best way to buy a new vehicle?

[StevieC]

Originally Posted by doitmyself
Repetitious, but I concur with demarpaint's basic strategy. You do all the homework yourself to determine the exact model you want. You tell (don't ask) them the price you will pay out the door. You contact as many dealers as possible within your driving range. You negotiate very little, if at all.

Years ago Edmunds had a cookbook method to determine how much to offer. It's harder now a days. What I remember most is that many mfg. have dealer incentives not advertised to the public. Dealers sometimes have enough incentives to sell a car below their cost. You have to be reasonable and realize that the sales person deserves to make a living, but let them make a killing on a less knowledgeable person. On my last purchase, the dealer used one of their employee's family discount to meet my offer.

Like many above, most of my interactions are via email or phone. I only meet with the salesperson to sign the papers.

This is how I do it.

 

[DB_Cooper]

It is impossible to really know what the "dealer cost" is on a car. So you are completely disarmed in a negotiation. Comparison shopping is tough too.

My suggestion is..if you go into the local new car dealership and they have all the amenities..coffee shop, free snacks, leather sofas and the dealer's property is a multi acre palace with high dollar architecture and design..then remember who is paying for all that. You are. Factor that into the "dealer cost" too.

I got my best deal by shopping outside my metro area. There are plenty of small town mom and pop dealerships without the big new car overhead, highly paid corporate executives and heavy urban tax burdens. Go an hour or two outside the city and look around. Use the web and your telephone. If the dealership doesn't have an "internet sales manager" you found a good place to start shopping!

 

[JeffKeryk]

As others have said, figure out what you want: vehicle, trim level, color. Especially what is important to you and what is not so important.
Decide how you want to pay; cash, loan, lease, etc.
Email every dealer within 500 miles (or more).
Tell them what you want and that you are sending all the dealers the same email.
Play them off against each other.
Get car price and OTD price, because that's what you will pay.
On some cars, like the Lexus RX, the options as built make comparison difficult which is why MSRP helps somewhat.
On an Accord or Civic, cars are more cookie cutter making comparison easier.

Good luck.
I did this with our Lexus RX450h; it worked out pretty well.

 

[MasterSolenoid]

I may have done it wrong in 2002, but as of today, I made out OK.

I went to the Dealer and saw the Truck I wanted.
It was a NEW 2002 Ford Ranger with NO options / more of a local delivery vehicle.
It was exactly what I wanted / less to break & repair.

I offered them a price and salesman said 'no'.
I walked out and went home.
Next day I went and bought it.
Out the Door price was $13,000.
Still driving it, and I like it.

But, I am keeping notes on strategies for buying my next vehicle.
This 'thread' gave me some good ideas.

 

[tiger862]

I just bought my last vehicle in August. I emailed dealer and got price I wanted so no test drive and out the door in short order. Vehicle had 3k on odometer was waiting up front with salesman when I got there. I wouldn't want to do it any other way.

 

[exranger06]

Originally Posted by MasterSolenoid
I may have done it wrong in 2002, but as of today, I made out OK.

I went to the Dealer and saw the Truck I wanted.
It was a NEW 2002 Ford Ranger with NO options / more of a local delivery vehicle.
It was exactly what I wanted / less to break & repair.

I offered them a price and salesman said 'no'.
I walked out and went home.
Next day I went and bought it.
Out the Door price was $13,000.
Still driving it, and I like it.

But, I am keeping notes on strategies for buying my next vehicle.
This 'thread' gave me some good ideas.


So, was that $13k the price you had offered the salesman? Or did you give in and pay the $13k sticker price the following day?

 

[CT8]

The best way to buy a new vehicle is to pay cash.

 

[RooflessVW]

Originally Posted by CT8
The best way to buy a new vehicle is to pay cash.

Pass.

I'll keep my cash.

 

[MasterSolenoid]

Originally Posted by exranger06
Originally Posted by MasterSolenoid
I may have done it wrong in 2002, but as of today, I made out OK.

I went to the Dealer and saw the Truck I wanted.
It was a NEW 2002 Ford Ranger with NO options / more of a local delivery vehicle.
It was exactly what I wanted / less to break & repair.

I offered them a price and salesman said 'no'.
I walked out and went home.
Next day I went and bought it.
Out the Door price was $13,000.
Still driving it, and I like it.

But, I am keeping notes on strategies for buying my next vehicle.
This 'thread' gave me some good ideas.


So, was that $13k the price you had offered the salesman? Or did you give in and pay the $13k sticker price the following day?

I stand corrected.
At the time, I turned-in my current vehicle (most likely got conned).

2002 Ford Ranger Price of 15,287. / minus trade-in / plus Tax & Dealer Fees
I ended up writing a check for 13,048

 

[mclasser]

When I was in the market for a new car in Dec 2017, the internet quote tactic didn't work for me. I contacted many dealerships and only a few replied back. The ones that did were BS'ers and just wanted me to come down. In the end, I got a good price on my Elantra the old-fashioned in-person way. I was also looking into leasing a Chevy Bolt and the Chevy dealers by far were the worst. There were government & state EV incentives at the time and their staff had no clue. It seemed they weren't trained on the product, including their so-called "EV specialists." I hate the car buying process.

 

[PimTac]

The interwebs are full of fake information but if you can weed through that you can get some decent ideas.

In researching vehicles I visited forums for those specific makes and models. In most of them there was a "What did you pay?" sub thread. It was not too hard to discern the outliers and come up with a reasonable price. Will it get you the best price? No but this is just one area of research.

 

[KrisZ]

It's a cat and mouse game and one will never know if the price was good/fair/bad without knowing the true dealer cost. And true dealer cost is something quite hard to find.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted by rooflessVW
Originally Posted by CT8
The best way to buy a new vehicle is to pay cash.

Pass.

I'll keep my cash.

I wouldn't either in the case of a bad accident where the insurance will simply cut you a cheque for what they think is enough (to their advantage) whereas if it were financed they would be forced to either give you the remaining finance value at the very least or be forced to have it fixed if they don't want to pay out in that manner. Also interest rates are stupidly low so why you would want to give up better returns (hopefully) on your invested money is crazy IMO.

 

[Astro14]

I went through USAA a couple of years ago when helping my MIL buy a new Avalon.

Easy.

I had three phone calls from local dealers fifteen minutes after the information was entered. All the offers were the same. All about $800 over invoice.

What happened at the dealerships is another story (simply: one of them completely "forgot" the price, was starting at $9,000 over the two others, with trade considered, and we were back to the old stupid sales tactics...so we walked...).

When I bought my Tundra, I researched, knew exactly what I wanted, and knew my price. Negotiation was the usual "I have to ask my manager" "we can't do that" rigamarole, until I got what I considered fair. I drove there, and wasn't trading in, so the deal was simple, and I could leave if I felt it wasn't going my way. I made certain that they knew that. Took an hour or so for all the back and forth.

When I picked it up, two days later, I got the pitch for extended warranty, paint protection, credit insurance, etc. which wasn't part of the deal. I declined.

And left with my new truck about two hours after walking in on that day.

I dislike the process. But a buying service greatly reduces the hassle.

 

[opus1]

I purchased the Sonata and Cobalt online and will likely do the same when it comes time to replace a vehicle in the fleet. In both cases the dealership's internet sales rep seemed eager to respond to any/all questions and got back to me with a reasonable price within an hour after I indicated my interest in a particular vehicle. All that was left at the dealership was the test drive and paperwork.

Last year I helped a family member buy a new car and it was a combination of internet and walking in to talk to someone. We did research online but the buyer wasn't sure of which vehicle he wanted without seeing it. We were able to use the internet pricing as part of the in-person negotiating and I think we did pretty well.

 

[benjy]

dealing with bigger stealers if you are small town can save $$$$. for girlfriends new VW a few years ago going to Allentown netted a thou better on a current model vs leftover. authorised dealers must service you no matter where you buy!!

 

[4WD]

Yep … I always travel to the big city …
And, not just for price but the huge selection at a big dealership is half the reason …

 

[Silverado12]

My 2018 Mustang GT Premium automatic was 38K out the door. I always do the OTD strategy because I don't want to be hit with hidden fees and the taxes, plate transfer was included in the negotiated price. The sticker price was 43K and some change, so I felt I did ok. My trade was a separate negotiation. I used my credit union discount when I bought my 2012 Chevy C-15 truck and that dealer charged $99 for the processing fee at the time, so that one was easy for me. I'm sure the dealer made theirs.

 

[WhyMe]

thanks for the info. its a car for my daughter . i told her to find a model she wants under 25k . i just hate the BS of buying a car. i am a cash and carry kind of guy. something that should take 1 hour extends into 4 hours or more. guess its a strategy to beat you down.

yeah i know it hard to find out the dealers real cost.. i always tell people that say they paid too much for a car " always someone pays more than you and someone pays less."

 

[JeffKeryk]

Originally Posted by Silverado12
My 2018 Mustang GT Premium automatic was 38K out the door. I always do the OTD strategy because I don't want to be hit with hidden fees and the taxes, plate transfer was included in the negotiated price. The sticker price was 43K and some change, so I felt I did ok. My trade was a separate negotiation. I used my credit union discount when I bought my 2012 Chevy C-15 truck and that dealer charged $99 for the processing fee at the time, so that one was easy for me. I'm sure the dealer made theirs.

Well done. 10% off sticker is still over $38K. Your OTD price seems pretty darn good to me. Sheesh.