I picked up my new Nissan Altima today, by the way. I ended up finding an Internet guy from Grubbs Nissan in Bedford who found exactly the car I wanted (it was in San Antonio), didn't charge me extra to bring it up here and didn't jerk me around at all (I emailed him, told him what I wanted and what price I thought was fair given the invoice price, etc. He accepted and I didn't set foot in the dealership until I picked up the car today) It was a pleasant experience with them. The funnier thing to happen was that a got a call from a survey company asking me to rate my experience shopping at Trophy Nissan (the first dealership I ranted about in this thread). I let her have an earful to write down and send to the dealer for their survey. Tomorrow I'm going to have someone take my picture next to my new Altima so I can send the pic to that salesguy at Trophy Nissan who pissed me off so bad. I'll put a note on it that says something along the lines of "You could've sold me this car if you weren't such a jack@ss." Now if only my DSL were working. (Actually, they're telling me tomorrow on that, so I may well get the two biggest frustrations I've had recently solved within 24 hours of each other).
got my new passat via the vw internet sales...no hassle actually got a better financing through vw...just hit 2000 miles ...but boy oh boy do i love that car...
I truly enjoy car shopping, especially the haggling part. Of course, I have a good friend that sells cars, and am privy to all their BS. Make sure that when you do haggle, show up about 20-30 min. before the dealership closes. Stay well after they close, and be firm. I have always had luck with that trick. You should never pay more than 500 bucks over invoice.......and more often on a new car, that is feasible.
That all depends on the car. If it's a Honda Accord, you'll have a harder time doing (although I suppose it's possible). This is because they fly off the lot so fast, there's really no incentive for the dealer to take that big a hit. They pay a price for just having that thing sitting on the lot, but if they are selling fast enough, that shouldn't be a worry to them. It was easy in 1997 to get a Nissan Maxima for under invoice because they were going through rough times and were handing out rebates right and left.
What I find that works is to go into the dealer, tell the first sales person that you will buy TODAY <i>if</i> I get this car (insert complete discription) for this price (insert fair - but low price) with this much down (insert amount). Then tell them that if he/she has to "go talk to their manager", they can do so while you are taking a test drive. Tell them you only expect either a yes or no answer when you come back from the test drive. All this is under the assumption that you know that this model is the car you want and you know what the going rate is for that model. I've always dreamed of being car salesman because I love cars, I have some knowledge about cars, I am familiar with various forms of financing and most importantly - I know what it's like to treat a customer with respect - like I would expect to be treated (not an idiot). I just don't have the guts to make the leap.
I pick a car, I look up the invoice, then offer $200-$500 over invoice...right? I went to Gillman Honda last week on other business (car repair), but I stopped by new cars to check out the Honda Pilots. The model I wanted was not in stock, and he quoted me the MSRP. Later I read (epinions) the demand for the car is so high, many dealers are charging above MSRP. At Edmunds, the TMV (total market value) of the car is higher than MSRP. I'm assuming the TMV excludes optional accessories. I'm going to do what Major did when he bought his car by filling out internet quote forms. Anything else I need to know? I don't care if I get laughed at as long as its through e-mail...seems like phone number is a required field now.
