How much over invoice does the average person pay for a car?
Deb
I don’t know about average, but most people pay too much. You can usually get away with paying only a few hundred over invoice on any car at any time…excluding models with very high demand.
A few websites that are helpful are http://carpoint.msn.com and http://www.edmunds.com
I would also recommend a book called (I think the title is right):
“What Car Salesmen Don’t Want You to Know” by Mark Eskeldson
I assume you’re asking because you’re in the market for something…
IMHO this “over invoice” thing is another way to sucker people into believing they made a good purchase.
When you buy a gallon of milk do you ask how much the grocery store paid for it or do you just compare with what another store charges for the same gallon of milk?
Why is it any of your business what the store was invoiced for the car? I only care about what I am paying.
If dealer A was invoiced $500 more for the car than dealer B but dealer A charges you $100 less “over invoice”, who is offering a better deal?
You should know by now that what the invoice says and what the car actually cost the dealer are two very different things.
In any case and as I said: who cares what the dealer was invoiced? What counts is the price he’ll give you.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by sailor *
**IMHO this “over invoice” thing is another way to sucker people into believing they made a good purchase.
When you buy a gallon of milk do you ask how much the grocery store paid for it or do you just compare with what another store charges for the same gallon of milk?
Why is it any of your business what the store was invoiced for the car? I only care about what I am paying.//
A good point about comparing prices, your right, but one doesn’t haggle for milk either-- I guess knowing the invoice helps you know how far you’ll get with lowering the price.
Deb
Another thing you might wish to look into if you really want to grab a dealer by the gonads and twist is Dealer Holdbacks.
Dealer holdback is a percentage of the MSRP or invoice of a new vehicle that is paid to the dealer by the manufacturer to assist with the dealership’s financing of the vehicle.
For example, let’s say you’re interested in a Ford with a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of $20,500, including optional equipment and destination charge. Dealer invoice on this hypothetical Ford is $18,000, including optional equipment. The invoice includes a dealer holdback that, in the case of all Ford vehicles, amounts to 3 percent of the total MSRP. (The $500 destination charge should not be included when figuring the holdback.) So, on this particular Ford, the true dealer cost is actually $17,400, plus destination charges. Even if the dealer sells you the car for invoice, which is unlikely, he would still be making as much as $600 on the deal when his quarterly check arrived.
Here is a chart of the 2000 model year Holdback rates so you can bargain further in relation to invoice with your new car purchase:
Make Holdback
Acura 2% of the Base MSRP
Audi No Holdback
BMW No Holdback
Buick 3% of the Total MSRP
Cadillac 3% of the Total MSRP
Chevrolet 3% of the Total MSRP
Chrysler 3% of the Total MSRP
Daewoo One-price sales. Customer pays MSRP
Dodge 3% of the Total MSRP
Ford 3% of the Total MSRP + additional 1.25%
rebate of Total Invoice to Blue Oval Dealers
for 2001 models invoiced after September 1,
2000 (see note in above paragraph)
GMC 3% of the Total MSRP
Honda 2% of the Base MSRP (except Prelude, which
has no holdback)
Hyundai 2% of the Total Invoice
Infiniti 1% of the Base MSRP (holdback) + 2% of the
Base Invoice (floorplanning allowance)
Isuzu 3% of the Total MSRP
Jaguar 2.2% of the Base Invoice
Jeep 3% of the Total MSRP
Kia 3% of the Base Invoice
Land Rover No Holdback
Lexus 2% of the Base MSRP
Lincoln 3% of the Total MSRP
Mazda 2% of the Base MSRP
Mercedes-Benz 3% of the Total MSRP
Mercury 3% of the Total MSRP
Mitsubishi 2% of the Base MSRP
Nissan 2% + 1% of the Total Invoice (holdback +
floorplanning allowance)
Oldsmobile 3% of the Total MSRP
Plymouth 3% of the Total MSRP
Pontiac 3% of the Total MSRP
Porsche No Holdback
Saab 2.2% of the Base MSRP
Saturn 3% of the Total MSRP. But with one-price
sales, this is a moot point. The customer
pays MSRP.
Subaru 3% of the Total MSRP (Amount may differ in
Northeastern U.S.)
Suzuki 2% of the Base MSRP
Toyota 2% of the Base Invoice (Amount may differ in
Southern U.S.)
Volkswagen 2% of the Base MSRP
Volvo 1% of the Base MSRP
All information from above and more can be found at http://www.edmunds.com/edweb/holdback_list.html.
Yer pal,
Satan
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thanks for the advice and links…the edmunds site is great.
I’m looking at new cars (passat wagons) and am trying to learn as much as possible and research on the web before actually showing up in person. Also thinking about priceline.com…
Deb
>> A good point about comparing prices, your right, but one doesn’t haggle for milk either
Debbie, ahem, ummm, you haggle for milk in exactly the same way you haggle for cars. You buy them where you can get the best price. At least that’s the best method I’ve figured so far.
Sailor:
Three people can walk into Wal*Mart and get the same special on the tube of Crest Toothpaste for 99 cents.
Those three people can walk into the same car dealer and get the same make, model, color, accessories, etc. and drive off paying thousands of dollars differenc.
Auto dealerships require horse trading and haggling.
Here’s a helpful link provided by a doper from a previous thread: