negotiating advice

Going to shop for a new Tacoma this weekend. Haven't bought a car in 10 years so I'm a little rusty. Are car salesmen still scumbags and do you have any negotiating advice?

Reply to
The Godfather
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Assume the numbers on the tag are incorrect (they are!) Find out the price the dealer paid for the vehicle, minus incentives and add $300 for dealer profit. This is the price to pay. Don't trade your current vehicle. Be prepared to walk off the lot without a new truck and set your emotions aside. Do not fall in love with any vehicle (men are usually better at this than women). Consumer Reports has some good advise about vehicle buying.

Reply to
Phisherman

Thanks for the tips. How do I get out of paying the Doc Fee?

Reply to
The Godfather

Car dealers are hungry. Make them an offer. Read the paper first to see what the advertised prices are. Make an offer below what you are willing to pay. They will counter offer. Counter back, then get up to leave. You must be ready and willing to walk away, or they will set the price. If you want to set the price, be willing to walk. If you and they are apart by a few hundred dollars, then you have to decide if you can go to the next dealer up the freeway and home again for the amount you are bickering over.

The thing in your favor is that they are hungry. To get the best price, you have to take a unit off the lot. If you are going to make them place an order for you, then your ability to set your price is limited somewhat. If the truck you want is on another lot, then they can get it in for you and you still have leverage to set your price. If the truck you want has not been built, then you have a difficult time setting the price. Odds are that any truck they have in stock or in stock at another dealership will have all of the essential features you want, and some mix of extra stuff you don't care about. Do not negotiate over the value of the shit you are not even interested in. If you want AC and power doors, you are going to get power windows too. Do not negotiate the value of power windows if you want hand-crank windows. The sales guy is going to say, "these are so cool!' but you don't care. You will not find hand crank windows and power locks on any truck they sell, and if the sales guy wants to play hardball, he'll show you a truck with AC and manual locks and windows, then tell you to install an alarm system with power door locks, and you'll not have a viable come-back. So, find the features you want, and take the other stuff just because it is there, and give them a price you are willing to pay, and see what they come back with.

Be prepared for this to take several hours. I'd expect about 6 hours, more if you are willing to visit more than one dealership.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

You probably can't. That is, they have a right to collect reasonable fees to process paperwork for the state, and this is one of them. If you chisel them for $2500 off the price, be a man and pay the $50 for the doc fees.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

Expect them to try to keep you waiting in the showroom for one thing or another for most of the day. They will try to wear you down till you will agree to anything just to get out of there. Don't do it. Tell them what you are willing to pay, leave them your number and walk out. Consumer Reports will give you a fair estimate of the dealer's actual cost, incentives not included.

Reply to
DanG

Hey! Buying a new car sucks! Last time i did that was 22 years ago. Recently bought an 86 4x4 turbo 4 banger with 70k on the clock and hope it's the last car i have to buy till the day i die! Wonderous old trucks. Same one i bought 22 years ago. They last forever if you treat them right. Haven't a clue about the new stuff or dealing with salesman. Suppose it's like anything else these days. MONEY TALKS! Show em ya got it and they will DEAL! Just walk in and be kinda firm about your convictions. ZaXXoN

Reply to
Amiga

Get a price from a buying service like Costco or Cars.com, then try to negotiate down from there.

In many areas, the auto industry isn't selling much right now, especially trucks. Take your time and shop around, as there may be some very hungry dealerships in your area.

Reply to
Valued Corporate #120,345 Empl

I got the Costco price on my last truck. I talked to a few other Tundra owners since and I did better than any of them. I would say it might be worth your time to get the Costco number and try to work your way down from there. Remember that these guys lie continually and that the ONLY thing you can rely on is what is written down. One of their favorite tricks is to quote payments, rather than price. A financial calculator is a handy thing to carry when you go, so you can input the price, rate, term and payment amounts. Any three will get you the fourth. It drives them bat-shit when you pull one out. When I bought my Camry, I settled on a deal verbally, which they continued to quote as a monthly payment. When the papers were drawn up, there was a couple of dollars more per month listed than we had agreed on. They tried to insist that it was no big deal, but I made them change it to the exact number we had agreed on. They pretended to be exasperated with me, until I explained to them that I realized that if they added all those "few dollars" per contract up over the course of a month's sales, they were probably reaping the equivelant of a couple of car sales in added money every month. Do not be afraid of insulting these guys. They are trained to take advantage of you. I got fairly screwed on my first new car purchase, but never again after that. Always stay focused and don't let them answer a question with a question, and watch for dodges and changing of topics. When a direct question doesn't elicit a straight answer, you can be assured you have uncovered an uncomfortable topic.

Reply to
Long Ranger

Determine the vehicle and price you want before you go to the lot.

Go to the lot after hours, when they are closed, find the one you want, now find one in a different color that they don't have on the lot.

Go to dealer, tell them that you're interested in a xxxx vehicle and let them start their BS, then tell them you want one in the missing color, then let them steer you to the one you wanted, saying that you believe you might be able to handle that color.

Now, most importantly, tell them that you're only going to give them 1 chance to give you a good price, no second chances, ask for the final price, all options included. If it's not what you researched, not very close, get up and walk out, don't give them a second chance, just walk out, oh, and feel good that you saved some money.

You may need to go to several dealers to get an ethical car sales person, I went to 7 before I got the price I wanted on the exact vehicle I wanted, been doing it this way for almost 30 years and I've walked out of 5+ dealers on average before each purchase.

Reply to
Leythos

Another tactic I forgot about is to have a sales brochure from a competing brand hanging out of your back pocket. If you are trading in, which I don't recommend, you can have them on the seat of your trade when they test drive it. Then they will know you have been shopping the competition, and have had some pricing thrown your way. Also, (and this is true throughout life,) do not give a reason for any refusal. "To give a reason for a refusal is to lay the foundation of a future argument". If pressed, answer with "Is there some reason I am unaware of that compels me to answer to you"?

Reply to
Long Ranger

Just deduct it from your offer and let them add it back on.

Sometimes dealers will advertise "All in Stock at This Price" rather than "1 at this price." I've bought two Toyotas this way, and the price was well under invoice in both cases, as well as less than places like carsdirect. In one case it was $1500 under invoice, in another, $2000 under invoice. It all depends on what extra incentives are in place at the time as to how much under invoice the dealer will go.

Remember, you should be paying well under invoice, which still is above dealer cost.

Multiply the base invoice cost (without any port options) by 0.95. Then add the wholesale cost of any port options. Then deduct any factory to dealer incentives. This is will be the net dealer cost.

You'll probably have to add about $800 to the net dealer cost. In my area, the dealer association charges $500 per car for advertising (Toyota pays the dealer 2% of the base invoice for advertising, which is part of the 0.95 multiple. The other 3% is comprised of holdback and financial reserve. What you have to watch out for is dealers that claim that they pay that $500 and then add it to the invoice a second time, when in fact they're being reimbursed for it by Toyota.

Dealers are hungry. Don't get scammed into paying more than $500 over true dealer cost (not invoice).

Reply to
SMS

Check the carsdirect.com price so you'll at least have a baseline. Also check the newspaper for the major cities in your state, especially if you live outside a major city. I don't know about other states, but in California, Toyotas and Lexuses are much cheaper in Southern California than Northern California.

Reply to
SMS

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