I need help with the cold, hard number of making an offer to a dealer for a new car.

patrice_duffy

Hi,
I have read article after article about buying new cars and had learned all kinds of formulas about starting from invoice, etc, yet I also hear people saying how they got a car for $4000 below MSRP, which is way below the first formula...and all I want is someone to say : "I saw a car where the MSRP was $X, the true invoice was $Y, invoice plus navigation plus dealer expenses=$Z. For funzies I offered the guy W. Wehad the following exchange, and I walked out of there paying Q." In other words, a real life situation would help me.

And maybe you can too. I am getting ready to make an offer on a 2014 Buick encore Premium edition with navigation. The numbers I have are:

Invoice $30,871
Real invoice w/o holdbacks $29,246
MSRP,,,$32,185
$31,131
AAA/Truecar guaranteed certificate $29,896

So if you were me with this number, what amount would you propose? (Note: dealer's fees, destination fees not included)

Anything concrete you could give me would be so helpful. Thank you!

kyfdx

patrice_duffy said:

Hi,
I have read article after article about buying new cars and had learned all kinds of formulas about starting from invoice, etc, yet I also hear people saying how they got a car for $4000 below MSRP, which is way below the first formula...and all I want is someone to say : "I saw a car where the MSRP was $X, the true invoice was $Y, invoice plus navigation plus dealer expenses=$Z. For funzies I offered the guy W. Wehad the following exchange, and I walked out of there paying Q." In other words, a real life situation would help me.

And maybe you can too. I am getting ready to make an offer on a 2014 Buick encore Premium edition with navigation. The numbers I have are:

Invoice $30,871
Real invoice w/o holdbacks $29,246
MSRP,,,$32,185
$31,131
AAA/Truecar guaranteed certificate $29,896

So if you were me with this number, what amount would you propose? (Note: dealer's fees, destination fees not included)

Anything concrete you could give me would be so helpful. Thank you!

Have you checked the numbers here on Edmunds, using the Make/Model/Year tabs above? Also, use the Car Research tab to check on available incentives. I ask this, because I'm not sure where your numbers come from. Edmunds has their own proprietary pricing model, TMV, and also offers Price Promise (guaranteed dealer pricing).

Also..another tip: Always include destination in the MSRP and the invoice. All offers should include destination, as well. Splitting it out is just a dealer trick to make their price look lower. Once you decide on a fair price, ask for their dealer or document fee, then deduct that from your offer, so once they add it back in, you'll still have a fair price.