What a intricate web you weaved; I don't plan on doing something that drastic, but I will try to shave off on the price, judging by some of the comments, maybe $26k drive out price isn't what I should be aiming for for a v6 premium mustang... hmm, I should rethink my strategy
I know that sounds worse than it was but it's the details that make the difference. I think the whole process took 2-3 weeks from initial email contact to me driving home. I took my daughter down during the neg and she said to me when he was out of his office - why can't you just buy a car like a normal person. I laughed. Its a game and you as the consumer have the power. They want you to think they do. 26 drive out is pretty low for a brand new premium. You can probably get them down to 26 + TTL. I'll have my friend check his USAA site. [Edit]$25,120 is target price for a premium base V6 w/manual trans - options will drive that price higher of course. Sounds like you are doing your research though. Once you get that nailed down you should have the confidence to stick to what you know is right. But the hard part for some is patience.
Wrong. Could not be further from the truth. It was that way back in the day, but not anymore. There are rebates that only those financing with certain institutions can get. This means that I can give 2 customers the exact same rock bottom price, but 1 can get for a substancially lower price because he has financed with one of these banks offerring a rebate. We have actually let many people walk over this exact issue. Many still have it in their heads that their cash will make a dealership bow down. It is actually the opposite. The dealership makes more when someone finances, hence they are more apt to work with you than to just lose money on a rock bottom/negative gross cash deal. Working in the industry, some of these strategies I see posted on here are kind of comical. We see people doing them everyday. What is funny is everyone accuses the salesman of being sleazy/unethical, yet almost all the strategies on here are exactly that from the consumer side. Why does either side need to lie? Go to a good dealership and you will get honesty. Why not do the same? I have no problem showing customers invoice/ and what their trade vehicles are actually being bought for around the country. It is not blue book. That is a whole nother story. Blue book has trucks listing for $7000 more than we sale the new ones for apples to apples. They need a major overhaul. Anyways, good luck to you. Just take your time and find the right dealer.
But even if a person was getting a better deal out the door from the rebate when they finance, they are still probably paying at least the same if not more in the long run than someone who pays cash because of the added interest, no? If not, that's one hell of a rebate.
You are right in that they will pay more in the long run if you run the course of the loan, but it is also simple interest, so you can payoff whenever you want without penalty. In that regard it would still save you big money, if you paid off early. I was just responding to the guy who said that cash would get you a huge discount.
I agree that an 800+ score beats cash. However I think you are being very naive if you think you can walk in, play no games, and get a good deal. No place, I don't care how honest you are, will say they can cut $8k off that sticker. No place. And I never lied. I was always 100% serious. I don't bluff and I don't lie which is why I stink at poker. I live 90 miles from ATL and it would have easily been worth the drive. I've driven to IA, NY, NJ, FL, etc to get some great deals on cars that are more than worth the trip. They didn't have to make the deal or work with me – their choice. I can head to ATL where they are willing to meet my price. And I don’t doubt that the price they initially threw at me for my trade-in was their price they were going to safely get at an auto auction but I can sell that car for $4000 more all day long – why should I take less? I know I’d get about $900 in tax breaks but $3100 is a lot to walk away from for a little more time and trouble. But once they closed that gap to less than $1000 – time to start the paper work boys. Those that know me know that I get great deals but it takes time and tons of patience. And invoice is not what you pay for a car/truck - far from it. You get dealer discounts, bulk buys and kick backs that drive that price down but aren’t reflected on the invoice. That allows you to bring out that piece of paper and say “this is what I paid”. Honest? I think not. I agree that he needs to find a good dealer though. The 1st Ford dealer I walked into 1) didn't offer to show me a car or take a test drive. 2) Gave me the "What can I do to put you in a car today?" line. Really? Still using that line? 3) And the final straw was the sales guy wanted to argue with me that Cadillac Certified was only 6/100k power train not bumper-to-bumper - it's bumper-to-bumper and don't argue with a customer even if I was wrong – which I’m not. It’s even worse that he was wrong in a line of business that he should be more knowledgeable about. Strike 3 in a big way. You need to know before getting serious: 1) What you’re willing to pay for the car with the color and options you want. 2) What you can sell your car for and what the tax break will be on a reasonable trade-in. If you have those, and a great credit score or pre-arranged financing, then remain patient and there is no reason to change 1 or 2.
Alright, I will address these one by one. First off, you do not need an 800 credit score to qualify for the financing rebates from banks. Not even close, as a matter of fact I have seen them take below 600 before. If you had the cash, then you would be better off doing the financing and paying off at your earliest convinience. This would save you the extra money. I would wait at least 6 months if you have sketchy credit, just to improve your credit, but that is another subject. Next, people walk in and get good deals all day everyday. Does a dealership or salesman want to give it away? Of course not, it is a business, but they will do what it takes to earn your business. As far as no place cutting 8,000 off a sticker, it depends on what you are buying. In December, Dodge had well over 8,000 just in rebates on a 2010 crew cab 1500. Taking 10-12,000 off was almost common practice that month. If you are talking about something different like say a Wrangler, with $700 markup and no rebate, then you are never going to find some major deal. This is where it is important to know the product. Someone could get 8,000 off a truck all day everyday and its just another deal. Someone getting $1500 off the Wrangler would cause a negative gross. The $1500 off the Wrangler is a much better deal. That took all of the markup and holdback and went negative. Some folks don't understand rebates and markup though and think they should get 8,000 off a Wrangler because their buddy got 8,000 off his truck. There are a million examples, i just used 2 to make a point. Your trade thought process is the where you are going the farthest off track. You do understand it is a business right? You want our car below wholesale and retail for yours that we will not even get back for it. How could anyone stay in business like this? If you want retail for yours, pay it for mine. If you want ours for wholesale, that is what you should expect. Your right, you could get more selling yourself, but you will not get retail and this is why you try to pawn it off on us, claiming it is worth X amount of dollars. If it were that easy to sell and get what you want, then why are you wasting 3 weeks negotiating the price for it? Just sell it and get it over with and get more money and put it down on the new car. You can't because it is not that easy. The next thing on your dockett. I see people walk out everyday on a whim with deals better than what the people who play "the game" get after 3 weeks of doing it. Next invoice is invoice. You can print it off the manufacturers website yourself. We do get incentives like coupons and such occasionally, but there is not this great hidden invoice in the sky that folks like you believe exist. I see the dealer gross on every deal and you would be surprised. Can't argue with your last 2 points, as long as your being realistic.
^ On the score-I was just saying that good credit is better than cash in most instances because the dealer and finance manager can make a little money on the customer's financing which is a extra (small but extra) incentive. Good credit > Cash >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> bad credit (waste of time). My last 2 points are the summary basis for the previous statements. 1) There is a price you should pay - pre-rebates. Rebates come from the factory so that doesn't affect the dealer and should not be factored into the negotiating price. It is just bonus to the consumer. If you do the research, you find out the lowest price you could pay for the car. Dealers won't want to give it to you for that price. They could, they just won't make as much money. And that price is not invoice for most cars. Not even close in some cases. But there are some rare cases if you are getting a car that is highly sought after then you pay a premium on top of sticker. And I understand them not wanting to let you have it at that price because the salesman, mgr and dealer all make less money and who wants to get less money? But why should I, the customer, pay more money? You will not get the best deal if you just go in and pay what the "honest" salesman says you should pay. You just won't. 2) If I'm willing to sell it outright because you lowballed me on my trade why is that a problem? I know what I can sell that car for and I was willing to take it home and sell it. I know you want to make money on me coming and going (and financing) but would that be smart if I just allowed it? No smarter than walking in and paying sticker because that is what the manufacture says I should pay. I had a realistic trade-in value and I had a very realistic sale price if I took the car home - again research. There is a gamble that take the car home and I don't/can't sell it. And if they are smart they know the gamble is going to hurt them worse than it does me. For me I’ll just keep driving around in a paid off Escalade with heated and cooled cup holders (which by the way is a gimmick but that’s another thread). Maybe I keep it for another few years and maybe I go a completely different direction when I am back in the market. For them, they lose a sale. And while there wasn't much meat left on the bone, they were going to help their quota to keep their discounts so they could sell more Focus and F150s for more profit. Nothing personal on #1 or #2. I wasn't offended when they initially said they couldn't do the deal and I wasn't offended by the initial lowball trade offer. It's just business. They don't have to sell it to me at that price just like I don't have to buy it from them at their price. You seem upset that this "game" is played and I'm sorry I'm not one of those impulse buyers that believes that your trip back to the mgr's office really was a good faith effort to get the price down (another fan favorite) but the fact is that the auto industry created this game.
my thoughts on the low number . . . once you get to the lowest number you can get . . . ask for more stuff - dealer accessories, etc. We were trying to hit a monthly number (with 0% financing). Baked our down payment and trade in out of the number and figured what our payments would be . . . a little math in your head. Once we were fifty or sixty bucks under our monthly number (and below invoice at that point) you could tell the sales manager wasn't too thrilled. Then you just ask for the schwag that doesn't hit their sales numbers. We walked out 2K under invoice and got an additional 2.5K of dealer upgrades (probably not worth 2.5K but still, the all weather rubber mats are nice . . . so's the car cover)
