I buy my cars for sticker price, and not a dime more. :grin: <object width="512" height="288"><param name="movie" value="http://www.hulu.com/embed/kIT5J0-AGomnCzk2zZnRfw"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.hulu.com/embed/kIT5J0-AGomnCzk2zZnRfw" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="512" height="288" allowFullScreen="true"></embed></object>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWuSTCj3Y4E Bottom line: negotiate price, THEN talk financing. Don't do both at the same time, you'll get rooked. Oh, and read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Get-Taken-Every-Time/dp/0143038885/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWuSTCj3Y4E Won't let me embed http://consumerist.com/2007/03/deal...ith-the-four-square-heres-how-to-beat-it.html
Another vote for negotiating via email with the Internet sales manager. But before you do ... Get one of those temp email addresses (because if you don't you will receive car dealership emails ad nauseum) After you get a quote, email back and ask for the drive out costs (because some dealerships will not quote the addons that they will not sell without)
Based on everything you listed you want in the car... you should get the car in this range $20,500 - $21,000 drive out (including tax and title)... anything more than 21.. get up and leave cause you're getting jipped.. also when you're negotiating the dealer will start asking you about down payment and finance options.. tell him/her that you strictly want to discuss the drive out price and nothing else...do not mention how much your down payment is...based on the price I gave you.. I suggest you walk in there and find the car you like the way it is and give them a number like 19 to begin with.. they will give you something like 22,500 drive out.. then you act like you don't like it.. you'll have a back and forth game of numbers... just make sure its 21 or less...also call other dealers and try and play them off eachother.. make a bs comment about a price another dealer gave you.. just keep it somewhat reasonable....don't worry about small things like floormats.. a lot of the times you can discuss it specifically with your sales person and they will just grab floormats from another car on the lot and put it in the one you want without having anything on paper.. just remember 21 or less driveout..
I just saw that you mentioned getting extended warranty and the 3K trade in for your car... do not mention to the dealer about trade in or extended warrany.. you always.. always get the driveout price (T.T.L included) first!!!!! Then after that is settled.. then you mention your trade in.. especially if you said its gauranteed 3K.. if the dealer knows your trading in 3K.. they won't negotiate the price too much.. if you have already mentioned this to one dealer.. I suggest you go to another without mentioning any of that stuff... and extended warranty... you discuss that in the finance room after your driveout price is set...
Some good advice here (along with some smart-ass remarks). I appreciate the help. Replying to people in order. Myself: Looks like the difference between the current asking price and their invoice price is already less than $1k. Don't know if there's much wiggle room anyway. Beck and others: thanks for the website suggestions. I'll check them out. Brightside and others: I'm going to stick with the guy I've been working with, but I've already done most of my business with him by email, and will probably negotiate be email as well. Yall make a good point though -- I'll take his offer and email it to other dealers to see if anyone's got a better price. xcrunner: Mini is clearing their inventories now. The salesman is supposed to tell me if Mini is doing any new incentives for August tomorrow, but isn't expecting any. I don't want to wait too long and miss the options I want on the car. It is a good point about non-financial benefits. I may go for the oil changes or somesuch. justtxyank: I hear what you're saying about the warranty. Ordinarily, I wouldn't consider it. But, do to other financial considerations, I have a perverse incentive to lever up on debt, making it more valuable to pay now in a loan than to pay later. After-market warranty prices may help in negotiations though. I hadn't heard of 4-square; thanks for the heads-up. rrj-gamz: I hadn't intended to buy new, but between depreciation (or lack thereof), incentives, and financing costs, it actually made more sense to buy new. Mulder: Does everyone agree with Mulder regarding documentary fees? Otherwise, good idea about the accessories, though again I have an incentive to roll it all into the loan. Also, I did mention the trade-in, but my post was real long. It's $3k from the State; no problems there. Smokiethabear: I have already told him about the trade-in. How do you think that hurts my negotiating position? I'm not seeing that angle.
I bought a 00 accord back in 99. everyone was asking for 23,500 for the car I wanted. The thing I did, shopped for thirty days till I found the one at the price I wanted, 21,500. now I don't think that would work for a mini because there aren't the number of dealerships to play against each other. but paitience is a virtue when shopping for a car.
Well usually when a dealer knows you are going to trade in a car ahead of time.. they won't give you such a good price on the new car you are purchasing because they think they can make more money off of you still.. for example.. I go to a dealer and he tells me he can give me a car for 20k drive out minus my "3K' for the trade in.. I'm getting it for 17K...sound pretty good.. but If I didn't tell him about the trade in ahead of time.. I could have negotiated the price to lets say 19,5 or even 19 and then mentioned the trade in and got 3K off of that price.. 16K... but since the dealer knows about your trade in.. he will keep including that in the numbers he gives you to make them sound low.. just keep in mind..basically they just have another number to throw into a mix of numbers and play more games with you.. but I recommended that you don't pay over 21K drive out... so minue your 3K.. you shouldnt pay more than 18.. they might make it sound like a good deal saying 19K but in reality you didn't get a great deal.. I mean just try another dealer without mentioning trade in.. it doesn't hurt when its a matter of hundreds of dollars right??? Also someone here mentioned dealer price = invoice price... that is FALSE.. do not buy into that crap... dealers never buy cars at invoice.. you can get a car 1K below invoice and the dealer is still making a good 1500 off of you.. Anyways good luck with your car shopping.. I'm sure you're very excited as I was a few years back.. just remember I suggest 21K Drive out.. nothing more.. give em a good low number when you start.. I know one time I went in there when I knew I couldn't get the car below 30 drive out and mentioned 28 to them.. heheh... good luck..
I suppose that makes sense regarding the trade-in, but I'm not much afraid. I'm a financial analyst by trade, and I've got a whole model built on the price. I'm willing to compete with a salesman when it comes to numbers. I can think of one other argument -- that the salesman not knowing the margin he'll make on the trade-in might be willing to give up more on the sale to make money on the trade-in. I suppose I might have given away some advantage there. To the larger point of negotiating things separately though, it seems most people want to compartmentalize things so that salesmen don't pull something slick to take advantage of you. But, it seems to me that, if you are savvy, you can throw more stuff in to add to the complexity and perhaps find some way to profit yourself. So, perhaps if I throw in an extended warranty at the same time, he can find a way to capture a little more commission, and can share a little more of the margin with me. It's a thought. The voucher doesn't help in this regard, but other things could.
They got me with this one. They wanted $250 in documentation fees at first. I ahd not idea what it was so I simply asked "what is that?" Sales guy says "I don't know." Came back with next offer and the documentation fee was knocked down to 125. Agreed to the deal in the salesman's office. Then when we were done with the deal in the finance guys office I saw a sign BEHIND ME, facing the finance guy on the window behind me that said: "A DOCUMENTARY FEE IS NOT AN OFFICIAL FEE. A DOCUMENTARY FEE IS NOT REQUIRED BY LAW, BUT MAY BE CHARGED TO BUYERS FOR HANDLING DOCUMENTS AND PERFORMING SERVICES RELATING TO THE CLOSING OF A SALE. A DOCUMENTARY FEE MAY NOT EXCEED $50 FOR A MOTOR VEHICLE CONTRACT OR A REASONABLE AMOUNT AGREED TO BY THE PARTIES FOR A HEAVY COMMERCIAL VEHICLE CONTRACT. THIS NOTICE IS REQUIRED BY LAW." I, like a schmuck, agreed that $125 was "reasonable". That's OK, it was one of the few things they got me on and they made $75 there. You give them $50 and that's IT, IF you are feeling generous and they really push. http://www.occc.state.tx.us/pages/Legal/Laws/fcode/2005/ch348.html#a
go the second to last day of the month. sales guys will make deals they would normally never do at the end of the month. These guys have rent and mortgages just like we do and like most people the end of the month is tight. I know it sounds bad but the best time to hit them is when there the most desperate.
then nobody would buy a car at the beginning of the month. if it's a volume dealer that needs to sell x amount of cars that month and he needs couple more..then maybe..but if has already met his quota..then he is not desperate. and if it's not a volume dealer he is trying to make money on every car.
I got 3K off of list price right off the bat by negotiation by email. Question: What is good trade in value for a 2002 BMW 325i with a little over 103K miles on it? Also, service engine light is on for oil change
I haven't researched Mini Coopers, so I don't know much about their pricing, but : 1) Why is your base price $18,800 when everywhere I look, the base price for a Cooper seems to be $19,500. Maybe I'm looking at the wrong model? 2) The Convenience Package already includes Bluetooth/USB/Ipod. Is the $250 for the armrest option? 3) Like others have said, the best way to deal is to not go into the dealership. The only time I plan on setting foot into a dealership before purchase is to test drive a car. As others have said, dealing with an Internet Sales Manager or Fleet Manager is probably your best option. Get out of the "battling the salesman" mindset. If you go into the dealership, let him battle a legitimate price you've come up with. Just make sure you can defend the price you came up with and know other dealerships will be willing to at least negotiate around that price. Don't throw out some nutball price - they'll know you're full of crap. 4) What you can get off of sticker price on the car isn't universal. It depends on a lot of factors like if the car is popular, if a new model is coming, what the current incentives are, etc. You can get the current rebates and incentives from Edmunds. You can get relatively realistic pricing from places like Edmunds or truecar.com. But don't let that be your only source on what a good price is. 5) The place to get the best information on pricing is probably from a MINI forum. You can find out what people are paying for their cars now from there. You can also find out if there are new models on the way (which helps because you know they're trying to get rid of inventory). Ask them where they got their deals and who their dealer was. Use dealership names as backup. Heck, tell them that you're willing to travel to other cities to find the deal you're looking for. 6) On warranties, try going to a MINI forum and seeing if there are any deals to be had on warranties out-of-state. Usually you can buy a warranty from any dealership anywhere by calling them up. You don't have to buy it from the dealership you buy the car from. In most cases you don't even have to buy it when you buy the car to get a good deal.
$3K off on what car? $3k may just be incentives out there now. There are people negotiating $6k-$7k off AWD Acura TL's right now. Dealers are giving them away because they aren't selling. I have about 147k on my '04 TL and am tempted to buy one, but I'm going to keep driving this puppy for a bit longer, I think.
you know why they are not selling? have you seen the front end of those cars? horrible horrible horrible. ive been researching on buying a g37 and people on have mentioned on there here and there how they looked pretty bad. not saying its a bad car, they just went in a very bad direction with the styling (thought they used to look pretty nice)
