Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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If what you want is the lowest price within an area, for starters, you’re going to have to define what that area is, how you’re going to get the vehicle from wherever it is to you, and how much it will cost to do that. Next, you’re going to have to compare the e-mail quotes on an apples-to-apples basis. You will need to know whether the dealers have the vehicles that they are quoting on, whether they are quoting on vehicles with exactly the same equipment, and whether or not they are quoting you out-the-door prices. If they are quoting you out-the-door prices, you will need to know whether they are using the same definition of “out-the-door”, including what state they are assuming the titling will take place in, if you are serious about shopping across states. If they are not quoting out-the-door prices, you will need to know what, exactly, fees each proposes to add to their quote.
Unlike some here, I’m bringing no judgment of whether going after the lowest price is the right thing to do. Only you can decide that for you. There is no one resource that you can go to find out what the lowest price is. It will take effort and attention to detail, on your part, to get to that. And you’ll have to start by getting over the attitude that you are at the mercy of the dealers. That won’t get you there, bud!
The last three times that I have purchased a vehicle, I have walked down to my local Carmax dealer looking for similar cars. And in all three cases, their prices for very similar cars were $1,500 MORE than I paid.
As far as I am concerned, dealers can post WHATEVER price they want on the car. I will not pay any more for a car than I think that it is worth. On more occasions than I care to remember, I have paid $6500-7000 for a car with a $9999 sticker. But if YOU want to pay that $9999, go right ahead. I am sure that the dealer won't quarrel with you.
Your kidding, right.? this is one of those Easter Egg stories ...
Happy Easter everyone ...
Terry.
It's a fact of life that people who buy locally get priority. It's just good business.
Lots of cars get serviced at dealerships other than where they were bought. A Lexus is a reliable make, so warranty work should be minimal. In my experience, maintenance work that the customer is paying for gets the same priority regardless of whether the vehicle was bought at the servicing dealership. Unless I were buying a trouble-prone model, I don't see this as a big factor in the decision.
forget it.
Made the mistake of leasing a couple of Volvos in '01 and '02 as part of my fleet. Leasing company contracts with a dealer 30 miles away for delivery. Driver takes it for a WARRANTY repair to the dealer ten miles away and is told to go pound sand. Made a couple of calls to my Corporate Fleet person who called the Ford HQ who called the dealer who called me to apologize saying that "that *NEVER* happens at his dealership". I told him that generally, I am NOT delusional.
Personally, I have had a half dozen times with different makes which indicates to me that it is not uncommon.
However, you and I have one thing in common - we both live on the same planet.
If you want to learn how to deal with the real world and have an enjoyable experience buying a car, then stick around this DG. Some of us love car-buying and we have learned how to get a decent price. We could teach you something.
However, if you only want to whine and complain about life being so unjust, you will get more sympathy somewhere else.
I'll never understand that attitude.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
Don't have that problem any more as teh "big guy" says "NO MORE VOLVOS!!"
bobst...really...april fools day was 2 weeks ago, man.
tvnam...dealers have tried the "one-price" way many times before. saturn is slowly going away from it, and carmax will eventually. the problem isnt the process. its really a good idea. the problem is a human one. one of 2 things will happen:
1) another dealer will "throw in" an oil change or mud flaps or undercoating just to close a deal, and then you've opened pandora's box.
2) a customer will INSIST that the above items be "thrown in", and will not buy until someone does it.
the problem for you is an internal one. how can you honestly say "i dont like it, so EVERYONE ELSE should change"?
with all the research you've done, im surprised you havent researched negotiating. arm yourself with knowledge of effective negotiating, and you will have alot more confidence in yourself when it comes to confrontation.
like bobst said: "If you want to learn how to deal with the real world and have an enjoyable experience buying a car, then stick around this DG. Some of us love car-buying and we have learned how to get a decent price. We could teach you something.
However, if you only want to whine and complain about life being so unjust, you will get more sympathy somewhere else."
Not worth $1500. Just go back and buy the thing. $2000 off a RX330 sounds pretty good to me.
Had a lot more pull when we had a GTI and a 944 getting serviced there - basically I would go in with one car when picking up one of the others.
They had lots of folks shop their trades between Saturn stores, so you can throw the one price idea out the window, where it belongs.
enjoy your new car.
most of the time, its horse pucky. and neither i, nor my management team will be lied to to get a certain price. there are only a couple possible outcomes in this scenario.
first, the rare outcome...everything is on the up-and-up. you go get the P.O. the problem there is that the second and third dealers have low-balled you. they just want to keep you from pulling the trigger. they dont actually have to beat your deal. once you come back, they have a captive audience. chances are, you will pay the same or even a little more.
second, your original dealer wont give you a P.O. we wont, and i know of no other dealer thats stupid enough to do so. in 5 years of selling cars, ive seen a total of 2 competitors documents...and they were only worksheets. not P.O's.
could everything happen the way you want it to? sure...theoretically. but according to theory, an elephant can hang from a cliff with its tail tied to a daisy. common sense says otherwise.
my advice is the same as to all buyers:
if you are happy with the car, have a comfortable price/payment, and are comfortable with the people you are doing business with, there is no other reason to delay.
go get your new car, dude.
jhs70 - these dealers know full well that nobody is going to give you a PO to shop around. If they won't give you hundreds off as it stands then they're not going to give you hundreds off period. If they won't beat the price, just smile, thank them for their time, and tell them you'll go buy from the original dealer. If they are bluffing then at this point they'd give in. If not, then go buy from the original dealer with the peace of mind of knowing you got the "best" deal.
But, hey, that's just me.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
The only way I have ever had a true PO in hand has been if I had to pick the car up at a later date, but the deal was all written up. Of course, then you have to deal with getting a deposit back and cancelling a deal, as opposed to just getting a "what if" price.
I have gotten plenty of firm prices in the past, but they were always written on some kind of work sheet.
What the heck, everyone should just adopt the Bobst method, and save lots of time. In this case, just go to dealer B and offer dealer A price - whatever you need to make you jump ship to dealer B, and see if he will do it. If not, buy from dealer A. Why should dealer B care if the price you are shopping is real? He should only be deciding if he can sell you a car for the price you want to pay. If not, take the shoe leather express OTD.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
The bobst method ( as I recall)is you have a firm price on the vehicle with the options you want. You go to the dealers in your area and the first one to hit that OTD price wins ( but not a penny more:-). If no one will sell at the price you want( and think is fair to both parties) you regroup increase your offer and repeat until you have a dealership that will sell to you at that price.
Duncan-who now has a Masters in bobst and a PHD in hooey. :-)
All I can say is I wish I had the time and the willingness to waste it that you do. You've admitted the offer given by a dealer that you've already done business with is "very good", yet you wanted even better than "very good". How can any dealer satisfy that demand? And what incentive is in it for them to do so, since when it comes time for your next new car, you may or may not buy from the dealer that gave you the "best price" on this vehicle you are shopping for now?
Personally, I think you might very well get this so-called best price, but at what cost? Think about that. Not, is "x" the best price, but rather is "y" from a dealer that knows me and I trust already, a fair price that I am willing to pay?
P.S., you do know that 3 months from now, when you get the "best price", someone buying the same exact vehicle is going to get a lower price, don't you?
Then go buy your car and spend your time and energy on something much more productive.
It's amazing what some people will put themselves through in their frantic zeal to get the "best price"!
Life is short...why beat yourself to death over a couple of hundred dollars?
Regards... Vikd
Dealership stated the price is "no haggle" but my sales rep said that the xA isn't selling well in the SE region and they are only keeping the Demos on the lot.
The MSRP is listed at 13045 (includes the destination charge). Closing cost 295, Tax 300 (capped in my state), and tags 40. This should put the total to about 13685.
Edmunds Invoice is 11855 + 485 (destination) = 12340.
--
For the dealers out there, would it be fair to offer 3% over invoice for this vehicle vs the 5.4% over invoice they are selling at MSRP?
And about options, how do dealers that post here feel about selling parts options at 10% over invoice vs what the list price is?
Options I'm interested in are Fog Lights and Remote Locks.
Fog Lights: Invoice 245, List 350
Remote Entry: Invoice 359, List 499
I want to give the dealership (and the sales rep) a fair sell, but I also want to get a fair deal myself.
Thanks
PS, if anyone has heard anything about Scion deals, please let me know.
second, if you arent receiving christmas cards, then you arent dealing with a professional...at least you didnt last time.
third, noone said anything about "blind loyalty".
youve done your research, you know what people pay, you know the incentives. you seem to be an intelligent person. you also already knew it was a "very good" price. i think from experience (and some who share my POV are NOT in the industry), you are outsmarting yourself.
when your time was brought into question, it wasnt the time spent researching that was the issue. its the overall time.
look at it this way...you could have been done with it already, enjoying the new car, and getting rid of the issue for another few years.
...all over a hundred bucks or two.
Thanks for your insight ... now on to my taxes!
Most people like to get a deal done and then move on. You seem to enjoy prolonging the process.
To each his own.
And I'm not much of an insider....
-Mathias
Duncan
We have you now!
Most people like to get a deal done and then move on. You seem to enjoy prolonging the process.
To each his own."
I asked what I thought was a fairly simple question about the need for a PO, and you all responded. I appreciated the responses to that, and I learned something, so how can you say I didn't like the answers? However, it was you guys who then began to question my motivations for not taking the first price I got, even if it was a good one. The bulk of the responses were about why I'm dragging this out, and then I was characterized as trying to save a couple of hundred bucks. Believe me, a tad more is on the table than a couple of hundred bucks. Anyway, I wouldn't characterize what I'm doing from a consumer's point of view as dragging it out. I now when I'll stop and I'm comfortable with it. I guess that's where we differ.
So, when I buy a car, I want to get a good price...in fact, I want the lowest price I can get (without dedicating my life to obtaining the lowest price). In the same manner that the salespeople want the highest price they can get. It is my money that I am turning over to you.
There would be no problem if all dealers and all customers where completely honest. However, some dealers are less than forthcoming (as are some consumers).
Case in point, a few years ago, I was shopping for a minivan. Hondas were very hot; MSPR +. Sienna's had been really hot a bit earlier. Toyotas were in stock, Hondas where not. We needed the car right away. Toyota salesman was telling me how hot these vans are...how we needed to move fast (which we were) and how they were bringing full MSRP + .... Edmunds said they were going for about 1K below MSRP. However, there was a 1K rebate on them...The ting was I counted over 100 Siennas on the lot. I asked the salesman if the vans are selling so fast, how come there was so many on the lot? I ended up with invoice - 800 ( factoring in the rebate). About 1 month later, that was the TMV for the van. Oh...the van runs nice.
The trick is to observe the dealers inventory. Walk the lot with the salesman. Observe. And do your homework.
The key to the whole thing for me is that you already admitted you were offered a very good price. So why the continued shopping? If its a very good price, it can't be more than a couple hundred bucks. If its more than a couple hundred bucks, than you wouldn't think it was a very good price. If you had left that part out of it, I think the responses here would have been very different.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S