car negotiation . online or Face to face gets the best price

[John105]

Why would I want to waste my time in person when I can save that time and do it online.

Because imho it will cost by leaving money on the table. These are real numbers--I looked up a 2023 Chevy Tahoe.

Online said $8,400 down, 48 month low mileage lease, $1193/mo.

Or, $30,000 down, 72 mos, $1,048.64/mo.

It would be very easy to click one of these offers and drive away 2 hours from now.

I'd rather put in the work, and get a more reasonable price. I'd be looking for a 36 mo payment closer to $350. The only way I could get anywhere near that is in person.

 

[Rust_Belt_Pete]

Because imho it will cost by leaving money on the table. These are real numbers--I looked up a 2023 Chevy Tahoe.

Online said $8,400 down, 48 month low mileage lease, $1193/mo.

Or, $30,000 down, 72 mos, $1,048.64/mo.

It would be very easy to click one of these offers and drive away 2 hours from now.

I'd rather put in the work, and get a more reasonable price. I'd be looking for a 36 mo payment closer to $350. The only way I could get anywhere near that is in person.

I managed to get reasonable prices talking to people via text and email before. You dont need to do this face to face. You need to know the market conditions and the local dealer situation.

Dealers here will outright lie to you trying to get you to come in, this is a common practice.

 

[dishdude]

I had a Honda dealer agree to an over the internet deal we made. When I went to pick up the car, they told me I would have to wait 6 months to get it, but the car was availabe now at a higher price.

Idea was to get you in the door, and then go to work on you...

Wow, I've never had a dealer not honor a quote. I'd be out of there after a few harsh words.

 

[Rust_Belt_Pete]

Hello I am looking for a Subaru WRX, on the website I seen a promotion for 1.9% APR financing.
Sure we can do that, when would you like to come in so we can look at the car?
I would prefer to figure out the financing first, I am interested in the subaru WRX contingent on the 1.9% APR financing my FICO 2.0 credit score is XXX.
How much would you like your monthly payments to be?


I am not going to repost all the time wasting they did. The TLDR is that they did not have 1.9% financing for the model i wanted yet they wanted to waste my time.

 

[CKN]

Wow, I've never had a dealer not honor a quote. I'd be out of there after a few harsh words.

Spend some time over at "askcarsales" on Reddit-happens ALL THE TIME.

 

[VTECOverRated]

So, let me understand this- you would rather pay to repair your new car at a quality shop instead of free warranty work at the dealer?

Last time I checked (many years ago), IRS held that it cost $.60 a mile to own, operate. depreciate etc a car. Your 500 mile trip would cost $300 at the old rate , not counting your time (10 hours?). If you make, say $50yr.,that is an additional $240. So, looks like it cost $540 to save $3-4K. Not bad. But I could probably do as well locally unless it was the only dealer around for 500 miles. LOL

You won't need warranty work if your car isn't a piece of junk. I don't think I have ever had to have warranty work done, and if I did, my local toyota-lexus-honda-acura shop is a certified warranty provider for all 4 brands I drive and is completely capable of covering the expense. Its called research.

Your depreciation calculations didn't calculate the 9000$ discount from the price of the car I got, and the fact that the car sales tax is capped at 500$ in my state So yeah, enjoy trying to argue this one when 200$ of gas is obviously worth it. Over a 10 hour drive I got PAID 900$ an hour using your maths.

The reason they couldn't do it locally is because they got outbid by an outside dealer with more stock. Its not my problem. My problem is putting my family and wallet first, and I do not care, and will not care, about some local guy who can't. He will simply have to sell it to someone else. Its like people who say my rent went up or my insurance went up and do nothing about it. You do realize in a capitalist country YOU control the price, not the corporations. You have the option to go somewhere else and I know for a fact there is always someone, somewhere, willing to beat a price. Welcome to america!

 

[willbur]

You won't need warranty work if your car isn't a piece of junk. I don't think I have ever had to have warranty work done, and if I did, my local toyota-lexus-honda-acura shop is a certified warranty provider for all 4 brands I drive and is completely capable of covering the expense. Its called research.

Your depreciation calculations didn't calculate the 9000$ discount from the price of the car I got, and the fact that the car sales tax is capped at 500$ in my state So yeah, enjoy trying to argue this one when 200$ of gas is obviously worth it. Over a 10 hour drive I got PAID 900$ an hour using your maths.

The reason they couldn't do it locally is because they got outbid by an outside dealer with more stock. Its not my problem. My problem is putting my family and wallet first, and I do not care, and will not care, about some local guy who can't. He will simply have to sell it to someone else. Its like people who say my rent went up or my insurance went up and do nothing about it. You do realize in a capitalist country YOU control the price, not the corporations. You have the option to go somewhere else and I know for a fact there is always someone, somewhere, willing to beat a price. Welcome to america!

Well, the absolute best I ever did was 18% off msrp on a current new car at a dealer about 10 miles away. Typically, I can wrangle about $2-3k on a $30k car give or take. Been a while. Not a good time to be shopping for one. I love to haggle/deal and timing is everything as they say.

 

[VTECOverRated]

Well, the absolute best I ever did was 18% off msrp on a current new car at a dealer about 10 miles away. Typically, I can wrangle about $2-3k on a $30k car give or take. Been a while. Not a good time to be shopping for one. I love to haggle/deal and timing is everything as they say.

Last few years its been impossible to get more than 2-3K off sticker (and you really have to know what you are looking for and have solid buying/selling strategies). But before 2021 toyota was begging people to buy cars at any price, honda was stingy and didn't haggle at all, and BMW's lost 10k MSRP in one year.

Now, people realized that supply doesn't always last, and one should buy something reliable, toyota's are out of stock permanently, honda is flush with inventory as they struggle to dig themselves out of the red, and BMW's are now holding value.

But timing is key.