I am planning on buying a new or nearly new compact p/u. I have narrowed my choices down to Nissan and Toyota, and am leaning towards the Nissan Frontier.
My question is how to get the best deal from car salesman. I have purchased 6 vehicles, but never from a dealer.
DW and I were at the Nissan place tonight and I got them to offer $1k off the sticker which didn’t do too much for me. I got the spiel that this is a special price and if you walk away now you’ll never see an offer this good! Told him I’d sleep on it. I could buy now but don’t have to.
I will be paying cash. Should I let them know this up front, or keep quiet until we’ve hammered out a dollar figure? Ive had sales training so am familiar with the standard tactics. Get them saying yes, present the deal and shut your mouth, etc.
Jeff Buck, feel free to tell me all the secrets that you car sales buddies made you swear would never see the light of day.
Jon Blakemore
Replies
Consumer Reports has an article on this nearly every year in their annual auto issue (April). Check the library for back issues.
Go to clarkhoward.com (or words to that effect). The cheapest milllionairre in the world had a bunch of poop on how to buy a car at the best price. Only really works if there is competition around. Clark works out of Etlanner, Jawja as a comsumer advice guru on the radio. We followed his advice three times, and it really works.
Don
toyota, damn good truck. I have one, and toyota all I own. But you will not get a good deal from toyota. They know it good and they do not care if you buy or not. want a good deal on a toyota. buy a year one about 6 months to 18 months old. you can save almost three thousand. my company buy about ten trucks a year, and we cannot get a deal from toyota. Nissan will work with you. me My next truck will be a toyota. Its not how good of a deal but how bad of a deal.
Jon,
I've never tried this, but I read it once....
Determine exactly what you want...model, color, options.
Write it up. Fax to all of the dealerships that carry that car that are close enough for you to deal with.
The fax should state what vehicle you want to buy, etc. and ask for the best price. You might include how many dealerships are getting the fax (or not).
Give them 24 hours (or whatever) to respond. Be sure you are very clear that you will be buying the vehicle as soon as the time period expires.
You might also specify that you want the full complete price, even including taxes. You will not be ready to pay any extra fees.
Ah, here is where I read this (and it probably explains it better):
http://www.fool.com/car/car12.htm
Good luck,
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.
I read an informative article that was linked on lincolnsonline.com. The one thing that seem to get the salesmen's goat up were the people that came into the dealership and went straight to the sales offices, thereby passing the usual spiel. These were the people who had called the dealership in advance, armed with the knowledge of how much the dealership actually paid for the vehicle. These were the people who were just picking up their orders, paying for their new car, driving off in their new car. You see what I mean?
The article was written by a guy who went undercover into the sales industry at the behest of his editors. A bit long but good reading. If you really want it I would do a search at lincolnsonline.com in the Lincoln Lounge section of the forum.
Handyman, painter, wood floor refinisher, property maintenance in Tulsa, OK
Pebble,
I actually read the same article a few months ago. From that I learned (or was more convinced) of how many games they play with MSRP, financing options, trade in values, etc.
I think I have narrowed my technique down to two options.
1. Walk in with checkbook, find a truck and make a firm offer. If they waffle, I'm out the door. Fortunately I don't have to buy anytime soon, so I'm hoping that I will find a salesman who will be willing to fill out the papers with me for a greatly reduced comission.
2. Use Rich Beckman's approach. I wonder if there is a way to create a bidding war of sorts?
Jon Blakemore
Right....... There would still be paperwork to fill out if a phone-in order was made. hmmmm...
It would be nice to 'lock' in a good price. Then wait on it and see if any special rebate programs and deals pop up in the ensuing week to further sweeten the deal. Good luck. Patience seems good here.
Handyman, painter, wood floor refinisher, property maintenance in Tulsa, OK
http://www.edmunds.com
Enter in the info about the car you want and they will give you the average price that people are paying for it in your area. They also have tons of articles about negotiating the best deals and whatnot.
What about the Chevy Colorado? Seems like all the Chevy dealers here are offering thousands opf dollars off the sticker price, although I have not looked to see if the Colorado is included. Isn't it an updated S-10?
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell'em "Certainly, I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it. T. Roosevelt
I am surprised that no one mentioned the thread in the Tavern.
Cloud just went through this with a car, about 2-4 days old. All fo the deals are there.
Including that he did not bother to print out the invoice info that he got off the internet, but went in with a folder like he had. And they assume that he did.
I just saw this and am surprised the other thread wasn't mentioned. It has a lot of the same stuff...maybe people like to practice their typing!
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=47057.1
If one of us were selling you the car, you would pay top dollar, and pay us for the proposal. Then we would want 20 percent down, while you wait for the factory to build and deliver it.
I would also insist on paying by the cubic foot.
Jon Blakemore
also around here, you buy out of town in one of those rural town that have a dealership. the smaller the dealer the more they will deal. The big cities dealer get all the customer they want so they dont care. there a dealer about 100 miles north of here, all he sell is work trucks, he will jump through hoops to sell, so every body around here deals with him. He alway says if he sell a 100 trucks a year he get another 100 the next year, if he only sell 50 he get 50. He does not have the power that the big dealership does,
The thing to remember is that you have the upper hand. The salesman and the dealership must sell vehicles to stay in business. They need to make the deal happen. You, on the other hand, don't need to deal with them. You can go down the road and buy the exact same vehicle from a different dealership. You have all the power in the negotiation.
Making it a cash deal is an advantage for you. Dealers love to pull shell games with trade-ins and financing. The more complicated the deal, the better they're able to confuse you into giving them more money. The simplicity of a cash deal also makes it easier to shop different dealers.
Jon,
Tomorrow, Labor Day, is a good day to buy a truck. I bought my Ford from a dealer last Labor Day, and they were trying hard to move them out.
Go to edmunds.com, autotrader.com, and other sites that list 'what others are paying' for the vehicle you want. Look at those numbers and the sticker prices, and get a sense of what % off of sticker is reasonable. Pick your number and get it in your mind that you will absolutely not pay more than that.
Then find the salesperson who will get it done for you. You are now shopping for a salesperson, not a truck. You may need to go to several dealers and go several times. After about 6 stops at dealerships I found a guy named Larry at one of them. He is a soft spoken older who just wants to sell cars and will not give you a hard sell or a bait/switch. The other 5 guys before him were obvious greasy sharks and they made me want to leave quickly. Anyway, when I had my number picked out, I went to Larry and said "I'll buy this truck right now if you can sell it for X". He came back from his manager's office with X + $80 dollars so I wrote the check and drove it away.
Another way to go, if it's available to you, if a car buying service or broker. Some of them are located at credit unions, and you do not have to join. Others are independent. I have not bought thru a broker, but I almost did. I gave them a $250 deposit to do the research, locate the vehicle, and name the price. I was too late in the year and the color I wanted was sold out, so they couldn't find it, and I got my $250 back. They basically hold the $250 to make sure you're serious. One broker I know of is hammerauto.com and I've forgotten the one I dealt with... but google for auto brokers and see who's out there.
Last thing... decent site at carbuyingtips.com
If you decide to buy new, here's the technique I have used to buy our last 3 vehicles, which includes some of the advice offered by other posters:
I make up a list of all the accessories and features I want, exact model etc. I go to Consumer Reports, get their $10 report for that vehicle (dealer cost, etc.).
I find out who the SALES MANAGER is for the dealer, call him/her on the phone, tell them what I want, price I am willing to pay, fax them a copy of the particulars.
Last time (for a Ford Van), I did this with 3 dealers. Started at 9:00 AM, had the deal nailed down by lunch.
The trick here is to know exactly what you want, and what constitutes a good price -- and then deal with a manager empowered to make a decision on the spot.
Once you are done kicking tires, and you are ready to lay down your money, you might try this approach.
Edited 9/5/2004 12:56 pm ET by nikkiwood
I bought a new Toyota a year ago May.
I got the Consumer Reports price info, then went on line and found the truck I wanted, bottom of the line, power nothing, stick shift....
Every dealer that showed inventory got an e mail from me, explaining that this was the truck I was planning to buy, price was my only consideration, and that I would take the best offer I got and immediately shop it around to all the other dealers.
I ended up paying about $400 over Consumer Reports invoice price, and only got jerked around a little bit.
The whole thing took about three days.
Went through much the same two years ago this month looking for a regular cab compact truck. We'd narrowed it to the Frontier, Tacoma, and the Ford Ranger. Trying to deal with Nissan and especially 'yota dealers is like a bad visit to the proctologists office. Not just my opionion- it's reflected in JD Powers dealer satisfaction survey; Toyota is ranked behond the domestics. Ford, GM, and DC have their bad apple dealers but there are more dealers and at least you have a fighting chance of finding a good one. Went with the Ranger this time and with 40,000 miles so far, have been well pleased and imho (and JD Powers) the Ranger is the better truck. If you're set on the Nissan or 'yota, do your research, know what you want, develop a thick skin and a hardnosed, take no cr_p attitude, shop around and you should be able to get a decent price. That's what it took for the last 'yota truck I owned. Great truck but buying it was a miserable experience. One thing to watch out for with Nissan and 'yota dealers is the way some try to pad their prices with fees and additional charges like document fees, dealer prep, and fabric and paint sealants which can add almost $1000 more to what may sound like a decent price quote. One thing that may help with the Nissan and 'yota is that both trucks are being redesigned (all new, larger size)for '05 and being moved upmarket to the midsize class (Dodge Dakota)- this may give dealers some incentive to move existing stock. Txjon's method is a good one.
http://www.pickuptruck.com/html/2005/toyota/tacoma/firstdrive/page1.html
http://www.pickuptruck.com/html/autoshows/naias2004/nissan/frontier.html
Edited 9/5/2004 9:56 pm ET by jc
Ya'll may have probably already seen/discussed/compared the new Dodge Ram hybrid but I figured that as long as the discussion is on trucks some may be interested. I don't see myself buying another domestic anytime soon but the generator idea makes sense to me.
http://www.edmunds.com/news/innovations/articles/46970/article.html -
P.S. - If this was already mentioned take a deep breath, count backwards from ten, and calm down. I'm fairly new and don't get to read every post ;)
ok ..
I'll help.
Buy American!
ahh ha ha ha .....
Jeff
Buck Construction, llc Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Uh Jeff...
I meant the OTHER secret.
Jon Blakemore