Negotiating a New Car Price -- Your Stories.

[Yads]

I was under the impression that Toyota doesn't bargain on the sticker price anymore. They give everyone the same deal.

[epdaws]

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I was under the impression that Toyota doesn't bargain on the sticker price anymore. They give everyone the same deal.

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Well, that's not what's happening with me. So that either means

1) They're willing to bargain, or
2) They've jacked up the price that they have room to SEEM like they're bargaining.

[4_2_it]

You'd probably do better selling your old car on Craigslist or Autotrader (assuming that you don't mind dealing with the BS that comes with selling a car). Do a blue book look-up on your car and see how much you are leaving on table by taking the dealer's price. It might not be even to justify the fuss of selling it yourself.

Definitely play the dealers against each other and settle on a price for the car before they start trying to sweeten their offer with extended warranties, undercoating, window treatments or whatever else dealers do to add to their profit margin.

[ACG2x]

If they are saying they "could re-evaluate the trade-in price", then they'll do it. My wife and I just bought a new 2006 Chevrolet SUV-wagon thingy (forget the name) and traded in her Grand Prix. The dealership we went to had a decent offer, but above what I was willing to pay, so we left. Thanked them for their time and walked out.

Two days later, the saleswoman's (yes, girls sell cars too silly) manager's manager calls us and they go up a little on the trade and down on the vehicle price. We politely tell them that this is still above what we are looking to pay and the hard line amount we set when we first walked in is a hard line.

Anyways, three days after that, the same manager calls us and says that he "thinks he can get his boss to go a little higher on the trade and they'll drop the vehicle price a bit more" which put us at the price range we had originally asked for.

So, by holding out one week, the dealership dropped the vehicle price around $2,500 and upped our trade-in by about $1,500. The even funnier part was the sticker price we saw on the vehicle at the lot was about $3,000 over what my wife had seen it listed as on the Internet.

The saleswoman asked us where we found that price and said "she couldn't find it listed at that". My wife was ready for this and told her the exact website and location of the vehicle and sure enough, it was listed for the lower price. She 'went to talk to her manager' about it and came back saying "because you saw it at this price, we'll honor that".

To myself, I was like LDO you will. If you didn't, I'm walking off your lot now.

Bottom line is if the dealership wants to sell you the car bad enough and your price range for trade-in and vehicle price is reasonable, they'll find a way to do it.

We estimated that by researching the Internet pricing and holding out for that week saved us between $7,000-8,000 total on the car.

[KilgoreTrout]

I'm 4 for 4 using CR new car price service, fwiw.

Most recent was my 2004 F150. Did the deal online. I emailed the dealership, told them what I wanted, and arranged a t-drive. Thanked the salesman, said I had another dealership to visit and that I'd get back to them.

Did the same at the second dealership, where I presented my CR research, itemized the options, and showed the guy what I wanted to pay for the truck. He countered with a higher number. I had him write it down, thanked him, and told him I had to check out another dealership.

Took the quote back to my office, tapped out an email to dealership #1 and included my CR bottom line price. A day later the rep from dealer #1 calls and quotes me a figure very close to mine. I tell him I'll be in later that day.

I get there, show him my CR stuff, and we settle on a number. I then informed him of my trade in, which came off the agreed-to number.

The CR process works but you have to be willing to shop around and play one dealer off another. I've had salesmen call me crazy and berate me for using CR as a starting point, but I simply don't do business with them.

[prohornblower]

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Negotiating and dealing with people in sales is one of the things I like least in this world.

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Ehh, and the Ebola Virus.

[z28dreams]

Can anyone give me an idea of what they'd be willing to pay for a 2002 Nissan Maxima SE, say around 60-70k miles?

The private party book values show everything from $8500 to $12,000, depending on who you quote and what condition it's in.

A local dealer is asking 14k for an 02 Maxima with 39,000 miles on it.... what do you think a reasonable target price would be to ask for that?

[Jameso]

I bought a 2007 Odyssey in April and got it for invoice. Figure out what invoice is on your car and decide what you're willing to pay. I used Edmunds. Next contact several dealers via email and let them know what you want, that you're buying today, and what's the best price they can offer. Now play them off of each other. You should be able to get to invoice or better. I got an aftermarket DVD player installed at the invoice price. It's a pain in the ass, but I saved $800 off of the Costco price and got a decent DVD player as a bonus. I did cancel my appointment with the dealer and tell them I was going elsewhere because one of their peeons told me he would not budge from the Costco price. The internet sales manager called me back and agreed to my demands and the deal was done.

[petp_the_greek]

agree 1000% with jameso. i HATE salespeople so i emailed a bunch of dealers near me and told them exactly what i want and what im willing to pay (edmunds is a good source for invoice prices). negotiated everything over email and the only time i actually stepped into the dealership was when i went to give my deposit and pick up the car.

[prohornblower]

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agree 1000% with jameso.

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And I agree 1,000,000% with your avatar, Greek.