Here is the email I am about to send. I’d be grateful for your opinions on it.
If you have any suggestions on how to improve it (vocabulary, grammar, clarity,etc.) modifications, please post your alternate email with the edited section in bold or some such to make it easier to spot.
Email Begins
Hi
I’m looking to buy a 2006 Honda Civic 2 Doors LX Coupe with standard features.
I do not want ANY extras and I would like to know what your best price is. Please be kind enough to quote me my final out of pocket expense. It must include all fees and charges, including a tag transfer (I already have a car which tags I want to use on the civic) and sales tax for florida.
I am looking to buy new but will consider any good deals on used '06 civics you might have.
I will also consider the cheaper DX model as long as it comes with AC.
Please feel free to include as many quotes as you like. I just ask that you be as clear and exhaustive as possible. I am contacting several dealerships about this and am Interested to buy within a week or as soon as I get a low enough price.
Thank you very much for your time and efforts and I am looking forward to doing business with you. Have a great day.
Eddie.
Email Ends
I wouldn’t normally ask for opinions for such a trivial thing but I have never dealt with dealerships before and I’m trying to do this right. If you think my email is fine as is, please say so.
I don’t have any suggestions (it looks fine to me), but please keep this thread updated on how it turns out. I’m interested to see if this is an effective way of dealing with car dealerships.
Don’t bother with the letter, just use Honda’s website. You can get quotes from multiple dealers, which will likely be exactly the same to the dollar. The Internet price seems to be fixed, and is as low as the dealer can go – when I bought a Honda Element two years ago, I had two local Honda dealers competing for my business, but neither one could go a dollar below that price. The best they could do was offer a few free oil changes.
My guess is the price is set as low as they can afford to sell the car, in exchange for the quick sale. I highly doubt you could do better (or even as well) negotiating individually.
Not in Brainiac4’s experience. What you get is the internet sales manager, who knows that the other dealers are giving you the lowest possible quote and if he doesn’t do the same there will be no further contact. Only the people not interested in selling the car won’t give you a quote. Its a great way to buy a car. His last car came from three hours away in Wisconsin - but we didn’t drive to get it, they brought it to us - and charged us less than if we’d bought it in the cities.
(Yes, do mention you will be paying cash or have your own financing - or, alternatively, you want them to quote financing as well. If you care about color, let them know - otherwise let them know you don’t care - i.e. “if you have a red one on the lot with the tan interior, that would be my preference”).
Anyone have any experience/comparisons with carsdirect.com?
Me and a friend both bought cars (indepenantly) this way (2003) and it seemd like the rock bottom price. None of the local dealers could match the price we were quoted and had to go down to LA to pick them up (not that big a hassle for the deal we got). I think it was a fleet vehicle price ultimately.
I second this suggestion. I tried this a while back (also for a 2006 Civic LX in Florida) and got back four fairly reasonable final quotes. Of course, I was just looking around, but if I was really interested I would have gotten a much better deal than I did when I bought my 2004 Civic by going into the dealer.
Communicating with the dealer over the internet is a much better option than actually going in, especially if you aren’t the slickest negotiator. You’re doing things on your terms not theirs and they know they have to response straight up with an acceptable offer otherwise they’ll never hear from you again. Many of the opportunities for psycological trickery simply aren’t there anymore.
I did this when I bought my Cabrio four years ago. It worked well.
After you get all your offers, take the lowest quote and send another e-mail to all the other dealers asking if they can beat that price.
If a dealer responds by saying to come on down to the lot and they’ll beat any price, write back and let them know you won’t be setting foot on any lot that doesn’t give you an exact quote.
Of course, I did this back before the days of the “Internet Sales Manager”, so who knows.
Using cars.com and autotrader.com is your better bet. With the letter they won’t have to quote you their best price, and will probably refuse to name anything other than their sticker price (which will be far more than they would be willing to sell for) check the online prices and then use that info when dealiong with the traders by playing them off against each other. It may be worth trying ebay motors if you are willing to buy privately as you are loking for a fairly common vehicle.
Is your intention with the letter to avoid the unplesantness of haggleing with salespeople?
Every dealer is different, but in my experience, it’s futile. With any kind of car even moderately in demand, you’ll simply get a reply telling you what they have on the lot and to come in and take a look around.
Occasionally you’ll get a reply with the special for the day, but it’s the same car that’s being advertised in the newspaper ad.
Looks like they’re just quoting you right off the sticker price. Go to Edmunds.com and punch in all the info on the new car you want. It will give you sticker price, invoice, and fair market value price.
Print these numbers out and go to the dealer and tell them you want it at the fair market value price. They’ll either say yes or no.