Is there a better way to buy a car that talking to a sales guy?

[Puppies04]

I bought a new car last year. Did some homework and found out that the model is having a facelift in 2016 and that there seems to be a lot of stock to shift before that time. Keep in mind this is in the UK so it is at a mercedes owned dealership which I don't think is allowed in the US (seem to recall hearing it had to involve a middleman).

List price on the car was just over £40k with the extras, I told the salesman I was "probably" looking for a second hand 1-2 year old one and gave him the exact spec I wanted (Which I knew he didn't have available at any dealership in the country because I checked the inventory on their very exhaustive website). As expected he came back with "we don't have exactly what you want used but can we sell you a new one?" I said it depended on the price.

Couple of hours of argueing later they had knocked just shy of £10k off the list price i.e most of the ridiculous markup they charge for optional extras and I signed on the line. I doubt I would have been offered half that discount if I had actually told them I wanted a new car when I arrived.

TLR Do your homework before you go anywhere near a stealership.

 

[JSt0rm]

I bought a new car last year. Did some homework and found out that the model is having a facelift in 2016 and that there seems to be a lot of stock to shift before that time. Keep in mind this is in the UK so it is at a mercedes owned dealership which I don't think is allowed in the US (seem to recall hearing it had to involve a middleman).

List price on the car was just over £40k with the extras, I told the salesman I was "probably" looking for a second hand 1-2 year old one and gave him the exact spec I wanted (Which I knew he didn't have available at any dealership in the country because I checked the inventory on their very exhaustive website). As expected he came back with "we don't have exactly what you want used but can we sell you a new one?" I said it depended on the price.

Couple of hours of argueing later they had knocked just shy of £10k off the list price i.e most of the ridiculous markup they charge for optional extras and I signed on the line. I doubt I would have been offered half that discount if I had actually told them I wanted a new car when I arrived.

TLR Do your homework before you go anywhere near a stealership.

Tell us the car and we can truecar it and see what price it was.

 

[Schfifty Five]

I bought a new car last year. Did some homework and found out that the model is having a facelift in 2016 and that there seems to be a lot of stock to shift before that time. Keep in mind this is in the UK so it is at a mercedes owned dealership which I don't think is allowed in the US (seem to recall hearing it had to involve a middleman).

List price on the car was just over £40k with the extras, I told the salesman I was "probably" looking for a second hand 1-2 year old one and gave him the exact spec I wanted (Which I knew he didn't have available at any dealership in the country because I checked the inventory on their very exhaustive website). As expected he came back with "we don't have exactly what you want used but can we sell you a new one?" I said it depended on the price.

Couple of hours of argueing later they had knocked just shy of £10k off the list price i.e most of the ridiculous markup they charge for optional extras and I signed on the line. I doubt I would have been offered half that discount if I had actually told them I wanted a new car when I arrived.

TLR Do your homework before you go anywhere near a stealership.

Pretty sure the dealership won still. If you go home feeling like you got a deal, in reality, the dealership got the better deal.

And if you go home feeling like you got reamed, then the dealership also won.

In other words, the dealership won.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

I spent a full day negotiating over my last car and I still paid too much. Surely in this day and age, there is some kind of middleman group that can help negotiate the best price on your behalf.

Get the car for what you want to pay or walk. . Just leave your number behind.

 

[lsd]

Pretty sure the dealership won still. If you go home feeling like you got a deal, in reality, the dealership got the better deal.

And if you go home feeling like you got reamed, then the dealership also won.

In other words, the dealership won.

Agreed , I've heard the same thing from people who have worked at dealerships. But hey they got five kids to feed...

 

[Subyman]

When I went to buy my previous BMW I told them my price and said I was going to lunch. We went to lunch and ran a few errands. About 2 hours after I left they called and said they would do my price. I'm guessing they thought I wasn't coming back from lunch so they got spooked. Was easy.

When I bought my truck new I was blown away by how cheap it was. They came off thousands and thousands from the MSRP because they were doing any end of the year event. Didn't even need to haggle on the price.

 

[Puppies04]

Tell us the car and we can truecar it and see what price it was.

SLK 250 CDI

Optional extras
AMG Bodytkit
AMG Wheels
AMG suspension
Crystal grey leather
F+R parking sensors
Sat Nav
Electric seats
Neck scarf seat vents
Heated seats

Not sure what it is going to come out in $, as I said I got just under £10k off the list price which at the time translated to about $15,000 discount.

 

[evident]

Carmax.

I hate negotiating -- it's not that I am not good at it and don't generally get my way, it's just that the whole process makes me super uncomfortable and feel gross.

I don't get the whole infatuation w/ Carmax. they price their vehicles the same as any other used car dealer and often times even more, and then you can't negotiate to bring down the price. and they REALLY REALLY lowball you on your trade in, and guess what, no negotiating! offered me $3500 on my accord when I sold it for $7800, and kbb trade in at the time was 4500.


Not sure why everyone loves them.

 

[TXHokie]

This was many years ago. I spent two hours haggling with a dealer and couldn't get them to move on $300. I went thru my credit union auto buying service, got the same car delivered to me for $500 less. The dealer that delivered the car to me at the credit union turned out to be the same dealer I negotiated with and the same guy I wasted my time on the previous weekend took the car there for delivery. The look on his face as he gave me the key was priceless.

 

[NutBucket]

When I bought my truck new I was blown away by how cheap it was. They came off thousands and thousands from the MSRP because they were doing any end of the year event. Didn't even need to haggle on the price.

That just means they won. You still should have pushed for a lower price.

I don't get the whole infatuation w/ Carmax. they price their vehicles the same as any other used car dealer and often times even more, and then you can't negotiate to bring down the price. and they REALLY REALLY lowball you on your trade in, and guess what, no negotiating! offered me $3500 on my accord when I sold it for $7800, and kbb trade in at the time was 4500.


Not sure why everyone loves them.

Agreed completely on this one. I use them as a tool; get the offer on your car and know that any new car dealer had better offer more! LOL

 

[kt]

I don't get the whole infatuation w/ Carmax. they price their vehicles the same as any other used car dealer and often times even more, and then you can't negotiate to bring down the price. and they REALLY REALLY lowball you on your trade in, and guess what, no negotiating! offered me $3500 on my accord when I sold it for $7800, and kbb trade in at the time was 4500.


Not sure why everyone loves them.

I tell you why, people love getting fucked! Who doesn't, right?

To top it off, Carmax likes to put a tramp stamp on the trunk of the cars they sell with its name. It's their way of saying I owned the bitch driving this car.

 

[Svnla]

For people that are not into haggling, use this link. It summaries the main points of car shopping I was talking about = http://www.businessinsider.com/the-one-email-you-should-send-when-youre-buying-a-new-car-2016-5

 

[fenrir]

Usually I buy used cars from a private party, but I am currently looking at buying a new car. As I understand it, you can get 'invoice' prices from Edmunds or TrueCar Value, and then the available rebates would come off of that. If I am incorrect please let me know as it seems all the dealers around my area stop right around $1,000 above that.

As an example, the Edmunds TMV on the 2016 Ford Fusion I am looking at would be $25,543, then there are $2,950 in rebates available (that I qualify for). They all come back with a price that would be $1,950 below the TMV. I am just finding it odd that they all are stopping at the same point and not wanting to budge more. I would have thought one would go lower to get the business....

Matt

 

[gorcorps]

Usually I buy used cars from a private party, but I am currently looking at buying a new car. As I understand it, you can get 'invoice' prices from Edmunds or TrueCar Value, and then the available rebates would come off of that. If I am incorrect please let me know as it seems all the dealers around my area stop right around $1,000 above that.

As an example, the Edmunds TMV on the 2016 Ford Fusion I am looking at would be $25,543, then there are $2,950 in rebates available (that I qualify for). They all come back with a price that would be $1,950 below the TMV. I am just finding it odd that they all are stopping at the same point and not wanting to budge more. I would have thought one would go lower to get the business....

Matt

There's a certain point in any business where you can't cut costs without losing money (you have to pay your people, utilities, etc...) so you're going to run into a very similar floor at any dealer. Why would they sell you something at a price where they lose money?

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Do all your negotiations online and through email. Forget going into the show room. If you know what car you want it's a complete waste of time.

<-- Negotiated 10 different cars for different people in the last year.

 

[fenrir]

There's a certain point in any business where you can't cut costs without losing money (you have to pay your people, utilities, etc...) so you're going to run into a very similar floor at any dealer. Why would they sell you something at a price where they lose money?

I guess my thinking is that the 2017's are now hitting dealerships they would be more likely to hit the invoice price prior to the rebates as they would still get the dealer hold back. Just not working out that way.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Their dealership structure pissed off the older structure or something.

Have no clue, do yaz?

 

[dullard]

Usually I buy used cars from a private party, but I am currently looking at buying a new car. As I understand it, you can get 'invoice' prices from Edmunds or TrueCar Value, and then the available rebates would come off of that. If I am incorrect please let me know as it seems all the dealers around my area stop right around $1,000 above that.

I don't know the exact model you were looking at, so I guessed. I put one into TrueCar, clicked National data, then selected a data point right near the lowest price car sold.

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/dullard/2016FordFusionTrueCar.JPG

Looks like dozens have people have bought that for the low $24k range (note since I guessed a configuration, it might not be what you looked at). As far as I know that is the price they walked out the door paying, meaning the dealership keeps the rebates.

Now, what I do is go into a dealership with checkbook visibly in hand (I like a little flair in negotiations to make it look like I am serious). I tell them exactly the car I want and say I'm willing to pay $24k. After they say that they can't do it, I leave my business card and drive away. The longest I've gone was to about 8 am the next morning when they call me accepting my offer or very close (once I had to go $200ish above my offer).

 

[Stopsignhank]

I guess my thinking is that the 2017's are now hitting dealerships they would be more likely to hit the invoice price prior to the rebates as they would still get the dealer hold back. Just not working out that way.

How did you get the pricing? Is this straight from Edmunds and Truecar? If so take the next 15 minutes and e-mail 5 dealers in your area. See what they come back with.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Not sure if people have mentioned it yet but the "invoice" pricing you get from CostCo, TrueCar, Edmunds is just a starting off point for negotiations. YMMV but most states you can get it under that price.

 

[fenrir]

I am in west central WI, so it probably doesn't help. I finally got a better offer back from a dealer. Edmunds has the TMV as $26,157 and the dealer came back at $22,250 with the $2950 in rebates. It is possible there is $3950 in rebates as Ford has an additional $1,000 on select 'old' stock 2016 Fusions, but I am not sure if this one had that. Nice to see there is at least one that will throw out a price around where I felt it should be.

 

[uclaLabrat]

I don't get the whole infatuation w/ Carmax. they price their vehicles the same as any other used car dealer and often times even more, and then you can't negotiate to bring down the price. and they REALLY REALLY lowball you on your trade in, and guess what, no negotiating! offered me $3500 on my accord when I sold it for $7800, and kbb trade in at the time was 4500.


Not sure why everyone loves them.

Every time i see someone with a carmax car I think to myself "wow, you must like getting it from behind with no lube or reach around". I had same experience as you, though when I was selling my car the dealer offered me about $6500, they offered me about $7800, so they did miles better than the dealer. I sold private party for $11K.