Need feedback on new car purchase

snipped-for-privacy@nospam.com (Space Chimp) wrote in news:nv6Ck.38878$ snipped-for-privacy@bignews1.bellsouth.net:

Just tell 'em you don't want the junk, mean it, and be prepared to walk away.

As Nancy Reagan advised, Just Say No.

In Georgia, the new car dealers all have a "Documentation/Title" line preprinted on the sales form with an amount between $295 and $595 in the $ column also preprinted. They tell you, that's part of the contract, it can't be changed and it's to get the title for you.

Well horse hockey. Take the form, draw a line through that entry, initial it and hand the paper back to the sales weasel.

Tell him that after your check clears, you want the Manufacturer's Statement of Origin (MSO). In Georgia, you take the MSO to the DMV office, hand them $18 and they mail you the title in a week or two. Next you take the bill of sale to the tag office five them about $10 and they hand you your nice new tag. You do have to bolt it onto the car yourself though ;-)

So much for high dollar "documentation" fees. If the dealer won't agree to that approach, politely thank the man for his time and the test drive-- then get up and leave.

My experience has been that somewhere between their front door and where your car is in their parking lot, the sales guy will come chasing out after you and tell you the sales manager has reconsidered.....

Another approach is to make a "bottom line" offer for the car that includes tax, title, license, and everything/anything else. Let them "back out" all the fees, etc.

My dad did this once (including trade-in), for a new car "equipped exactly like my old one." The salesdroid agreed. When the car was "ready" my dad noticed it didn't have fog lights installed. The salesdroid told him they didn't have fog lights for the car. My dad told them to give him back his check and the keys to the old car. They "found" the fog lights...

I usually dicker for the bottom line price and let them fill in the blanks. Course you have to do your homework to keep from being screwed (too badly). In you case though, if you don't like the deal just walk and see what happens. If their profit is great enough they will knock the amount off. If not they will let you walk. You can always walk back later (don't wait too long) and pay the price if you love the car badly enough...

Find the car you want, then negociate for the bottom line price. Dont stop with one dealer. Some are probably hungrier to make a sale than others.

You can get some ideas of what the car SHOULD cost through some of the magazines or web publications which deal with auto costs.

A "dealers invoice", by the way, means little or nothing with respect to the cost of the car.

Thus spake "Space Chimp" :

You're getting ripped off. The only "fee" I paid was the "delivery fee" and $15 messenger for title. No dealer prep. No rust proofing, clearcoat protectant, etc.

I'm in GA, Atlanta metro area. Thanks for the feedback guys, it was educational.

Here's the deal. The sales guy has e-mailed me with drive-out prices:

'08 Accord EX (black) $23,134 '09 Accord EX $24,043

Keep in mind these are drive-out prices. They sound good to me. I'm about to go over and take a look, and probably buy one, unless he hasn't been completely upfront with me. (BTW, cash sale so no financing, which I mentioned to him already.)

I've not bought a lot of cars from dealers (mostly beaters) but when I have bought from a dealer, I bring a calculator. Figure out what I'm willing to pay for the car, add tax and give THAT to the sales guy. I don't care if there's $700 in prep, $200 in misc fees, $4300 for a haircut for the sales manager's dog, as long as the GRAND TOTAL for the car is equal or less than what I'm willing to pay.

I bought my Subaru that way - they said the $300 doc fee was non-negotiable, I told them I didn't care as long as the car was no more than $15k after tax. It came out to $15,080 and that ended up being close enough - I wanted the car and it had had the clutch replaced. (During the first test drive the clutch was slipping so badly I was wondering if my wife had forgotten how to drive and she was wondering WTF subaru did with clutches. They replaced the clutch and called me but now the price was non-negotiable, so I said, "see ya" and walked. A month later the car was still there and we worked out a price. But, you have to be willing to walk.)

I have found that listing YOUR price is way easier than when they start talking "well it's $387 every 9 days for 18 years" because no two salesguys ever use the same interval, and I just want to know how much the damn car costs. Was car shopping with my mom a couple of years ago and she wanted to look at a new Hyundai Accent (blech) and it took 45 flipping minutes to answer this question "How much is the sticker price on THIS car?" Needless to say she didn't buy it...and not just because Hyundai sucks.

Ray

"ray" wrote in message news:SWwCk.32541$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe03.iad...

Yeah, and isn't it strange how the total came out just a wee bit over you max price....:) Well, let me quack about what happened to me at the dealership.

Wife and I got there, and loved the black '08 Accord EX so much that we decided that was the boy we wanted. The salesman mentioned that we were getting some good stuff for free since it had a great looking spoiler, along with some pin striping. The car was a beaut, there's no doubt about it. I drove it; drove great as expected. We go to his little office, I fill out form, and even write out the check for the quoted amount. Weellllllll, the salesman then walks into another office, and stays awhile. Another dude soon shows. I'm beginning to smell the old-style bait and switch routine. And surely be, there was a bit of a problem. The young dude tells me that there was a misunderstanding and that THAT car (because of spoiler and pin striping) could not be sold at that price. It was just a mistake understand. He then told me they could get an identical car (w/o spoiler and pin striping) from a sister dlship in about two hours, and when he saw I was putting away my checkbook and beginning to walk, he added they would knock off $200 more for my trouble. Truth is, I don't think that would've been a bad deal for me at all, but I was so pissed at their tactic of waiting to tell me this at the very LAST minute that it made it moot, as far as I was concerned. We walked. I may well have walked away from a great deal, but we walked, and we don't regret it. Do you guys think I made a good decision? I'm checking with some other dealerships now. These tactics really cause me to shun them. Maybe I'm too persnikity or something, but I hate games like this.

- I wanted the car and it had had the clutch replaced.

Weellllllll, the salesman then

Depends on the amount of the overrun. That second carpimp was scamming you. But if it were only a couple hundred bucks or so, maybe it was a decent deal.

I believe in "principle", but also you have to think in terms of dollars.

I wouldnt be surprised if they called you back in a couple of days and tried to "make up".

You havent burned any bridges. This is a poker game. Keep a straight face and keep in the game.

So do I and I would have walked out as well. If you give in that just encourages them to do the same thing to the next guy that comes in.

Steve B.

Thus spake AJ Lake :

Yeah. I've always done that. We walk in with a folder full of papers that we've printed from all over the place. And tell them "okay, this is what the check will read".

Nasty trick department: Print the comparison page from Edmunds and highlight one of the other cars. Put that on the top of the stack in your folder and take it out while you rummage through the other papers. Make him sneak a peek with it upside down to him. Sometimes it works, at the least it tells him you have a solid grasp on what you are willing to pay.

And always, always walk away when things go south.

Hey, do tell. These were not for the V6, but the other dealerships are not willing to match these prices, and they apparently don't care if I walk. I'll be glad to pay the above if it's offered again. If not, I won't buy....don't really need the car that much anyway.

And you think they would have any problem backing out of the agreed to non-cash price at the last moment?

He said at first there was a black and white '08, but he later said the white one sold. We saw one of the '09's on the lot yesterday for the stated driveout price. It was a nice light green, and just off the truck.

I know a lot of those guys are sleazy liars, but they also have to make a living. I don't want to end up looking as bad as some of them, with tricky tactics. I ended up paying $24,238 total driveout price for an '09 Accord EX automatic, and it also had some of the dealer add-ons. According to Edmunds at least, I did okay I think. What the hell, we love the car. (We didn't buy from the original dealership I was complaining about though.)

The thing about dealerships is that they're a dime a dozen, just like every other commodity in the world. If you don't like one for any reason, walk away and don't look back.

You have received good advice. Use Edmunds to come up with what you are willing to pay and then figure the sales tax. If the dealer agrees, he should write up a sales agreement that comes up to that total. That's what you sign and he/she signs. You then have a contract.

When you make an offer, the sales person will give the BS that he has to have his sales manager review it. So the sales dweeb goes in the backroom, spaknks hsis monkey, and comes back with a counter offer with some BS that the color you want is in high demand. Tell hm no deal.

The first Honda I bought in 1979 was in such high demand I paid $500 over sticker and had to take whatever color that came in. So I got the color no one wanted - beige. When I went to pick up the car, the saleman gave me a new contract to sign that was a couple of bucks higher than the original. The salesman said it was for gas in the tank. I told him we had an agreement and he was welcome to take some of the gas out of the tank. Safe to say, I drove it away at the original contract price. But the dealer made an extra $500 on the deal anyway.

The first car I ever bought was a 1950 Dodge.I offered $75.00 for the car.The used car lot guy said a guy was going to pay $95.00 for the car.I told him let the guy buy the car and I started walking.I bought the car for $75.00. cuhulin

I hear what you're saying. Just a small question regarding the sandwich. Since the sandwich would imply an anticipation of a marathon by the shopper, would you recommend a sandwich which is heavy on the garlic, or a sandwich which is devoid of garlic?

I'm thinking garlic might speed things up a little, especially for the shopper who is impaired in the ability to recognize other people's "personal space".

True story.One evening when we were takeing our 1/2 hour supper break where I used to work at a auto/truck/lawnmower battery factory, one of those women gave me a sandwich.I took one bite of that sandwich and I spit it out.She had put some canned dog food in that sandwich.We were always playing jokes on each other. cuhulin