GM, Ford, Chrysler, do I pay what they ask, or negotiate? Will the pricing be the same for the same car at different dealers?
I hate car buying, don’t really need a new one yet, but prices seem too good now it doesn’t seem to make sense to wait till spring.
Thanks
I just bought a new Ford today. I just paid the price and haggled a bit over the trade in.
If you want a war, I am sure you can save a few bucks. Better to just go for it. The prices are very fair.
The idea is that the pricing is the same for everyone (no haggle), but there will be effective price differences depending on how they are optioned at different dealers.
I’m one of those weird people who actually like car shopping. Normally I don’t buy new, but when I do this is my technique:
I go to the dealers and test drive until I find what I like. Then I go to the websites and figure out what options I want are, what the dealer price is for each option, and what the total invoice will be minus dealer incentives. Their are various sources for this. If you can find a source for what type of deals other people have negotiated, you will have more ammunition, this is easy if it is a sporty car with lots of web sites dedicated to it.
Then I write a little fax (or maybe an email these days would work) that indicates exactly what I am looking for, that I have researched dealer pricing and I am very informed as to what selling prices are going for, and that I am ready to buy immediately with no credit issues. I wait toward the end of the month, and then fax as many dealers in the area as I can (last time I did 19). Oops, before I do this I call the dealerships to get the name and direct fax number for the “fleet” agent/salesman at the dealership. I ask them to contact me back with their best offer, and indicate that best offer will get the sale. The fleet guys work on volume and don’t mess around with haggling over price much, their looking for the fast sale. Maybe with the new fixed pricing everyone is a “fleet” salesman, I don’t know.
Last time I did this I got about 6 responses and never heard of anyone else making a deal as low. In fact someone else asked the same fleet agent if they could get the same deal as me and it was refused. It is really not painful at all, if they don’t want the deal they don’t respond. No haggling needed. After you get your best deal, you go in and give them a check and drive away. The key is being informed as to what the pricing is, I actually put the invoice pricing in the fax and list any incentives. There have been websites that would provide all this information in the past but I’m not aware of any right now.
Normally your better off buying a late model used car under warranty unless you need a particular option set that is hard to find used (my case the last time, I was buying a BMW X5 3.0, which had only been out less than a year, and several expensive options were “must haves”). You can do a lot better dealing with individuals than dealers, and as long as it’s under warranty you have little to fear. All that said, I can’t think of a reason it would make financial sense to buy now rather than wait for spring assuming your current car will last or can be made to, the old car almost always runs cheaper in the long run.
Car buying should be fun!
On one of those financial advice call shows yesterday they were saying that under the old days of haggling you often times ended up getting a better deal than the employee rate. By saying you are paying what their employees pay they imply that is the cheapest you can get the car for, and that’s not necessarily the truth.
www.edmunds.com can show you all of the incentives for each manufacturer. They have a forum that has a “recently paid” for just about every model. They also have a TMV calculator that you select the car and the options and it shows you sticker, invoice and what people are paying in that area. (You enter your zip code for that option).
I am in the process of buying a Volvo v70 and via the forum, I found a dealer in Mass that has prices 2k less than local dealer. I will be using that info for bargaining.
The fax to fleet manager is an excellent idea. I would amend that process to say, fax all of your local dealers, get the best price. Take that offer and then fax all of the dealers in the closest cities/towns with a note stating that you have an offer of X from a local dealer and would they be willing to beat it.
I just ran the numbers from this site, and I paid over $1,000 less than there amount with no haggling.
Buying a car well is very difficult. The dealers are way ahead of any individual buyer. That is why I liked the family plan pricing. It is a good price, probably not the best possible price, and you just get it with no hassle.
It is a shame that the US cars are so crappy that they need to resort to selling them at a lower profit margin…that is in the end what they are doing. You just dont EVER see Jap and Euro cars selling at discounts, 0% financing and on and on…and at the end of 3 years…the non US car will be worth more than that of a US car. It is funny, I have seen 2000 STS’s for sale for $6k, and 2000 E320’s for $22k…both were $50k in 2000. So, even if you get a $50k STS with 0%…it will cost you MUCH more in the end…thus, I drive a Mercedes.