I'm going to take real good care of you. That's what the car salesperson says, but that's not how it usually works out. You're just another paycheck walking through the door and most car salespeople get paid on commission. Here's 6 straight-shooting tips on how to give that car salesperson hamburger for dinner when they were hoping for steak!
Tip #1
Know the difference between a car's Sticker Priceв, Invoice Priceand what you can really buy the car for. The Sticker Price is the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price plus other fees and charges like transportation charges. Sometimes there will be a second sticker with dealer-added options and little tricks like Dealer Preparationand Advertising. Ignore them. In fact, ignore all of the stickers because the key phrase here is suggested. That's THEIR suggested price, but it's not what you are going to pay.
You can also ignore the invoice if the salesperson is kind enough to show it to you as proof that you're getting a good deal. That invoice doesn't reflect the actual price that the dealership will finally pay for that car. The manufacturer offers incentives to the dealer for every car that they sell and those incentives not only reduce the final cost of the car, but they do not appear anywhere on the invoice. A $1 over invoice deal is a scam, don't you believe it.
You can get a good idea of what you can really buy your favorite car for by visiting Edmunds.com and using their new car calculator. Other informative web sites include
www.automotive.com,
www.autobytel.com, and
http://autos.yahoo.com
You can also buy a New Car Price Quote report from
www.consumerreports.org for just $11. It reveals the true dealer's cost for the car.
Tip #2
Lowball the salesperson. The salesperson is going to try and highball you, so turn the tables around. Start with the price that you got from Edmunds or Consumer Reports for a similarly equipped make and model, and reduce it by 20%. Offer the salesperson that price and sit back and wait for an answer. Don't say another word. When you get the response, and it isn't likely to be OK, we'll take it, you have a sane negotiating point that you can start working up from. Negotiate $100 at a time, not $1000. If you don't get the price you're looking for, leave and move on to the next dealer.
This tactic works particularly well at the end of the month when the pressure is on to close deals. It works extremely well around the last day of December when the pressure is really on to make end of year sales figures!
Tip #3
Have financing pre-arranged before you start shopping. That way you take the how much do you want to spend per month?weapon right away form the salesperson. They use that trick to pack profit into the price but still get you out the door somewhere near your target monthly payment. All you have to say is I've got financing taken care of already, let's talk about the price of the car.Check out our article on getting financing over the Internet.
Tip #5
Avoid face-to-face negotiating pressure by using e-mail instead. Many of the big dealerships have an Internet Buying Serviceon their web site. You can browse their inventory and then make an offer via e-mail. Don't give in to any pressure to talk on the phone or stop by for a visit. Keep the impersonal e-mail medium between you. It will not only make you bolder, but it will steal some of the power of persuasion away form the dealership.
Tip #6
Avoid the hassle of pricing and negotiating altogether by using a wholesale car buying service. There are a lot of scam wholesale sites out there, but legitimate ones do exist. Here are a couple of real ones for you to consider:
www.bjsauto.com http://www.aaa.com/AAA_Travel/AutoBu...ng_service.htm
The key thing to keep in mind when buying a new car is that the dealer wants to charge you as much as possible. If you don't walk in with all of the information that you need to do battle, you're going to pay too much for your next car.