[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by UpNorth

Years ago, I went shopping for a new car and knew exactly what I wanted. I typed out the description and made 4 copies with 4 envelopes. I went to 4 dealers and told the salesmen that I wanted him to go to the sales manger and give me their best price on the car. They were to write it down on the sheet and seal it in the envelope. They had one chance to make the sale, since I was going to 3 of their competitors and doing the same thing. After all 4 were done, I was going home to open the envelopes to find out the "winner". There was nearly $1000 difference between the lowest and highest bidders. The lowest bidder was obviously the one I bought from. With this method, you are in charge of the price you will pay, and the dealer can't play games.

Interesting, but my guess is that none of the 4 prices was their lowest price, especially since there was only $1,000 difference. Were the prices an out-the-door price, including trade-in? If not, you were not comparing apples to apples. I think that, typically, for an average car, there is about a $2,500 to $3,500 difference between what a dealer wants to sell a car for a what he is willing to sell it for.

[Art cov]

Another true story! A dealer I was well acquainted with was needing to sell so many more units to win a free week vacation to a super bowl location. A big football fan that told his salesmen to sell. End of the year deals were amazing and he didn’t care but was winning that trip! His head salesman told me what the owner was doing to win the trip. End of quarter and end of year deals can be amazing. Knowing people in the car industry can be a great benefit. There are little ways to save $500 here and $750 there to bring the bottom line down from the lowest price. Trade ins can be rough unless you have the model they are desperate for. When the dealers are in for kickbacks you will win. If you bought a new vehicle that’s hot on the market 5 years later and it’s in pristine condition with low miles, you can at times nearly get your money back. Used cars have been terribly high and dealers have been paying high for those creamy high demand vehicles. DONT GET RIPPED OFF!

[Fredman]

When I buy a car I go on the internet and search dealers within a 100 mile radius and ask them for their best price. The car I wanted had a msrp of 37 k. The best price I got was 100 miles away they bid 32k. It was 2 days before the end of the month. I went to a near by dealer showed them the quote and said I was either going to buy it from them or drive the 100 miles. They accepted the deal but wanted to close the next day because it was the last day of the month. I have done this more than once and have always been successful.

[UpNorth]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

Interesting, but my guess is that none of the 4 prices was their lowest price, especially since there was only $1,000 difference. Were the prices an out-the-door price, including trade-in? If not, you were not comparing apples to apples. I think that, typically, for an average car, there is about a $2,500 to $3,500 difference between what a dealer wants to sell a car for a what he is willing to sell it for.

Cash buy with no trade-in, out-the-door price. They had one chance to make the sale, and did not know what the other dealers would quote. If they wanted the sale, they had better sharpen their pencils and quote as low as possible on their first and only shot. Lowest bidder wins.

[John_W]

Originally Posted by UpNorth

Cash buy with no trade-in, out-the-door price. They had one chance to make the sale, and did not know what the other dealers would quote. If they wanted the sale, they had better sharpen their pencils and quote as low as possible on their first and only shot. Lowest bidder wins.

Save your stamp, you can use email. That's how I knew what salesman at Hyundai of Central Florida (Clermont) was getting my business. I sent an email in the blind to their website and he responded within an hour. Over the next week I sent at least 5 more emails about their cars, my trade, prices, available colors, and he answered everyone within a couple of hours. No other salesman at that dealer did.

[La lamy]

Originally Posted by VApeople

Yeah, that is exactly how we have done it since 1995.

We bought a Toyota RAV4 last year and traded in our 2005 Honda Accord. We offered to give them our Honda plus $25K for the new car and they accepted. We wrote them a check and drove the new car home.

The most important thing is to get a car that you truly want and will enjoy driving for several years, like our 2003 Acura RSX.

Off topic but I LOVE my RSX. I'm going to baby it until it's impossible to run it. They don't make affordable 2 door sport cars with stick transmission anymore.

[Worldseries27]

Originally Posted by pennbf

the reason i asked the question is that i went to a dealer in leesburg and was looking for a price on a new car. When i looked at the price list they had a line item of about $800 for dealer prep. I said i would not pay for dealer prep as this was just "fluff" and added dealer profit. The sales person responded with then i was not going to buy a car in florida as every dealer charged for prep! That was as far as we got when he said thanks for coming in and good bye. I felt like i was being thrown out of the dealer ship for challenging the line item rather than a cordial thanks for stopping in. We live and learn.

best move you made. You asked a question and received very little respect because the sp knew you wouldn't purchase.

[Northerner52]

Worse than dealer prep is the sticker addendum. Doc fees are for the paperwork. All extra profit that most pay because they don't know how to say no

[Cheapbas]

I was told by one of the local dealers there was a mandatory fee in Florida of $500 and it was non negotiable. I went to another dealer and they voluntarily waived it.

[donassaid]

That is exactly what we got dealing with Jenkins Nissan in Leesburg. Best experience buying a car ever.

[jacksonbrown]

I've been buying new and used cars for 50+ years, including one within the past six months.

The ONLY WAY that I will buy a new car is to use an on-line service like

TrueCar

Living in a household with a retired Vet, the link includes a "military discount"; yet, I have been told that non-military folks can use TrueCar and receive similar benefits.

Their advantage?

You describe the desired make, model and options.

Then TrueCar sends notifications to a number of dealers within your specified mileage radius.

The dealers will bid on your business.

TrueCar also allows you to designate your trade-in; make, model, options, mileage and condition.

We were successful in buying our new SUV and receive the trade-in for our used vehicle as shown by TrueCar.

The process went smoothly, although we had to drive one hour to visit the dealer that "won" our business.

There was NO hard sell and NO nitrogen in our tires (but that's another story!)

[Bridget Staunton]

Buy all my cars thru Costco, no hassle one price

[toeser]

Originally Posted by PennBF

Does every car dealer add "Dealer Prep" to the invoice?

Earlier this year we wanted to buy a new SUV. The dealers in this area, for the car we wanted, added an extra $3,000 or so for "market adjustment." We thought up yours and ended up buying our new car in Wisconsin at a discount to sticker price without this ridiculous add on. I guess I will never be buying a new car in Florida.

[J1ceasar]

First remember your feet are your most powerful shopping tool if you don't like what they say just say thank you turn around and walk right out the door. Secondly research is the key to getting a fair deal. If you know what you want there are several different sites that will tell you roughly what the current discounts are going to be and the rebates. Both for your new car and what the wholesale rate is going on your old car be fair and realize your old car will have a trade in of 3 to $5,000 less than what the retail will be on your car in other words if you trade in a car don't expect to get its true value because they have to make money on the car thirdly if you know these numbers understand the only thing you're going to have to pay is the cost of the car the sales tax and several hundred dollars for registering the car which the auto dealership will do for you . This is called out of door price if you're going to finance the car then call several Banks and simply get their current rates. Some dealers will also try to make money on the loan and if you're armed with the current rates just tell them these are the rates I've gotten please beat it. Lastly if you have test driven the car. It's simple to email or phone three dealerships with car models you want and ask them for an out-the-door price over the phone or email some do and some don't especially with covered it's understandable today. Also as you go through the websites you will note several car dealers Bradley display that they will not add any up charges or dealer fees. The bigger dealers like CarMax or carvana have pretty firm prices on used cars. I have myself have used carvana and have saved about $2,000 per car compared to the dealerships. In fact carvana sent me a refund check of several hundred dollars afterwards due to a lower cost of State fees. Good luck and enjoy shopping for a car it's really like a caveman going out for a hunt

[J1ceasar]

P.s. yes if you are a woman I still feel sorry for you shopping for a car please make sure you take a man because there are some dealerships still working like it's 1950