Your stepfather sounds like a character! He would have loved my grandfather. The Chrysler dealers in East Texas learned to hate seeing him walk through the door.
rimrocker, we stayed until 11 p.m. to get about $3k off a Camry like your stepfather did. It worked! Wouldn't that be a BAD thing? I mean, walking into a dealership MANY times... uhhh... why...?
That's EXACTLY what happened to us when we bought the wife's new Corolla S. The guy in financing tried to play like we couldn't get an interest rate lower than 10% and the only way to get it down that low was to tack on the extended warranty. If he had explained it to me like that, I probably would have caught it. But it was late, we were tired and he was using financing jargon; I get home and look at the actual paperwork and I'm like WTF!!! Can't blame them completely though; I could've gotten financing with USAA before even stepping foot in the dealership (I did refinance through them though), but I didn't for whatever stupid reason. That won't happen again.
I got financing with USAA ahead of time, and then shopped for a better rate with the dealer. Once they agreed to a lower rate, I whipped out my cell phone and called USAA who dropped their rate to match. All the time, the finance guy from the dealer is watching with a slightly pained expression on his face. USAA is the bomb for getting loans. Others have given more-detailed tactics, but the one principle I always follow when buying a car is too appear like I'm annoyed with the process and about to walk out the door. You also want to assure them that you want to buy a car and you're not just window-shopping. They'll take you a bit more seriously. Sometimes it takes a few visits, but they'll usually cave and drop the price as well as throw in an extra or two. I haven't bought one in a few years, and I can only imagine they're even more hard up to sell their product now. Just remember, you're the one holding the cards. You can walk away and find another dealership.
Already mentioned, but never walk into a dealership cold. Always deal with the internet or fleet manager from multiple dealerships via e-mail, have the invoice in-hand when you get there to being your negotiation, and have a pre-arranged loan ready to go.
I just did this and it worked well for a honda crv. I was already pre-approved by my credit union and they beat that financing. I think a lot of it depends on the model of car you are getting. A suv there is a lot of negotiating room, an economy car - not as much right now. I was in and out of there in a little over 2 hours on a saturday including trading in a suv (didn't get much for it, wasn't expecting to either but apparently other people are upset of what the offers are).
Look at the Edmunds TMV to give yourself a good idea of what others are paying. Then go into the dealership and lowball the ***** out of them.
take whatever you want to pay for the car in straight cash (all $20's if you want to be outrageous), throw it on the table, and say "take it or leave it."
Here's a question: I'm buying a car soon, and I'll be using all of these tricks. But when I'm getting financing beforehand, do I have to get approved for a specific amount from my credit union? How do you avoid getting approved for, say, $12k from the credit union and then you can't get the car for less than $13k or talk them all the way down to $10k? If I have a check in my hand for $12k, am I sort of stuck paying that exact amount?
You never tell 'em you like the car. You're not sure what you want. You don't even know why you're here. Look at these salesmen. The only thing these guys fear is the walk-out. No matter what they say, you say, "I’ll walk out of here right now!
I got pre-approved for a loan 20% higher than what I was looking to spend, mainly to give myself some negotiating room. I picked the car and agreed on the price, signed all the paperwork, called USAA (my lender), and they overnighted a check to the dealer. I picked up the car late the next morning. I imagine these days, they can wire the money pretty easily (although they might charge a fee for that). If you have to pick up the check or have it mailed, you'll have to make an extra trip to the dealer with the check or to pick up your car, but it's worth it if you can get a better rate.
You have to know what your are willing to pay. You have to be patient because the more time the sales person has invested, the more willing he will be in compromising. He doesn't want to feel like he wasted his time. The most important is as mentioned earlier is to know that you are have all the leverage since it is your money and you can walk out at any time.
He lived to be about 5 months shy of 100 years old. Believe me, he bought several pickups and Chrysler sedans over the years. Grandpa was a frugal man, but he loved having a nice looking pickup and a beautiful, big Chrysler. There aren't that many Chrysler dealerships in Tyler, Longview, or Marshall!
People that lived through the Great Depression were frugal. My grandfather worked his butt off for Texaco and did quite well via company stock, but until the day he died, he would steam stamps off sent letters and reuse the stamps (he boasted that he never bought stamps after the 1950's). I don't think the savings were worth that kind of effort, but it was second nature to him. That story still brings a smile to face.
Agree with all the above. I finance through my credit union so I don't have to go through all of the finance BS there. Also, study, study, study. Know all about the car you want to purchase..ie Kelly Blue Book, extras, etc. Make the internet salesmen work against each other and BUY AT THE END OF THE MONTH. You'll most likely ALWAYS get a better deal then as they're trying to meet their quota. I just bought my fully loaded Z for $200 under invoice. Did the same with the Z before this one. BTW- Don't be afraid to say "no thanks" and walk out, and if you have a trade in, once they look it over ask for your keys back. Let them know you're ready to leave at any time.
It's so true! Grandpa had enough savings that he used 3 different S&L's to keep his money, so he would have the insurance from the Feds. Yet when we would visit during the summer, the window unit air conditioners would stay off until it was time to go to bed. They turned one on at night for Dad, who wouldn't get to sleep, otherwise. Sometimes, they'd turn the one in the living room on when we played 42. Used to drive my father crazy! I have nice memories of visiting his ranch, which, for some reason, we called "the farm." The windows open at night, the air so fresh, a million stars. Sometimes, you could hear a wolf howl when it was late. That was rare, but Grandpa pointed out the difference between some dog, a coyote, and a wolf. This was back in the 1950's. Do we still have any wolves in East Texas? The Big Thicket? Great cooking, walking the pastures while keeping an eye out for the bull. Fishing in the tanks. Walking through the blooming clover in the spring. Damn, it was nice up there.
