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CARS/TRUCKS -
Deciding When To Buy (continued)
3. If you cannot take advantage of model or calendar year-
4. Consider doing your final negotiations and completing the purchase in the last week of any month, when salesmen are trying to meet their monthly quotas.
5. If weather has been poor for several days and business has been slow, sometimes dealerships will try to improve sales by making better deals.
Once you know what vehicle you want to buy, you need to contact several dealerships
that sell that vehicle and negotiate your best deal. Always negotiate a cash price
first, before any trade-
1. Contact as many dealerships as possible in your general area, that carry the make and model you have chosen. You can even do this by email.
a. If you are looking for a Chevy, contact at least three Chevy dealerships to see what they have in stock. Provide the dealership with the specifications of the vehicle you are seeking to buy, and ask them for a quote and a specification sheet for the vehicle they are quoting. Once the quote is received, do not be hesitant to call or email them again and tell them you have a better quote from elsewhere and ask them if they can beat it.
b. Make sure you get cash quotes without financing or trade-
2. Let the dealer know that you know what their invoice cost is for the model and options you want. It is important to understand that dealers do not actually pay this invoice cost to the car manufacturer, they get discounts in the form of both published and unpublished rebates. Ask if they can beat the invoice price. If they insist they cannot beat the invoice price, ask if they can match it. You will have better negotiating leverage if you negotiate up from the invoice price, rather than down from the sticker price.
3. Do not be afraid to offer to purchase the vehicle for a price that the dealer thinks is foolishly low. All the dealer can say is no and give you a price that is agreeable to them.
a. Do not be afraid to walk out of the dealership once you are at a price level that you feel is a fair price, but you would like the dealer to lower even further. Tell them you would like to buy the vehicle, but not at the price they are quoting. You can always come back. Their offer is unlikely to go away, but the dealer cannot be sure that you will return, and the dealer does want to sell you a vehicle. Their offer might just improve considerably before you get out the door, or they may give you a phone call in a couple of days saying they can improve their offer.
b. Remember, you can always buy the vehicle from another dealer, but once the salesman you are dealing with loses you as a customer, he has lost a sale. This is a good way to finally learn where the dealer’s real price break point is.
4. Resist paying for any fees like documentation, advertising, etc.
5. Do not be rushed when negotiating the purchase price. Just tell the salesman that you need some time to think about it. Consider bringing a spouse or friend with you while you negotiate. Their sole purpose is to make sure you do not make a rash decision, and to advise you in front of the salesman that the deal on the table is not good enough. Often, the salesman will end up offering a better deal, if they know they need to circumvent this obstacle to make a sale.
6. If the pricing you are being offered is still not as low as you think it should be, try buying a car over the Internet. Send several dealers the specs on the car you want and ask them for their lowest price. Even if you have to pay for shipping to your current address, the price difference may more than cover the cost of shipping.
Many dealers will offer a reasonable price for the vehicle (including financing) and expect to increase their profit margin (and cost to the customer) by selling the customer extras, over and above the base vehicle and vehicle options that were agreed upon. These extras are almost always unnecessary, and usually overpriced when purchased from a dealer. Do not ruin the good deal you have negotiated by letting the salesman pressure you into spending more money on the “extras.”
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