topic Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please! in Auto Loans

Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please! UPDATE

msbia — Sun, 11 May 2014 02:03:13 GMT

I was pre-approved for a 19k auto loan with NFCU yesterday and instead of being ecstatic, I'm stressed out. I hate shopping (and I'm a lady), and I hate haggling prices, especially with car dealers. I looked at NFCU's auto buying program thing, but the nearest dealer is 89 miles from me. That's too far when I have a gazillion dealers nearby. Any-way, I'm looking for either a 2014 Honda Civic or Mazda3 and I would love to get the best price on either. Any advice for a non-haggler? I hate to give out my phone number to a bunch of different dealers but I know that I need help. Please...for any suggestions...and thank you!

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please!

Anonymous — Fri, 09 May 2014 01:58:47 GMT

@msbia wrote:
I was pre-approved for a 19k auto loan with NFCU yesterday and instead of being ecstatic, I'm stressed out. I hate shopping (and I'm a lady), and I hate haggling prices, especially with car dealers. I looked at NFCU's auto buying program thing, but the nearest dealer is 89 miles from me. That's too far when I have a gazillion dealers nearby. Any-way, I'm looking for either a 2014 Honda Civic or Mazda3 and I would love to get the best price on either. Any advice for a non-haggler? I hate to give out my phone number to a bunch of different dealers but I know that I need help. Please...for any suggestions...and thank you!

You and I must be related! Just driving by car lots makes me breakout in hives. What I do, is yes TrueCar or Edmunds. once I get a reply from dealers based on my specifications, I go about making them fight for my business . I do not and will not pay sticker or even dealer prices. I am satisfied with anything $2-$3k below dealer invoice.

You should be able to conduct your search either online or by email.

Also, make sure you get the out the door price in writing.

Good luck!

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please!

StartingOver10 — Fri, 09 May 2014 04:13:21 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@msbia wrote:
I was pre-approved for a 19k auto loan with NFCU yesterday and instead of being ecstatic, I'm stressed out. I hate shopping (and I'm a lady), and I hate haggling prices, especially with car dealers. I looked at NFCU's auto buying program thing, but the nearest dealer is 89 miles from me. That's too far when I have a gazillion dealers nearby. Any-way, I'm looking for either a 2014 Honda Civic or Mazda3 and I would love to get the best price on either. Any advice for a non-haggler? I hate to give out my phone number to a bunch of different dealers but I know that I need help. Please...for any suggestions...and thank you!
You and I must be related! Just driving by car lots makes me breakout in hives. What I do, is yes TrueCar or Edmunds. once I get a reply from dealers based on my specifications, I go about making them fight for my business . I do not and will not pay sticker or even dealer prices. I am satisfied with anything $2-$3k below dealer invoice.
You should be able to conduct your search either online or by email.

Also, make sure you get the out the door price in writing.

Good luck!

Yes to all of the above^^^.

Glad you got your financing elsewhere first. The dealer will push and push to finance you and I have found that it is rarely in your best interest to take dealer financing. Do all of your research by email or online because you have the control. Once you actually go there then the control switches to the dealer. That's why you want to have it in writing. Don't be afraid to walk out if they try to reneg on their deal in writing....Good luck.

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please!

msbia — Fri, 09 May 2014 11:09:54 GMT

Thank you both for the advice! Lexie I looked up TrueCar last night so I have a pretty good idea of what I want to pay now, but it still makes me nervous having to deal with these guys after the sketchy subprime lenders I have dealt with in the past. The last new, off the lot with zero miles car I bought was in 2003 and I sat in my van while my husband sealed the deal within an hour lol. Please say a prayer for me going forward!

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please!

DevotionToU — Fri, 09 May 2014 14:01:01 GMT

Go online to the dealerships in your area and you can usually search through their inventory. There should be links to contact them about that particular vehicle. You have to put in some info (email, phone#, etc) and this is where you can ask them to give you the best out the door price they can. You can deal with them on your own time, and don't have to suffer through the negotiating phase in person.

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please!

Creditaddict — Fri, 09 May 2014 17:09:50 GMT

@DevotionToU wrote:
Go online to the dealerships in your area and you can usually search through their inventory. There should be links to contact them about that particular vehicle. You have to put in some info (email, phone#, etc) and this is where you can ask them to give you the best out the door price they can. You can deal with them on your own time, and don't have to suffer through the negotiating phase in person.

This is what I do... Many times I get a call within an hour when can you come in, etc. and I just simply say I still have not received the pricing I asked for.

If you get email and phone call... try to let it go to voicemail and just revert back to the email and if you didn't get pricing in the email from them respond back you are looking for an out the door price and you have your own financing.

Now if you are buying brand new you should check if they are offering special financing like 0% through manufacturer (might be worth applying with them at some point but lets deal with price first)

If you find a dealership is not issueing you prices by email and says they want you to come in, move on to another dealership!

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please!

DevotionToU — Fri, 09 May 2014 17:29:24 GMT

@Creditaddict wrote:
@DevotionToU wrote:
Go online to the dealerships in your area and you can usually search through their inventory. There should be links to contact them about that particular vehicle. You have to put in some info (email, phone#, etc) and this is where you can ask them to give you the best out the door price they can. You can deal with them on your own time, and don't have to suffer through the negotiating phase in person.
This is what I do... Many times I get a call within an hour when can you come in, etc. and I just simply say I still have not received the pricing I asked for.
If you get email and phone call... try to let it go to voicemail and just revert back to the email and if you didn't get pricing in the email from them respond back you are looking for an out the door price and you have your own financing.

Now if you are buying brand new you should check if they are offering special financing like 0% through manufacturer (might be worth applying with them at some point but lets deal with price first)
If you find a dealership is not issueing you prices by email and says they want you to come in, move on to another dealership!

What Credictaddict said is what I did (purchased a car a month ago). Except I did not tell them i had my own financing until basically a final price had been agreed on. Luckily there were 3 dealerships in the area that I could get the data points from. I went in to the dealership to test drive the car, but had not received all of the info I needed from DCU at the time, I gave a down payment to hold the car, as they only had one car in the exact trim I wanted. After I came back, he asked if I had financing, at which point he asked me what the APR was (1.24), and he said he would look to see if they could offer something competitive. The car I purchased was a Mazda, and they have a .9% special going on right now, but the term is for only 36 months, and the payment would have been astronomical.

tl;dr version: Email correspondence is the best!

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please!

msbia — Sat, 10 May 2014 15:26:12 GMT

OK! Day one:

Dealer #1 Honda: I go to the lot shortly before they open, look over the inventory and decide which car I like the best. Dealer price $22k. I talk to a salesgirl, tell her I want her best out of the door price. They had sent me a quote the night before for $17,844 (not bad), and she came back with the same quote but that was before the tax, title, licence fees. I told her that I would get back to her. I have not heard from her since I left the lot and that was 2 hours ago.

Dealer #2 Honda: Dealt with solely via email at first, but after I left #1, called #2 told her what I was looking for in style, color and features and asked for her best out of the door price. She asked me if I wanted Honda's .9% financing and I assured her that I had my own, tyvm. She called back an hour or so later with the price $19,900. I told her that I didn't want to pay more than $18.5 and she balked at that, which I understood. She told me that I would need to come in and speak to her new car manager, and set an appointment for today at 2:15pm. By the way, I know what they really want (both dealers) is to sign me up for their Honda financing and incentives but I don't want my credit run at a dealership at all, ever. Honestly, I don't want to go...I hate all of this process. So I may just nix the loan and car all together. I just don't know what to do.....

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please!

Creditaddict — Sat, 10 May 2014 18:05:33 GMT

@msbia wrote:
OK! Day one:

Dealer #1 Honda: I go to the lot shortly before they open, look over the inventory and decide which car I like the best. Dealer price $22k. I talk to a salesgirl, tell her I want her best out of the door price. They had sent me a quote the night before for $17,844 (not bad), and she came back with the same quote but that was before the tax, title, licence fees. I told her that I would get back to her. I have not heard from her since I left the lot and that was 2 hours ago.

Dealer #2 Honda: Dealt with solely via email at first, but after I left #1, called #2 told her what I was looking for in style, color and features and asked for her best out of the door price. She asked me if I wanted Honda's .9% financing and I assured her that I had my own, tyvm. She called back an hour or so later with the price $19,900. I told her that I didn't want to pay more than $18.5 and she balked at that, which I understood. She told me that I would need to come in and speak to her new car manager, and set an appointment for today at 2:15pm. By the way, I know what they really want (both dealers) is to sign me up for their Honda financing and incentives but I don't want my credit run at a dealership at all, ever. Honestly, I don't want to go...I hate all of this process. So I may just nix the loan and car all together. I just don't know what to do.....

1, What is your loan you are pre-approved for?

2. If you got close to that $18,500 with taxes, title and fees then you would come out better than at lot 1 and that sounds pretty good to me without looking at like truecar or something to see other deals people got in the area.

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please!

msbia — Sat, 10 May 2014 18:45:41 GMT

sorry...dbl post...

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please!

msbia — Sat, 10 May 2014 18:44:49 GMT

@Creditaddict wrote:
@msbia wrote:
OK! Day one:

Dealer #1 Honda: I go to the lot shortly before they open, look over the inventory and decide which car I like the best. Dealer price $22k. I talk to a salesgirl, tell her I want her best out of the door price. They had sent me a quote the night before for $17,844 (not bad), and she came back with the same quote but that was before the tax, title, licence fees. I told her that I would get back to her. I have not heard from her since I left the lot and that was 2 hours ago.

Dealer #2 Honda: Dealt with solely via email at first, but after I left #1, called #2 told her what I was looking for in style, color and features and asked for her best out of the door price. She asked me if I wanted Honda's .9% financing and I assured her that I had my own, tyvm. She called back an hour or so later with the price $19,900. I told her that I didn't want to pay more than $18.5 and she balked at that, which I understood. She told me that I would need to come in and speak to her new car manager, and set an appointment for today at 2:15pm. By the way, I know what they really want (both dealers) is to sign me up for their Honda financing and incentives but I don't want my credit run at a dealership at all, ever. Honestly, I don't want to go...I hate all of this process. So I may just nix the loan and car all together. I just don't know what to do.....

1, What is your loan you are pre-approved for?
2. If you got close to that $18,500 with taxes, title and fees then you would come out better than at lot 1 and that sounds pretty good to me without looking at like truecar or something to see other deals people got in the area.

1. $19,000

2. Lot #2 got me to come down there to discuss with the "sales manager", and after much haggling he told me that he couldn't go any lower than the $19,900, smh! I would not have wasted my time driving the 40 miles had the internet girl been honest about not being able to budge from the price.

Additional: I am back at home waiting for the OWNER of lot #1 to call about the out of the door offer. If that doesn't pan out, I have a guy who is 60 miles away who wants to talk, but I am already leery and weary of the process. Thank you CreditAddict for all of the advice; it's nice to know that people care to help here!

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please!

msbia — Sun, 11 May 2014 02:02:38 GMT

NEW UPDATE: So I emailed the guy who was 60 miles away and told him that if he could meet my price of $18.5 on a 2014 or 2013 (low mile) Civic that I would drive down there today with the check. He immediately responded and asked me to call him, which I did. The first thing he said was, "You've gotta be joking on that price right?" And I told him that I absolutely was not kidding. He responded that his 2014 would be out the door at no less than $21k, and I thanked him and was about to hang up when he said, "Wait a second, I found your car!" I told him to talk to me. He had a 2013 dealer car (loaned out during service repairs) with 11k miles on it. It had every feature that I wanted, and was the Crystal Pearl Black that I wanted as well. He told me that he could sell it to me for $17,433 and the out the door price was $19,260. I told him that meant I would have to take $260 out of my bank account and he said, "If I give it to you for $19k out the door could you be here in an hour?" And I said, you BETCHA!. He then told me that he would send the car for detailing and have it ready for me.

45 minute drive and 30 minutes later I drove off the lot with a (looks and drives brand new) 2013 Honda Civic EX! Thanks forum fam for your advice and thanks to NFCU for easy financing and to JW at the Honda dealership. I am one happy girl!

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please! UPDATE

Creditaddict — Sun, 11 May 2014 02:12:14 GMT

GOOD FOR YOU!!!

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please! UPDATE

Anonymous — Sun, 11 May 2014 03:17:04 GMT

WooHoo! Good job!

topic Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please! in Auto Loans

Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please! *UPDATE*

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please!

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please!

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please!

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please!

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please!

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please!

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please!

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please!

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please!

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please!

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please!

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please! *UPDATE*

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please! *UPDATE*

Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please! UPDATE

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please! UPDATE

Re: Advice for a "non haggling" car buyer please! UPDATE