Ask a Car Salesman

[boscoboy]

who do you trust more? - car salesmen or F&I guys. if you had to get screwed in a deal would you prefer the front or the back?

[AlexSem]

Dan,

What's the most effective method for bargaining the price down for an average consumer? How do I as a customer make sure I'm not screwed and does the amount I manage to bargain out of a salesman directly affect his profit margin?

[Kneel B4 Zod]

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The very best buy is to get a 'demo' car (car driven by a manager, never been registered) of a new car for usually a decent discount. That car may have between 800-4000 miles on it but it will be in perfect shape.

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how many of these are there at a typical (say Toyota) dealership? I want me a Highlander

[SlowHabit]

Here's a trip report of my recent visit to a car dealership.

I saw a 2007 Honda Civic that has an invoice of 16k. The dealership charged an extra $595 for shipping and handling. Including tax, the car is over 18k. Any way I can get it below 17.5k or less?

Side note: Online websites have offered me price of 16k.

[omegadan]

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who do you trust more? - car salesmen or F&I guys. if you had to get screwed in a deal would you prefer the front or the back?

[/ QUOTE ]
Its hard to say, because a lot of salesman are happy to give away the car to make a sale but the F&I guys need to make money by selling extras.
Salesmen have less control so you should trust them more. We have to take guidance from the management.

[omegadan]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The very best buy is to get a 'demo' car (car driven by a manager, never been registered) of a new car for usually a decent discount. That car may have between 800-4000 miles on it but it will be in perfect shape.

[/ QUOTE ]
Zod, my dealership has almost no demos these days because we took them back to cut costs. It varies from dealer to dealer. Just call and see what you can find out.
how many of these are there at a typical (say Toyota) dealership? I want me a Highlander

[/ QUOTE ]

[omegadan]

[ QUOTE ]
Here's a trip report of my recent visit to a car dealership.

I saw a 2007 Honda Civic that has an invoice of 16k. The dealership charged an extra $595 for shipping and handling. Including tax, the car is over 18k. Any way I can get it below 17.5k or less?

Side note: Online websites have offered me price of 16k.

[/ QUOTE ]
The invoice price of the car includes destination charges. Sometimes if the dealer had to get the car from another dealership there may be an extra incurred cost for transportation.
You need to find out if there is any factory money or rebates on the Civic.
A fair deal for you is probably (Invoice-any rebates/cash) +$500. If the salesman is trying to move lots of units that will work.
At $500 profit he is probably getting a $150 flat comission. You'd have to buy it at like $1200 profit or thereabouts for him to make a lot more money.
I would go ahead and call a few Honda dealers, ask for the fleet department, and ask them what they will quote you.

[7ontheline]

No questions at the moment, would just like to commend OP for a nice informative thread.