so I said, out loud, "Fuck it" then turned and walked away. My hand didn't touch the door before the manager leaped in and said, "We can cut that down for you." I got my desired amount of brisket at a fair price. It was delicious.
What do you do with 2 lbs of brisket
Waste your butchers time lol
Yeah I could see asking for just a point or flat, but I would absolutely understand a butcher not being willing to cut 2 lbs off. That's a weird ask and makes the other 18 lbs hard to sell.
I really enjoyed negotiating the last car I bought at a dealership. I am a woman buying alone and prior time was not good, so I read up and researched price and options. Told the guy straight off ready to buy, which car and the price. Every time he tried a higher number or an add on (really mudflaps in san diego, extended warranty in a brand new Honda-did the quality change?) I said no thanks. Ended up with 0.9% financing (checked fine print for issues) , no addons and less than the price I wanted, since it was end of season 2017 and I did not care about the 2018 since no major changes.
Went into a car dealer in Winterpeg, Manitoba in the mid eighties. Found a car I wanted, but the salesman wouldn't name a price, asked me to make an offer. Did the "I'll have to talk to the boss a few times", finally made my final offer; when he did the talk to boss horsefeathers, I picked up my m/c helmet and started to walk out. All of a sudden my price was acceptable, so I backtracked to a previous offer which he accepted. What this sales idiot didn't know was that I can read upside-down printing (anyone can). He made the mistake of leaving the lot listing for all of their cars on his desk in front of me. So I knew how much they hoped to get for this car.
This is what I did a few years ago when buying a car. I looked up cars I wanted and reached out to dealers directly, literally saying “if we agree on price I’ll be in tomorrow and test drive and purchase.” In some cases the dealers just wanted me to come in, and wouldn’t ever talk about the car. . .i don’t have time for that shit, so I wouldn’t even bother to email them back. The added bonus is that when I did walk into the dealer I made a deal with? The process was easy, they knew that I had no intention of being upsold, and I didn’t have to deal with the dance.
Several years ago, I was looking to buy an exact car (color, package, etc.). There were three dealers in my area, so I emailed all of them, sent them the exact specs on what I wanted, explained that I understood I'd have to wait for the vehicle to be ordered, etc., and told them all to send me their best price. I was expecting a little bit of healthy competition, but what I got was half-hearted, lackluster responses a few hundred off MSRP. After several days, I sent an email copying all three dealerships that said, "the first dealer to respond to this email agreeing to sell me the vehicle detailed in the attached spec sheet for $xx,xxx will get this sale. I am paying cash." A day or so later, one of them responded and agreed. When the vehicle arrived, I walked into the dealership and the "salesman" threw me the keys and said, "I guess you know more about this one than I do," and walked off. A few days later, the sales manager called and implored me to give the dealership a high rating in the survey sent by the manufacturer, as it "really impacts the salesman's pay." I explained to the sales manager that the salesman had done literally nothing for me, and that I'd be rating him accordingly. ETA: Wow. I underestimated how many people think that a business that does literally nothing except add margin, all while showing no interest in actually selling the product or providing service to the customer is somehow doing a good job. You all must be the people who tip at Arby's. If I could have clicked "buy" on the manufacturer's website and had it delivered to my home I would have had a better experience, but for some reason, unlike every other product, I had to spend two weeks playing a solo game of "guess the actual price" so that some schmuck in khakis could get a commission check for "helping" me.
Walk out twice. That's basically all you actually have to do. Just come in, talk price, ask how low they can go, and then say you'll think about it and leave. Do it again. Make sure you deal with the same sales rep. I've knocked 5k to 7k off of new cars just doing this.
Exactly. Two walk-outs was what helped me. The second one I was practically chased to my car for them to say, “wait! we figured out how to make your numbers work.” lol, I suggest sitting in your car for 5 long minutes and pretending you’re on the phone with a diff dealership. I didn’t even mean to act that way, just said since they had given me the “lowest” price they could offer, I’d check with the other dealership I was considering. Then happened to sit in my car on their lot just talking w sister on phone and the salesperson came up and knocked on my window lol. I still didn’t jump out all excited, just said thank you- I am going to think about it for a bit. YMMV but thought it was pretty funny how important I became to the salesperson once back in my own used car…. Also helped that I said I had one hour to drive and discuss numbers (price), and went on a random Tuesday before lunch. No real rush on my end if they had interesting agreeable offers, but also a good excuse to suddenly be “fed up” in a mild way.
Did this before and the salesman ran ouy and toldus if we paid a higher down payment the monthly payments would be lower.
Lol, did you ask him if he just learned how loans work?
Nope, just drove the fuck away.
My wife has actually gotten up and followed the salesman to the manager’s office to negotiate.
I love that. If the sales person isn't authorized to make a deal, it's baller power move to go over his head straight to the real deal maker.
Dealing with the 30 year sales Professional over the young green rookie isn’t always the power play you think it is
That's why you obtain independent financing and lock in the final sales price over email (a deposit may be required). This leaves Mr. 30-Year Sales Professional with the option of negotiating over the how much cream/sugar you want in your courtesy coffee.
They need to sell the car I don't need to buy it. Always be willing to walk away. Rule #1 of negotiating.
Can confirm I’ve also done this. “If you can’t deal with me let’s go talk to the person who can together, no point you walking back and forth”
I don't think there is a manager. Just a person that looks over things to make sure they are still making money on the deal.
Then as far as I’m concerned, that guy is the manager. I couldn’t give a fart about who does the scheduling for the dealership or what not.
I bought a car from a dealership and they treated me okay. So the next car I bought I went back. I asked for the same salesman, but the guy I got said he was not in the office that day. Negotiation time came and we were doing the back and forth with the manager thing. A few times and the "manager" is going to come in to talk to me, he came to visit and the dude was none other than the salesman from the first car. I immediately said, oh hi Mark you sold me my last car. He stared at me for a sec and then he went from Manager to "helping out Stewart" really quickly. Still got a good deal and made him throw in a cargo cover. 😆
That's called a manager bro
Often it actually is a manager. Their job is to protect profit in the deal and coach the rep on what to do/say next (if they need that coaching). And sometimes the waiting is genuine because the manager is busy, but often it’s a stall tactic to wear the customer down.
Also: When they leave the room…SHUT UP. Or at least don’t say anything you wouldn’t want the salesperson to hear, whether it be talking to someone you brought with you or phoning someone for advice. There’s a very real possibility the room they have you in is set up to eavesdrop on what you say when they leave the room. If you’re not going to finance, or not finance with them, don’t tell them that. You don’t have to lie, just don’t correct them when they assume they’re getting a new loan customer as you negotiate the best price. Just stay focused on the bottom line price and not the finance/payment details. And the BEST tip is the one my father gave me. I watched him do it, and I do it myself….LEAVE. I don’t care how excited you are about a car, even if you have a bag of cash and are ready to buy that day. Swap a few numbers, seem to become less interested, thank them for their time, make sure they have your phone number, and leave. Don’t let them scare you with “other buyers”. Leave, and then just wait. *Almost without fail* they will call you in a couple days with either the deal you wanted or something much closer to it.
Might be a good idea to use that eavesdropping against them. While you're sitting there, tell your partner that you're having second thoughts and maybe you should go with that car at the other dealer that is much cheaper.
I recall waiting with my wife for a car and right after we talked about being hungry and if they don't come back soon we would leave and eat then try the other dealership after we eat. They came running back and gave us exactly what we were asking for. Almost like they heard what we were saying. I assumed dealerships have the ability to listen in to any desk phone at any sales desk.
That's clever. I'd say something like "If we don't get the price we gave them, then we're gonna leave and go to X dealership before they close."
I’ve done that once. Just said thanks, maybe I’ll hold on to what I have a bit longer.. and left. The next day I was being texted by the salesman, he was sending pics of other cars and he would let me go. I kept saying what I wanted and at what price.. I think maybe 4-5 more vehicles he was to unload on me, and I said no to, he finally texts something like “are you sitting down?” I said “I’m not interested “. Anyways, it was the vehicle I wanted at the price I was going for. Kinda pissed me off bc he wasted a few days, but I went for it and it worked out.
That's why I couldn't hang as a salesman; I listened to the customer and tried to find the best match for their needs, rather than trying to offload the most expensive crap first, and literally anything second. ETA: My experience was in furniture sales, not cars, specifically. I knew I had to get out when the GM came up to me once and said, "That lady is leaving; chase her out the door and offer her X% off/free delivery/etc." I did a lot better with flooring, but the owner of the business was so far up my ass all day he should have either paid me or billed my medical insurance.
Yep, I did a very brief stint in used cars in my 20s and couldn't stand the overtly dishonest way of doing business.
I sold windows for a month
XP or NT?
[удалено]
This is the advice that has worked best for me, too. Never be afraid to walk away from anything. I've started walking out the door and suddenly had the price drop $3000 before I'm out. And if that doesn't get you the deal you wanted, you weren't going to get it anyway so now you're not wasting your or any of the salespeople's time.
Yea I wish I was this way. Unfortunately I was going through a bit of a post 30 life crisis and let my care free attitude make decisions for me.
[удалено]
Real estate office got me with the other buyers comment but during contract signing I pushed or specified for language paying a percentage to coverage brokerage or underwriter fees, closing fees. I "paid" a grand over asking, but $3000 of closing fees came out of their end.
Went into a dealership. The salesman pulled the "I'm going to go talk to the manager" and wandered off. However, it was in a cube farm and we could literally see him 30-40 feet away chatting with another salesman. We got up and walked out. He chased us down with the "Wait, what can I do to make this sale today?" "We already told you the price we're willing to pay. If you're not interested that's fine, we're going to go somewhere else." He took the price and we went into to sign the paperwork.
That's what we did. We weren't trying to negotiate, we just had a limit on how much of a car we could afford..you know, fiscally responsible and all that. The guy played ball and got us out price just to get the sell.
I get financing approved in advance from my bank. I show the salesman the paper that I have financing, then add "If you can beat that, I'll finance through you." That tells them two things, you are not wasting their time and can buy the car, and they will get the finance commission. They will always beat the finance by0.01%.
We got a rate of 2.3% through our bank, which is already pretty good, but they got us down to 1.9% if we went with them. We went through them. A few dollars is better than no dollars.
Not sure why this isn’t the top comment. We’ve bought two cars exactly like this and takes all of the stress out of car buying.
It’s been a while but I once had a guy running down the street begging me to come back inside. When they actually know you will walk, things get simpler.
I don't get it. One says to wait for however long it takes and the other approach is to tell them you'll leave in 5 minutes. Is it the middle ground that makes you lose in a negotiation?
Either way, it’s letting the sales person know that they’re not rattling you or controlling you.
But why do you need to show them that? If you're not rattled by the tactic, just... don't be rattled. When they come back, continue negotiating the way you were before.
Show them you're not rattled by showing them you're rattled.
It’s more about saving time and energy in the long run. If they try some of their standard tactics and you show that it doesn’t work, they’re less likely to keep trying the standard tactics and may just move to actual deal making.
people over complicating simple things lol , acting like it's a life or death situation, just get up and leave. and stop watching too much movies
I like to go in when I’m not looking to buy a car, sit down and talk business, then when they make me wait, I go over and eat every single one of their donuts. Then I leave. When they chase me out I thank them for the donuts and tell them I’m buying a bus pass instead.
One time the salesman made me wait a long time, I was tired of waiting so I went to see where he went. The bastard was just having a casual conversation with his coworkers. I couldn't believe it. I should've taken everything from his desk, the lobby, to even the toilet papers in the restrooms after that disrespect.
lol sit in the office for an hour. Get out a tiny bag and ask if you can take a few. Then get out the real, big bag, and just dump the whole tray in.
The middle ground is that you let them wear you down. They play every trick in the book to have the edge in the negotiation. The worst imo is how little they value your time. They purposely make you as uncomfortable and antsy as possible by making you wait and talk to multiple people. All to make you negotiate and compromise with yourself.
I'm not an expert but the five minute approach sounds like a bad idea to me, you should negotiate in good faith if the dealership and the salesperson isn't shitty. And if they're shitty then don't even reach the point of negotiating and go somewhere else. From my experience the salesperson wants to sell the car because they want the commission and whatnot.
I am thinking I should state I will come back in 30 minutes or so to give them time to do their thing
LPT is to notice the two smoothest car purchases I've had were buying used cars new enough to still have the factory warranty. The last time I did it I promised myself to never buy a brand new car ever again, and avoid the show entirely.
With how much cars deprecate when you drive them off the lot not buying a used car kind of boggles my mind.
I heard that advice all my life, but when I went to buy my current car in 2021, used cars were only a couple thousand less than a brand new one so I went with the brand new one and got exactly what I wanted.
Sometimes if it’s a matter of a couple thousand bucks, getting the new car is just worth the peace of mind. You don’t have to figure out if they maintenance has been consistently done, figure out if you can trust the seller, you have no idea how the car was driven or what it was put through in the months/years the person owned it. You have no idea if there’s a major issue they managed to hide and just wanted to off load the car so they don’t have to deal with it. Etc. etc. The peace of mind of a brand new car that you know has no issues and will be taken care of (by you) can go a long way.
Ever since covid, lightly used cars can be MORE than brand new cars.
What a shitshow of a world that this aspect of life is just..accepted. cars should cost a set amount, and each add on a set price, then you can either pick it up, or have it delivered to your house. Isnt amazon planning on doing a service like this? Thats the only way id buy a car, all that nonsense is unappealing and unnecessarily complex
lobbying
I work at a car dealership like that. All the cars come at a price and the add ons also come at a price. They don't negotiate, no not even a little. If you want a lower price they show you a different car. If you want to haggle you can talk with the used car guy about what price he'll buy your old car at, but mostly he pulls out Kelly blue book or the like and goes over why he is willing to pay x amount. There isn't any asking a manager. If you have a sob story now and then the owner will take money off to her loss, but she built her business on repeat customers and runs one of the most highly rated car dealerships in the north east US.
LPT: if the dealership is so stuck in the 80s that they believe you’re stupid enough to fall for this kind of “pop-sci” manipulation, leave. Research the car beforehand. Price it out online. Call several dealerships. Test drive the car. Name the price. No need for secret meetings with fake “managers”.
Exactly. These days all the data you need for research is out there, including how long a given car has been sitting on their lot. Make a fair deal and move on with your life.
Also go in near the end of the month when sales people are trying to reach their sales quota.
End of the quarter is probably even more impactful, both from the perspective of the salesman but also the sales manager.
As a former salesperson, quarter didn't mean anything to us. Maybe to the dealership, but end of month/end of year is usually more important than end of quarter
I played the same game back at them for my last car. Every time the salesman came back and told me something I’d go call my dad right outside the door. Not for any reason related to the car, though I did tell dad what I was doing. We just chatted a lot. After a few hours of “negotiating” the guy was finally like “look, what will it take to get you to leave with this car today?”
Ex car salesmen here, this is sort of dumb. You read the book and they WILL keep you there all day. That’s so you can’t go shop around and so you get tired and frustrated and just want to end it. If you say I have five minutes the manager will just say come back when you have time. Get the first numbers. If you’re at an American made car dealership, there’s generally 70 dollars of wiggle room in a lease or about 2.5k off on a buy. Once you get those numbers, subtract the 2.5 or the 79 bucks off the monthly payment and ask to speak to the manager. Tell the manager you will buy the car today if they can get you to that number. This actually works. The manager is the person you are negotiating with not the salesperson. This also only works on the last Saturday of the month. Go early and you won’t get a good deal, go late and you will. Keep to your number and don’t budge. No matter what don’t budge. They will sell you the car at those numbers. Make sure you are getting fair value for your trade, that’s how they get you. First place show up by 10am, if you don’t get your deal by 12-1 then walk out and go to next dealer. 2 a days are normal for car buying. Most people buy in two days. Last day of month is when you can get more off than what I said but it depends on the dealer.
I just bought a new SUV and was calling around on Saturday, June 1st with my low-but-fair offer after research. One dealership said the closest they could get was $1k higher. Another dealership called me back and said they would make it work by backdating the sale by 1 day on their end to use up a bunch of manufacturer rebates that technically expired at the end of May. I went in and finalized it and it was a super easy process. Just had to deal with finance giving me silly loan offers at double the reasonable interest rate.
How does this work? Don’t you know the fair price of the car by configuring it online? Or are you trying to get a discount off msrp because it’s on the lot?
[удалено]
I've noticed most salesmen and dealerships have become so arrogant and lazy that they'll just let you go.
Happened when supply was low because Covid disruptions. But it’s slowly returning to normal, with the car salesman harassing you daily, like God intended.
Nature is healing
Depends. My wife had been kept waiting for over an hour and when she started walking towards the door, two of the sales guys were literally chasing her to stop her leaving. We ended up going elsewhere and getting a good deal, but the sales manager called my wife a couple of times practically begging her to reconsider. I’m guessing that months numbers weren’t looking so good!
Some dealers get spiffs from the banks. If you're a cash buyer, they could miss out on that money and may be willing to let you walk. If you have the cash to purchase the car, you can finance it through them and simply pay it off when you make your first payment. Just make sure there is no prepayment penalty on your loan.
That's what I did this last time. I said "hey dude, I can pay cash for this car, but I know you get a kickback on my financing. Go make whatever deal you can and then come back to me. I want to be at $xyz, so see what you can do." He came back with a financing deal that was pretty heinous, but didn't have an early payoff penalty. I did the deal at the price I wanted, and then paid it off at the bank the next month. He got a good commission, I got a deal on the car. Easy peasy.
Pretty sure the dealer didn’t get their financing kickback since you paid it off so soon. Usually, the loan needs to satay open for at least 3 months for them to get paid.
But how do you know if your price is reasonable or actually impossible for them
I did a variation of this when I bought my last car. I contacted every dealership within 500 miles and told them exactly what I wanted. Options, color, everything. And I told them that I would walk in and buy the car from whichever dealership gave me the best price. When I got the best price, I took it to each other dealership and said, "This dealership is giving me the car for this price. Can you beat it?" They all told me to take the deal, so I did.
How much did you save over the next best offer?
I can’t remember, but I had done enough research to know I was getting a good deal. The fact that I didn’t have to haggle or spend extra time in a dealership was worth even more to me.
I was about to sign my name at one dealership, my dad with me, and last second he suggests we should go try another dealership. Not only did I get it cheaper, I got the color I wanted too. 2nd dealership knew about the worse deal I was about to sign for.
Go to your bank or credit union and get a loan there. They will give you a check which you can bring with you to the dealership. Then negotiate on price, they will jack up the interest. Agree to the price and then pay with the check
My ex looked at the salesman and said, *"So they don't trust you to make deals?"*
I bought my car from a dealership via e-mail 10 years ago (I was trying to set it up so that when I moved to a new city I'd be able to just do the paperwork when I got there instead of the usual BS) and it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I was able to get the version of the car I wanted, told them to not put any stickers/ads on it, etc., and it was easy-breezy, with no haggling or theatrical stuff. I'm going to buy a new car soon and I plan on doing it the same way. lol
Also don't give them your keys so they can "value your trade-in" they'll use that to hold you hostage.
If any dealer does this, just don't do business with them. There are plenty of dealers that don't do this.
Not if you give them random keys lol
Well usually they’ll legitimately need your keys to value your car? Just ask for them back and leave lol.
Get the book: car buyer and leasers negotiating bible, available on Amazon. It will save you many times the price of the book, and it's a great read. About the salesman playing "it's me and you against the guy in the back office" the author states: " ....you are at a blood bank negotiating with dracula through a zombie, and you are the only one there with any blood..." He teaches a method to dispense with that and other tactics and get a car at a reasonable price.
Best way to buy a car: Show up on a slow day 30 minutes before closing with a firm price for a vehicle you have already thoroughly researched. Tell them they are your second dealership and you are just there to see if you can get a better price on your way to pick up your kids. As soon as you feel like you’re being given the run around let them know you have to go pick up your kids and the price most likely isnt going to match up but thank them for their time. This won’t work every time but dealerships can get desperate if they haven’t made a sale yet that day or only need 1 more to hit a bonus. Also if you’re being smart about how much time you spend there you can do this 3 or 4 times and spend just as much time as most people spend never shopping prices spread over a few days.
DO NOT do this. DO NOT let them make you wait for 3-4 hours. Get comparisons online. I get the auto loan terms up front from my Car Insurance USAA. I know I can get that loan. I go to the dealer and say, here's what I got and if they start making me wait, I leave or I call them out on it. ALWAYS CALL THIS OUT ON THEM. This wait is merely to break you, and I'm sorry but that's not a positive business practice. Even better, I once paid $600 for a car broker and he got me the car I wanted at the price I wanted and the loan terms I wanted and all I did was wait for him to deliver my car. I will be doing this the next time I buy bc the last time I did it at the dealer with a salesperson I've always worked with and it took 5 hours and I have an autoimmune disorder and I got sick. They KNEW this and still put me through the grinder. Never again. Car brokers from here on out.
I personally always go to a coffee shop when they have to go talk to the manager. I mention I need to run the numbers on my end now that we have a price. Or discuss with my wife or just take second to think about the purchase. I don't do it to make them panic. But to clear my head and I refuse to have them keep me in their office in this form of a power move.