Car dealers are so funny

[MommaSnowwhite]

I have been car shopping lately. It's crazy to me some of the crap out there. I knew what I wanted & found it. I went & drove it without DH & then brought him back to drive it too. He fell in like with a car as well & we decided to get him one too (a bit sooner than expected). We thought we would get a better deal if we bought two. We made an offer & were told they would call back the next day. In the end they came down $1,500 on 2 cars In the end I found what I wanted for $2,500 less than the dealerships lowest offer.

 

[Jennasis]

Car shopping can be brutal. We had a doozie of a time with a Kia dealership when my MIL bought her Sedona, but we actually had a great experience with a local Chevy dealership earlier this year.

Two days before we were to drive from NC to Orlando, DH's little Jetta died...like tranny about to fall out of the car, died. We were PANICKED. We assumed we'd be stuck driving my F-250 pickup to Florida (and that would have sucked), but I told DH he needed to look for a new car pronto so when we got back from our trip he'd have a car.

So he immediately hit the internet and scoured all the local dealerships, did comparison shopping and found a great Ford Focus that had everything he wanted (at the price that we wanted) at a local Chevy dealership. We drove to see the Focus first thing in the morning the DAY before our trip...praying the whole time that the volkswagen would hold together long enough for us to get a few bucks on trade in. We met the salesman that DH had been emailing...he was waiting at the front door for us with the Focus keys. We drove it while they sent our Jetta to be looked at for trade in.

Long story short we LOVED the Focus and the dealership gave us WAY more on the trade than we thought we'd get. They honored the great price DH had worked out online with the salesman. We asked if we could put a deposit on the car to hold it until we got back from Florida and the salesman was like "You got somewhere to go right now? Cause I can send you home in the car right now."

SWOOOOOOON! It was the most painless experience ever. I would buy from them again in a heart beat.

 

[Angelrose]

I see buying a car hasn't changed since we bought our Cadillac in 1995. I was the one doing the dealing because my DH wasn't the greatest at getting a deal.

We brought him all the things we wanted and to give us the best price. He asked me what price I had in mind. I don't have any number in mind. Give me your best offer. If I like it, we'll make a deal. Well, what price did you have in mind? We went round and round until I finally told him my answer wasn't going to change. Then he asked for my license. Yeah, I know that game. They take your license and you are then a prisoner until they decide to give it back. No, that won't do at all. I handed him my license and told him, "10 minutes". That's all you get. That's all you need to check on me. If I don't get it back in 10 minutes, I will walk back there and rip my license off whatever desk it's on, walk out and you won't ever see me again.

What do you know, my license was back in my hand in 10 minutes.

He did finally give me a price that I had in mind and we made the deal. Then it was "how do you want to pay for this?" "Cash". "What do you mean, cash?" "You know, greenbacks, dollars, cashier's check for the full amount." "Oh".

I'm not looking forward to going through that all again.

 

[RNMOM]

We purchased through Costco and got a very low price. One dealership called and said that they would have matched the price! I guess that they forgot we offered them $2,000 more than we ultimately paid for the car and they refused our offer?

We also bought through the Costco program and saved a lot. They were more than $3,000 less than the other dealer for a better vehicle. I have no idea how it worked but I'm happy.

 

[tcufrog]

My dad used to be a used car dealer and I learned how to negotiate from him. I first go and test drive cars but refuse to talk price. Once I've chosen what I want I call dealerships during weekdays when it's slow and speak to a salesperson. I tell them what I want and ask then what they'll offer me for it. I tell them we will talk financing, trade-ins and monthly payment later and refuse to tell them anything about what I am willing to pay. I repeat the process at all of the local dealerships and tell them what the other dealerships are willing to offer to me. I will then contact dealers I spoke to earlier and tell them what other dealerships have offered and ask if they can beat the price. Once dealerships have told me that they can't beat what a certain dealership has offered I stop calling.

I've found that I'm always at a disadvantage if I try to negotiate while at a dealership especially since I'm a stay at home mom so they think I'm clueless and they can walk all over me.

I ask them winning dealer to email me his or her offer and make an appointment to come into the dealership. That is when I discuss financing and monthly payments.

The key to coming out ahead at this point is to not be desperate and be willing to walk out at any point during the negotiations if you're unhappy. I once walked out after we had picked out the car and started signing the preliminary papers because they gave me the runaround about financing. Another time I was left waiting for way too long while the salesperson was supposedly copying papers. While I was left waiting a salesperson from another dealership called. When I told her where I was and what I was doing she offered to beat that dealer's price. Since she was able to I decided to go to her dealership. At that point I had signed some paperwork but not the paperwork stating that I would buy the car. Once I hunted down the salesperson to tell him I was walking and why he was furious. I told him that I hadn't signed the paperwork for the car and that he shouldn't have left me waiting for so long. I told him he was welcome to try to beat her price but he refused so I left.

 

[Shutterbug]

My dad used to be a used car dealer and I learned how to negotiate from him. I first go and test drive cars but refuse to talk price. Once I've chosen what I want I call dealerships during weekdays when it's slow and speak to a salesperson. I tell them what I want and ask then what they'll offer me for it. I tell them we will talk financing, trade-ins and monthly payment later and refuse to tell them anything about what I am willing to pay. I repeat the process at all of the local dealerships and tell them what the other dealerships are willing to offer to me. I will then contact dealers I spoke to earlier and tell them what other dealerships have offered and ask if they can beat the price. Once dealerships have told me that they can't beat what a certain dealership has offered I stop calling.

I've found that I'm always at a disadvantage if I try to negotiate while at a dealership especially since I'm a stay at home mom so they think I'm clueless and they can walk all over me.

I ask them winning dealer to email me his or her offer and make an appointment to come into the dealership. That is when I discuss financing and monthly payments.

The key to coming out ahead at this point is to not be desperate and be willing to walk out at any point during the negotiations if you're unhappy. I once walked out after we had picked out the car and started signing the preliminary papers because they gave me the runaround about financing. Another time I was left waiting for way too long while the salesperson was supposedly copying papers. While I was left waiting a salesperson from another dealership called. When I told her where I was and what I was doing she offered to beat that dealer's price. Since she was able to I decided to go to her dealership. At that point I had signed some paperwork but not the paperwork stating that I would buy the car. Once I hunted down the salesperson to tell him I was walking and why he was furious. I told him that I hadn't signed the paperwork for the car and that he shouldn't have left me waiting for so long. I told him he was welcome to try to beat her price but he refused so I left.

That all seems a bit too much to me. Once I find the car I want I simply go online find what invoice is and then make my calls. If I can get a couple hundred under invoice I am happy. If I get the price I am looking for, I dont waste my time or anyone else's.

 

[Hrhpd]

I never negotiate payments, only price - mainly because there are so many financing options.

But yeah, give me your best price TODAY. Because if I find a better one somewhere else, I will not be back to see what you think of it.

There was another thread on here recently that was extremely informative. Gave links to the 4-square and how, if you don't know what you are doing, can really pay way too much for a car.

I recently negotiated on a car. Had a price in mind (no trade, no financing). Found a dealer to meet that price. Loved it when the first dealer called us and snottily asked "Did you find your deal?" You could tell he thought I wouldn't and would come crawling back to their exorbitantly high so-called Costco price. I had so much fun answering "sure did." They then had the nerve to e-mail me asking to have my new car serviced at their dealership. Yeah right. I am going back to the dealership I purchased it from.

 

[Hrhpd]

We also bought through the Costco program and saved a lot. They were more than $3,000 less than the other dealer for a better vehicle. I have no idea how it worked but I'm happy.

The Costco dealer we went first went to was over $4,000 more than what we got our car for at another non-Costco dealership.

The original price was great, but then they added a ton of dealer handling back in that brought the car back up to just under MSRP. No thanks. We have a friend in the auto business and he is actually helping Costco rewrite their program because right now it is so inconsistent between dealerships.

We did everything online. I knew what I wanted and knew what I should pay for the car. Went with Consumer Reports lowest price you should pay, which was $2,000 under Tru Car's price and $4,000 less than Costco's.

Basically I looked at dealer inventory on line, made my offer and if they didn't accept, moved on. Took one day, but I got my car for my price - $8,000 under MSRP on a 2014. When we had agreed, the dealer sent me the official quote and we went and picked the car up. It was completely painless because there were no games.

 

[Hrhpd]

That all seems a bit too much to me. Once I find the car I want I simply go online find what invoice is and then make my calls. If I can get a couple hundred under invoice I am happy. If I get the price I am looking for, I dont waste my time or anyone else's.

It is easy to find out what invoice and dealer hold-back is in this day and age of the internet.

Figure out what the dealer has in the car (invoice minus dealer hold-back) and then offer them a bit more than that. And they always have even less in it than what you can find.

Pretty straightforward and no game playing.

 

[IDoDis]

I used to sell new cars and then a couple of years later went to work for a credit union auto buying service. Never ever ever buy on a payment. You will more than likely get ripped off.

There were many tricks to the trade back then that are still used today. One BIG one that most people aren't aware of is that buyers who don't finance the vehicle should NOT pay the dealer handling charge. It's printed on the contract as if it's a non-negotiable item -- like everyone has to pay it. WRONG!!!! Save yourself the $300 to $500, but don't bring it up until AFTER the deal is sealed.

The sales person will say the cost covers the dealer going to DMV and taking care of all of the paperwork and getting your license. Ha!!! It's ALL back-end profit. Tell them you will take the paperwork to the DMV yourself and that you want that charge removed. They will take it off. I've never paid it.

Another thing is NOT to buy the sealant package. I used to sell the package for $500. $150 of that went right into my pocket, $150 to the manager, and $150 to the finance guy who typed up the contract. The other $50 went to the dealership. The cost of the product was $10.

And don't ever buy the "gap" insurance if you have a down payment or a trade in that you own free & clear. Those policies are pure profit for the dealer. They use the "It only adds $13 more a month for piece of mind" method. But if you add that $13 up over 60 or 72 months, that's $800 to $900 more you are paying that you worked so hard on when you chewed the dealer down on the sticker price. They just made it back up and you didn't even know it.

Don't buy the extended warranty. Another big profit maker. If you really feel you need an extended warranty, but a better make or buy the warranty online through an online dealer for 1/2 the price. The dealerships have to honor them even though they will scare you and tell you they won't honor it. Bunk!

 

[DawnM]

We bought our last car in 2004, a Toyota Sequoia. We test drove it our local dealership and asked for their best price. Sticker was $36K and I think they said they could do $34K as their best price.

We said we would think about it, went home, did a Fleet pricing thing online and got an offer from the same dealership for $31,500.

What we didn't know is that the Fleet dealers are in the BACK of the store, so when we went in, the people who had helped us before were very nice and said, "Oh, you are back!" We told them we were there to see Jose in the Fleet department and they immediately got extremely rude to us! Told us we should have called them back to get the same deal, etc.....apparently they are two different groups within the same dealership.

My husband said, "We offered you our best price and you wouldn't come down, so we went to someone who would, now WHERE is the Fleet department?"

The original guys in the front stood at the door to the Fleet group as we signed the papers and were talking about us out loud, in front of us, staring......it was awful!

We still have the car.

 

[sonofanarchy]

Should point out that I'm leasing the car. When leasing, the payment is the most important thing, not the price of the car.

 

[winterwhite]

Should point out that I'm leasing the car. When leasing, the payment is the most important thing, not the price of the car.

Actually the cost of the car is the biggest influence to the payment on a lease.

Negotiating down the sales price (the capitalized cost) effectively amounts to a free down payment on the lease.

Also, never ever put money down on a lease. You can calculate your lease payment to within a few cents without a down payment and money down on a lease is a waste. It reduces your payment but if anything happens to the car you don't get that $$ back.

The one exception is the multiple security deposit trick, which as far as I know is specific to leasing a bmw.

 

[sonofanarchy]

Actually the cost of the car is the biggest influence to the payment on a lease.

Negotiating down the sales price (the capitalized cost) effectively amounts to a free down payment on the lease.

Also, never ever put money down on a lease. You can calculate your lease payment to within a few cents without a down payment and money down on a lease is a waste. It reduces your payment but if anything happens to the car you don't get that $$ back.

The one exception is the multiple security deposit trick, which as far as I know is specific to leasing a bmw.

I've leased my last 7 cars, and never once paid any attention to the actual price of the car when going into the dealer. Sure, I know what the price should be beforehand, and I take that, factor in the residual value at leases end along with my money factor, and see exactly what my payment should be. I know what my monthly payment should be. What do I care how the dealer got there, as long as he gets there? Whether he fudges the numbers on my trade or lowers the price of the new car, means absolutely nothing to me. As long as you know what you should be paying per month, that is absolutely all that matters.

Putting money down on a lease can be a waste, but the same can be said for buying a car. If you buy a car and trade it in before the end of the term (effectively leasing, but at a higher monthly payment) and you put money down on the car, you're never going to get that back either.

However, if you lease your car all the way to the end of the term, putting a bit of money down isn't a waste. Let's say you put $1,000 down. That will lower your payment by about $25 per month. On a 36 month lease, that comes out to $900. Factor in taxes, you're probably spot on.

 

[winterwhite]

I've leased my last 7 cars, and never once paid any attention to the actual price of the car when going into the dealer. Sure, I know what the price should be beforehand, and I take that, factor in the residual value at leases end along with my money factor, and see exactly what my payment should be. I know what my monthly payment should be. What do I care how the dealer got there, as long as he gets there? Whether he fudges the numbers on my trade or lowers the price of the new car, means absolutely nothing to me. As long as you know what you should be paying per month, that is absolutely all that matters.

Putting money down on a lease can be a waste, but the same can be said for buying a car. If you buy a car and trade it in before the end of the term (effectively leasing, but at a higher monthly payment) and you put money down on the car, you're never going to get that back either.

However, if you lease your car all the way to the end of the term, putting a bit of money down isn't a waste. Let's say you put $1,000 down. That will lower your payment by about $25 per month. On a 36 month lease, that comes out to $900. Factor in taxes, you're probably spot on.

Because the dealer can do all kinds of math to make the payment what you want and still charge you more. Including manipulating the money factor, which may be way lower from the manufacturer than you're actually paying. Maybe you're good at math and you assume a really low money factor but most people don't.

Neither here nor there. You never put money down on a lease because if you total the car tomorrow (and let's face it-- we know you can't control if someone else hits you) GAP will not give you that $$ back, it is lost forever. Has nothing to do with the monthly payment.

I don't put money down when buying at subsidized interest rates, either.

 

[sonofanarchy]

Because the dealer can do all kinds of math to make the payment what you want and still charge you more. Including manipulating the money factor, which may be way lower from the manufacturer than you're actually paying. Maybe you're good at math and you assume a really low money factor but most people don't.

Neither here nor there. You never put money down on a lease because if you total the car tomorrow (and let's face it-- we know you can't control if someone else hits you) GAP will not give you that $$ back, it is lost forever. Has nothing to do with the monthly payment.

I don't put money down when buying at subsidized interest rates, either.

But again, who cares? If you know what you should be paying for the car, what the residual is, and what your money factor should be, you can figure out what your payment should be. If it's any more than that, you walk away. If they get to that payment, again, makes no difference to me how they got there.

As for GAP, in some states (including Massachusetts), it is the law that if you lease a car you must have GAP insurance.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

The first time I ever went to look for a new car I took DH along. It was to be my car. I was the major breadwinner in the family. I was in control of all our finances. I thought it was funny that none of the dealership folks even tried to talk to me. They all took DH aside and talked with him, sometimes in low voices so I couldn't overhear their conversations. Personally, I'm glad. It means they left me alone to make my decision.

 

[timmac]

As for the 2nd, what do I care? Bottom line is they got me to a monthly payment you couldn't. Who gives a crap how they did it?

At risk of being overly budget-board-frugal-sounding, getting into a specific monthly payment doesn't necessarily mean getting a good deal.

 

[sonofanarchy]

At risk of being overly budget-board-frugal-sounding, getting into a specific monthly payment doesn't necessarily mean getting a good deal.

Of course not, if you have no idea what you should be paying. But if you know what your payment should be and you can get that, how is it not a good deal?

 

[timmac]

If you buy a car and trade it in before the end of the term (effectively leasing, but at a higher monthly payment) and you put money down on the car, you're never going to get that back either.

Sure you do... your payments, financing, and what you still owe on the car at time of trade in are all affected by how much was put as a down payment.