buying a new car

G

Got Haggis?

Veteran XX
So I'm probably going to be buying a new car soon. It seems most car dealerships have 'internet sales managers' where you can conduct everything through email/phone rather than spending lots of time at the dealership......i haven't bought a car in 10 years, so this is new to me, heh.

anyway, i hate dealing with car salesmen. In order to get the lowest price, what is your opinion on telling the salesman that you are considering different models of cars....for example i'm looking at a Golf TDI vs a Toyota Prius....I dig both of them (currently have a Golf TDI) - the TDI is much more fun to drive but the Prius gets insane gas mileage. Do you think it's best to tell the salesman that you are considering different models of cars (VW vs Toyota) or keep your mouth shut about that?

I guess in mind I'm thinking if I tell the guy I'm sort of on the fence between the Golf and the Prius, he might give me a better deal to entice me to buy the car he is selling.

or maybe it doesn't matter at all. thoughts?

any other tips on haggling the price down from the MSRP?
 
Use cars.com and find out the invoice of the car, add 500 bucks to it and then make that as your offer to the Internet Sales Manager. If they aren't okay with it then walk. You can find plenty of dealerships around that will give you with very little haggling.

Also use edmunds.com and look for any incentives and rebates going on for the cars you are looking at.
 
Research on edmunds. Run the numbers many times. Ask for fleet manager. Nothing matters until they put a contract in front of you and you can see the dealer fee. That's when you take out the calculator and work.
Order the car with exact options you want. Put down 1k and finance the rest.

In the finance room, don't buy the service plan, warranty, or Lojack. Decline this and take out your calculator.
 
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:rofl: very tempting to go out and buy some denim.

I might go for LoJack since I live in Baltimore ;)

So I just got an email from one of the places I sent an email to...and they replied with a GREAT price for a new golf. Lowest I've seen easily. At the bottom of the email was a wall of text....after reading wall of text, it says in the price they included all incentives / rebates / military discounts in the price even though i may not qualify for them. :lol: ugh sales people
 
Whatever you do, stick to your guns. I had the sales manager begging me, literally to buy my truck. He kept telling me "Come on man, I got to eat." Which was hilarious because I was able to tell him "If you can't make enough selling cars to eat, it's not my job to feed you." I got the price I wanted on the truck I wanted.

But I walked out of the sales office and they almost let me get into my old car before they gave me the price I wanted.

Point is, don't do them any favors. And don't be in a rush to buy the car just because you're on the car lot and haggling. Walk away if their offer doesn't meet your numbers.
 
I would also suggest a subscription to consumer reports. Its cheap and you get some good insight into the car.
 
When the guy that sold me my car (it ended up being like $17k) saw that I was second guessing myself, he told me "Look, man, even though this is currently the newest model, this is off our used lot and I'm not going to make a killing off of you because of that. I'll probably make like $200. It's up to you." It had 14k miles.

Whether he was telling the truth or not, I bought the car the next day.

Cool story.
 
The only thing the net will be OK for is getting the invoice prices of these cars, and asking the dealer about their delivery and conveyance fees. Those will likely be the only difference.

You may find that some dealers tell you the invoice is 2-300 dollars lower than another, and yet their conveyance fees are 2-300 dollars higher than everyone else. It seems to be the one thing that varies the most between dealerships around me. I found anything from ranging from 200-600 in conveyance fees alone at 5 different places.


You will want to go to a dealership in person to test the vehicles out, learn the difference between models (trim, luxury and safety features, performance features, packages), and figure out what the best bang for your buck or must-haves are for you. Remember that things like stereo upgrades can be done cheaper after the fact, and with better equipment than they can provide.

Edit: And if you're going for a trade-in, don't even bother bringing it up till you have decided on all the prices for all fees, invoice of the car you're buying, etc. If they want to screw you hard on the trade-in value, just sell it on the used market. Used car market is supposedly hot these days.

If you're looking for a very specific type of car (color, type, features) and they make you put money down on it before its even in their lot, be sure that whatever you sign actually lists a vehicle VIN number - otherwise you're putting money down on nothing.
 
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That's why you use cars.com to get the invoice price because it includes the destination fee and that's it. There are about 100 or so dollars in dealer fees (depending on where you live) that are legally required, so be wise to that. Read over the contract careful and always negotiate the out the door price; not the payment or price before taxes, etc.

Also, for that VW quote you got, I would go in, talk to the guy and tell them that's the price you'll pay and not a penny more. If they won't do it then just walk out and I guarantee they will either stop you or call you right away.
 
Rakk said:
When the guy that sold me my car (it ended up being like $17k) saw that I was second guessing myself, he told me "Look, man, even though this is currently the newest model, this is off our used lot and I'm not going to make a killing off of you because of that. I'll probably make like $200. It's up to you." It had 14k miles.

Whether he was telling the truth or not, I bought the car the next day.

Cool story.
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wow thank u for that riveting story

not only does it prove that you're incredibly poor, but it also reinforces the fact that you're an idiot
 
HSV_Maloo.jpg
 
Once again, it's all talk until the contract is put in front of you. They'll say things like, "I don't want to write this up unless you're serious.". Have a friend go with you. Once you've seen a few contracts and walked out a few times, that's when you'll be ready.

The only thing you work on is the price of the new car. Do not talk trade or financing. Your down will be 1k on an ordered car. Do not buy one from the lot. Order it and wait 2 months.

There is a better tracking system callEd LifeTrak. Can show your car on a map any time.
 
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One thing I do is only talk "out the door" price.

Many dealership will include untaxable fees... which mean free money for them. Which means you negotiate a "good" price for the car, but the dealership will bump it back up with their fees.

By only talking out the door/bottom line price, you eliminate this practice.
 
can we call you Got Haggle? instead.....

Pretty good advice here, I used to sell cars in the mid 90's, and the easiest (as in smoothest) sales I had were those who walked in with invoices researched over the internet. They'd plunk down the info, compare it to the real invoice on the car they wanted, we'd agree on a percentage over that was amicable, and it was sign and drive.

You can approach this in an adversarial way or a knowledgeable way, the outcomes may be the same but the first ones makes for a much more enjoyable experience.

The single best advice in this thread so far (aside from getting the actual invoice pricing), is to leave the trade out of it until the end. The suckiest thing about trade ins is when the dealer starts writing up deal offers at full MSRP and an over-inflated amount for a trade in. Look around on craigslist and want ads for similar cars to yours and what they are retailing for, subtract about 1/4 to 1/3 of that amount and that's what you should make sure you get for your trade. Selling privately is a big-assed hassle, but it'll get you a ton more money.
 
Got Haggis? said:
I guess in mind I'm thinking if I tell the guy I'm sort of on the fence between the Golf and the Prius, he might give me a better deal to entice me to buy the car he is selling.
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Remember that car salesmen are often assholes. I've had two respond negatively to my telling them that I was looking at a couple of competitor's cars. One outright would not give me a quote until I "committed". The other wrote the quote out... and then wouldn't let me take the paper with me because he couldn't "give out competitive information".

If they start acting like assholes, don't relent. Just turn around, walk away, and find another dealership. You'll hate yourself afterwards if you end up giving money to them.
 
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