How to talk down on price?

[Anonymous]

I was wondering what is the best way to go about when buying a new car how can you talk down the price? I'm in the market for a chevy cruze or a ford fiesta. I'll be buying one or the other ...or something different. But I don't know how to tlk to a car salesman. Help?

[-Cain-]

Research pricing beforehand. Visit several dealers, scan the newspaper ads and Internet. Try Edmunds.com and see what the models you are looking at are going for. They will show the lowest prices people have reported paying. Dealers usually will bargain more at the end of the month, help the sales book look a bit fuller. Go in prepared and confident.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I was wondering what is the best way to go about when buying a new car how can you talk down the price? I'm in the market for a chevy cruze or a ford fiesta. I'll be buying one or the other ...or something different. But I don't know how to tlk to a car salesman. Help?

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in most cases an "internet" quote will give you a price at a prenegotiated discount price that will benear best offer.

if buying Ford see if you qualify through your employer for X plan, or know anyone who works for Ford and they can get you X plan. X plan is a pre negotiated friends and family price that is essentially the lowest you can get.

[p-]

Try looking at Costco Auto buying too; even if you are not a member print it out and bring it when you shop, tell them that is the price to beat if they want the sale.  Talk to multiple dealers, and be prepared to walk away.

[Watchmann]

Hop on TrueCar.com and all will be revealed.  Put in your zip code, the car and options you want and their database will tell what the average price for that vehicle is in your area based on ACTUAL sales numbers.  It is a very accurate snapshot of the market at any point.  Use those numbers for your negotiations.

[cahiatt]

I would further suggest going to discussion forums of owners of those vehicles you are interested in. They almost always have a prices paid/options thread in there. TrueCar data is about as good as the data provided to them and I am not confident it isn't influenced by false data provided by selling dealers. As an example. Just bought a 2011 Dodge Dakota. The TrueCar.com price was $4700 more than what I paid for the vehicle. 

Just get information from different sources and weed out the extremes.

[YoungGuy]

I'll be using this at the end of the year when I buy my MazdaSpeed! Can't WAIT!

Basically it tells you all the current incentives, hodbacks, and invoice, and how the car is selling, then they tell you to send an Email to the sales manager or internet/fleet manager and have different Dealerships in 100 mile or whichever miles your comfortable driving for a deal fighting for you, then you get 2 or 3 of lowest price they give you and have them fight even more.

Read many Reviews Online and I am definitely gonna try it, beats sitting down with a salesman and arguing to get a lower price...and this is better then Costco auto buying, and all the others, your basically doing what they would do, but you can be more agressive.

http://fightingchance.com/

[Anonymous]

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@YoungGuy wrote:

I'll be using this at the end of the year when I buy my MazdaSpeed! Can't WAIT!

Basically it tells you all the current incentives, hodbacks, and invoice, and how the car is selling, then they tell you to send an Email to the sales manager or internet/fleet manager and have different Dealerships in 100 mile or whichever miles your comfortable driving for a deal fighting for you, then you get 2 or 3 of lowest price they give you and have them fight even more.

Read many Reviews Online and I am definitely gonna try it, beats sitting down with a salesman and arguing to get a lower price...and this is better then Costco auto buying, and all the others, your basically doing what they would do, but you can be more agressive.

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Just remember you are not going to get a $22,000 car for $9,000 after tax.

When you do this 100 mile dealer fight most are going to settle on the same plus or minus $100 of invoice and then rebates price. No dealership is going to pull out a rebate that the other one has, and no dealership is going to lose thousands on the car deal. Dealerships make money.

At the same time whatever discount you get is going to be countered by the drive.  I sure as heck would not drive 2 hours each way to save $100 on the deal.

And also: Holdback is non negotiable for some manufacturer lines.

[Shogun]

My number one tactic on dealing with buying a vehicle from a dealder?  (And I've bought many of them).   Be prepared to just walk away.  

Keep a good poker face on.  Don't let them think they're you're only option.  I've made offers that were turned down flat and got home and have the sales rep call me with a better deal than I asked for.

Just used this tactic on a new home and got the price down $70k.   Trust me it works.

[Anonymous]

The BEST way to buy a car is to go to Edmunds.com.  It's totally free. Just put the exact car you want, add the options and then select to send to all of the local dealerships and they will literally fight with one another on the price.   Each dealership has an "Internet Manager" and most of them don't make ANY commission on the car. They get paid a commission on how many units they sell.   

I bought an Audi Q7 that way a few weeks ago and it couldn't have been easier.   Yesterday, my wife bought a BMW 335i and all the local dealerships were literally fighting with one another to give the best price.  I couldn't believe it that some were doing $100 over their COST/Invoice price.   But then I even found one that did it at the Dealer cost (so they made no money).   Then he even gave us a $750 rebate to finance with BMW.  36 months at only 1.9%. We were going to pay cash but with that rebate and special rate it was almost free the financing part.

One tip before you sign up is NOT to give them your real phone number. Just type in a fake one or they will keep hounding you. Also, you might want to make a separate email address for your car buying search as they all send out many emails.  But hands down it's the best way to buy a new car.