HELP!! I'm stuck in a bind! How much below Invoice cost does the dealership get cars?

Pothead

Platinum Member
Jan 8, 2001
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Does anyone here sell cars? How much under dealer invoice do the dealerships get the car for?

My Car Buying Saga

In the beginning, I looked at 2002 Maximas, Altimas, and Grand Prix SuperCharged GTPs. I'm looking for a nice sporty car but not too too small. I choose the GTP, it was like choosing the lesser of 2 (or 3) evils, per se.

1st time around they screwed up the price which we were gonna buy.

So they call me yesterday saying they were gonna get the car. They were tacking on $500 for buyout costs, $278 for Advertising fee (WTF IS THAT?), 345 for the BOSE system, the 20 yr old saleman had told me it already came with the system!

My response, i don't want the car, I want my money back, so they say OK.

Low and behold, they still go get the car, F*ck them!

So they say lets talk a price,
Without taxes and registration:
They will knock off the 500 buyout and maybe split the advertising:

MSRP $28,500
Originally, we settled at $21,939 with 0% for 36 months

23,062-500 buyout = $22,562 with 0.0% for 36 months or $21,562 with $1000 rebate

I wanna push them lower on the price since I WILL PROLLY LOSE MY DEPOSIT if I don't buy.

What do you guys think I should do now?
 

TrevorK

Senior member
Oct 11, 2000
491
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Hold on, I was looking at your previous post and did I interpret it right that you're getting 4000 for your 97 eclipse as a trade-in? I better be seeing things....




Trevor
 

Hamburgerpimp

Diamond Member
Aug 15, 2000
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They get kickbacks from Ford, GM, etc to push it below Invoice. Invoice is what they pay for it. Or close to it.
 

DonaldC

Senior member
Nov 18, 2001
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Invoice is the price they pay. However, in hard times there can be factory incentives to the dealer and/or buyer. Also, many brands have what is called a holdback which varies to between 1% and 3%.

An excellent site to price cars is edmund.com. They have the holdback as well as incentives for most cars.
 

Pothead

Platinum Member
Jan 8, 2001
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Here are the figures:


MSRP $28,500

They went immediately to 25,700 without trade

They gave me $4000 for my trade for a final price of $21,939 with 0.0% Financing for 36 months.

I'm thinking of putting a good amount down maybe and put the rest on a 0.0% Credit card, bad idea? If I do this, I'll take the $1000 rebate bringing it to $21,562 but I wanna go even lower.
 

Tominator

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Adding to the price after you thought a deal was struck is standard sales practice! They will make every claim they can to get every cent out of you.

There is a site that gives dealer cost, but I don't know the link.
 

TrevorK

Senior member
Oct 11, 2000
491
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You're getting 4000 on a 97 Eclipse non-turbo? Damn, that's really cheap. If you were anywhere near the border I'd hop over and pick it up...



Trevor
 

Pothead

Platinum Member
Jan 8, 2001
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LoL

I just checked Edmunds and it says the trade in value of my car is $5,300.

Sadly my car is in excellent condition too, appeance wise.

One Nissan gave me a measily $3500, another gave me $4,300, a Ford gave me $4500. However, when they give you a decent number for your trade, they won't budge anymore though on the car price :(
 

Pothead

Platinum Member
Jan 8, 2001
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And I put in a Clarion Ungo Security System with Keyless Entry and a Kenwood CD player.
 

fastz28

Golden Member
Mar 27, 2001
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The holdback on GM is 3%. Offer them 3% below invoice. With the tradein they are giving you, they still make money on that.

They'll probably willing to deal since they got it from another dealership.

And, no, you won't lose your deposit if you walk. Demand it back.
 

Pothead

Platinum Member
Jan 8, 2001
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Ok thanx for the tip,

The guy said, "I don't want to jeopardize your deposit." (deposit of $500)
 

fastz28

Golden Member
Mar 27, 2001
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<< Ok thanx for the tip,

The guy said, "I don't want to jeopardize your deposit." (deposit of $500)
>>



Tell him to go fvck himself and give you money back right now or you are calling the cops, because they just robbed you. There is no way in hell they can keep your deposit for nothing.
 

Mister T

Diamond Member
Feb 25, 2000
3,439
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stick to your guns.

Go tell them 21,939 with 0 financing or YOU WALK.
Thats what was agreed when you put the deposit down, so ask for the deposit back
if they are not going to honor there deal.

end of story
 

jlee75

Golden Member
Oct 8, 2001
1,440
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you can't lose the deposit. walk. they are being dick heads. what someone said on the hold back was true. but the hold back is to help pay for lot and advertising charges for about 3 months. the longer that car is on the lot, the less they will budge on the price. sounds like you're getting a decent price. but tell them to forget about all of those extra charges. be firm with them. if it doesn't work out there, go to another dealership. tell them you will go with another dealer/car. they'll be changing their tune. especially if sales are slow for them.
 

Ulfwald

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
May 27, 2000
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They screwed up, tell them either they give you the car for the original price, or they refund your deposit right there.
 

TheDebater

Senior member
May 14, 2001
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BTW, about the putting on youre credit card idea, while its great (rack up those sky miles, GM points, whatever) most dealerships won't let you do that because the credit card company charges them too much (or something along those lines). Make sure to clear it up with the dealership before you decide to buy the car. Good luck
 

Sluggo

Lifer
Jun 12, 2000
15,488
5
81
Tell them to please quit treating you like a moron, or you are taking your business and going elsewhere.

Tell them you want the car for 21,439. You are asking for another $500 off the deal since they tried to cheat you out of $1123, if they wont do that deal get your $500 deposit and head out the door. If they try to keep your $500 tell them you will be calling your attorney to recover the money, plus any legal expenses you incur by calling him.

The extra charges argue as follows:

Buyout. I would have been happy to pay any buyout charges you accrued if I had been told about them at the beginning of the deal. You said nothing about them, I am not paying them.

Advertising. I would hope that you guys have been selling cars long enough to consider that advertising fees should be included in your dealership costs and figured into what you sell a vehicle for, not tacked on at the end of the deal. If you guys havent figured that out yet, I am not sure I am placing my trust in the best possible dealership.

Bose. Salesman told me it was already included in the price of the car, and it should have shown up as such when you did your dealership search for it. I would hope that such a nice dealership would train their sales staff as to not mislead the customer on options on a car. If the Bose is extra take it out of the salesman's commision, I'm not paying for it.
 

compuwiz1

Admin Emeritus Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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<< Adding to the price after you thought a deal was struck is standard sales practice! They will make every claim they can to get every cent out of you. >>



You wouldn't be stereotyping all car dealers, now would you? Adding to the price after you strike a deal, is not standard practice, not to mention that it is unethical as hell. I spent almost 15 years working as a manager in a Ford dealership. Anywhere in town, a salesman would be fired on the spot for doing, as you say "standard practice". I fired a few of them over the years, once I found out they had brought some bad habits with them, learned somewhere else, and tried to practice them where I was in charge.

Invoice is what the dealer pays, minus holdback. The holdback is used to help defray the cost of flooring (the interest paid while they sit on the lot), prep etc. Occasionally, there is money back at the end of the model year to help get some old inventory sold. This is not normally advertised, but is between the dealer and the factory, commonly referred to as dealer cash. Sometimes, this is paid based on hitting a retro payable quota, as well. I understand you want the best deal you can get, but understand that eveyone should get paid something for their work. Even though they are car sales people, they have families to feed, just like you, or I. ;)
 

Midnight Rambler

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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<< The holdback on GM is 3%. Offer them 3% below invoice. With the tradein they are giving you, they still make money on that. >>

Actually, the holdback is from 1-3%, and it depends on the model.

Pothead: You should have followed my advice and sought out another Pontiac dealership; and also, you should report the bad dealer to Pontiac regional HQ as I suggested.

Finally, you didn't respond to my offer of the extra $500 that I can get for you. I wasn't kidding about that ....
 

MichaelD

Lifer
Jan 16, 2001
31,528
3
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#1 You can't lose your deposit. You didn't sign anything, right? They have no legal right to keep it. Advise them you've used Small Claims Court before. You'll have your money back in two minutes flat.

#2 Dont' ever put down a deposit on a car ever again. They always pull crap like that and you'll go thru it every time. A famous one they always try to pull w/me is the "We can't find the keys to your trade..." trick. They test drive and appraise your car to determine trade-in value, then they "lose " them. They do this to keep you there as long as possible, wear you down and eventually you don't care what you sign or for how much. The last time they pulled that on me, I DID call the police. It was a big headache for me, (mistake, in retrospect) but the dealer was SO happy when every single customer in the store walked out because I told them all what happened. Then the cops showed up.

#3 Go here to see actually invoice and what a fair price should be.

#4 The dealer pays for Shipping Charge/Transit Charge whatever they call it. There's no markup there. They pass that onto you. Advertising? My @ss. UV protection pkg? My @ss. All added charges you should never pay. The dealer pays:

Invoice, plus shipping, minus his holdback, minus any incentives (if there are any at that time) Do the research. Offer him invoice, plus 1/2 of his holdback and go from there. Good luck.