advertised price vs drive away price??

[SantaMar]

there is a car i like thats an hour away from my houes.  its an out of state dealership but its a certified vehicle.  the internet advertised price is within my budget.  what are the expected costs to get the car off the lot?  what should i look out for?  how can i negotiate the deal? 

i called a couple dealerships that have the cars listed, the confirm the car is available and confirm the price i see on autotrader is accurate but it comes to the other BS costs they sound vague and speak as if they need to give them some qiggle room to see how i play my cards.  i tell them i can buy outright or i can finance.  it all depends on the price of the vehicle. 

im not a monthly payment shopper eventhough i have a 20k loan @ 2.8 with my credit union.  if i negotiate the sales price of the car, it seems they can tack on back end fees (emission fees/document fees) to get the margins they want ?  whats the best way to negotiate?  what should i expect to pay to drive off the lot?  any way i can get those out the door rates with a phone call or will they bait and switch me at the dealership.  i assume tax (nj 7%) and tags but what else?? 

one dealership told me that have a 116 charge to use a service provider that itemizes the out the door NJ state costs.  i said "i have to pay 116 to a service provider that will tell me what i have to pay NJ?  NJ sales tax is 7% and their registration fees are on the states DMV site, why do i have to pay 116 to find this information out??"  she told me she has to use this service to run the numbers through the systembefore she can give me accurate NJ figures

help!

[HoldingOntoHope]

If the advertised price is already well below MSRP or near invoice there may not be a lot of room for negotiation. As to the add on fees a lot of those are state mandated. There are any number of articles available which will help you determine what fees are negotiable or shouldn't be paid (e.g. Dealer prep fee) and which are part of the real costs that you will end up paying (Tax, title, registration, some doc fees).

I agree that I would certainly not pay anyone to generate a quote. But if you have to go in and do the paperwork to find out the out the door price just be prepared to walk back out if the fees seem unreasonable or unexplained. Like you said you can probably get a good idea of what fees are necessary. The only area that would be left open to negotiation would be any trade in. And even there you can go to CarMax and get a "We'll buy it for X price" whether you are buying a car from them or not.

[pizzadude]

I'd negotiate an "out the door" price, you tell them what you'll pay ( final total, inclusive of everything ) and let them work backwards to deal with fees, taxes, registration, etc....

[Omw800]

If I were you I would just work on the price of the car, do not mention you have private financing, let the dealer believe you will use there financing. If you let them know you have other financing in pace , it usually will screw you over as you try to get a better price. You have front end and back end fees, in most cases if the dealer doesn't make money while they are writing up the deal(front end)l , they try to retrieve most fees when you see the finance manager, which is called back end fees. Depending on what dealership you go to the prices will vary. If you seen a vehicle you like and its marked 2k-3k cheaper than another vehicle you seen with the same features but differs in miles by a thousand or two, you will definitely be hit with outrageous fees, the low price was just to get you through the door

What state do you live in?