I have to buy a new car soon. It has been 10 years since I bought a new car PLUS I have not had to haggle since c.1995! That is because c.1998, I had an excellent buying experience from a small-volume dealer. They made it easy - both the new car price and the trade-in value. I was spoiled! Unfortunately, the market has changed and my small-volume dealer was squeezed out of business with demands to force him to generate high-volume. But, his corner lot was landlocked, and he couldn’t expand to meet new expectations and had to close.
Anyhoo, I know what I want…a 2014 model with tons still available on the market. So, the market (and the car sales reports on the economy) indicate it’s a buyer’s market. But, every dealer these days seems like intimidating “super-dealers” with castles for show rooms. Also, those located in an “auto mall” lure you to think there is competition, but it’s really “conspiracy row”, I am sure. But, I digress. It seems nowadays they want you to make an appointment online. I understand they promise a better price, perhaps not charging for dealer prep. etc. just because you played their game. Do you think it is worthwhile to play the online game? OTOH, I see it as a waste of time as opposed to walking in cold and asking for their best price on a specific model.
So, what is your strategy for car shopping nowadays? Is it worth my while to play the online game? (I should add I have my own financing.) And, when would recommend I introduce the additional factor of a trade-in in the mix? (I should note my car is high-mileage with not much latitude for bargaining, but I don’t want to be taken.) In the past, I try to work it into the “game” as late as possible to avoid clouding the primary matter at hand - getting a good price on the new car. …Oh! And, do they still try to sell you undercoating (which is already done at the factory), or am I showing my age?
The major difference from doing it 15-20 years ago is that the funny business with the actual price of the car is mostly a thing of the past. It’s easy enough to just get quotes from multiple dealers via e-mail or else there’s websites out there (TrueCar, Edmunds, etc) that should give you a pretty good idea of what you’ll actually pay for the car. Some dealers still do the “ask high, haggle down” routine to a certain extent, but for the most part they’ll tell you what their actual lowest price is without too much tooth-pulling required.
There’s still all sorts of funny business with the trade-ins though. You might actually end up wanting to do the opposite of the old “don’t mention the trade-in” trick. Since the price of the new car isn’t going to vary that much from dealer to dealer, it’s the trade-in price you really have to shop around and dicker on. This can be a pain since they’ll probably insist that they have to actually inspect the car (which is really just a ploy to get you on the lot) but I’ve found with enough prodding they’ll usually give you a ballpark number. Also, if there’s a CarMax or similar in your area, it might be a good idea to get a standalone trade-in quote from them just as a baseline.
I’m not really sure what the deal is with the online thing you’re mentioning. I personally think it makes it vastly easier to do as much of the process as possible over e-mail so you can review numbers and such at your leisure. It seems unlikely to me that they’d actually give you any special deals that you couldn’t otherwise get just for making an online appointment, but who knows
Oh, and they might still try to half-heartedly sell you a paint protection product, but the extended warranties are the biggest thing in additional dealer profit items these days, so expect the hard sell there.
Step one: Make a short priority list of what you want in a car. High mileage? Passengar/cargo capacity? Long-term reliability? Fashion statement? Safety?
Step two: Narrow it down to a short list of cars that appear to meet the criteria in Step One, that are in your price range.
Step three: Go around and drive demonstrators, and buy the one that feels good. Comfortable seats, friendly controls, road feel, whatever lights your fuse.
I did this when I bought last year. I had the trade in document from CarMax in hand when I went to the dealer - if they wouldn’t give me the same or more, I could always go sell it at CarMax and then use that as a down payment. It worked out how I wanted though.
My gf bought a Subaru two years ago. She knew the make and model she wanted. After browsing online she emailed a dealership with some questions. After a few back and forth emails she made a decision. She transferred funds to her checking account. I drove her to the dealership and waited in my vehicle for 15 minutes while she completed her paperwork. Then we went out to lunch and she picked up the check.
We did this exact same thing with CarMax when we bought our new car last year. Had the quote in hand so that he knew we’d already done the homework. Worked out fine.
We bought a new vehicle two years ago. We test drove several models and visited dealerships until we figured out exactly what we wanted. We then got email quotes for that vehicle/configuration from 3 area dealerships. Luckily the closest one had the best price. We confirmed that was the exact cost and once they added the temp plate cost we knew exactly how much to bring in a check. Took 15 minutes to do the paperwork and hand over the pre-filled check.
The internet and email have drastically changed the new car business. Dealers know that to even have a chance they have to put their “pretty much bottom line” price online. Go the email route suggested above, but specify that you are looking for the “drive out” price. That will include taxes and all fees (dealer fees, tag, title, etc). Since the information is so easy to find now, the vehicle price will be pretty much the same from dealer to dealer. The only way to differentiate is who has the lower total fees. You’ll only find that information in the drive out price.
This is very weird. I don’t know any dealer in their right mind who would give you a quote on your trade-in without inspecting it.
On my latest car deal (about two weeks ago), the ballpark on my trade-in was around $8,400 to $8,500 and, after inspecting it, they gave me $9,000 because it was in better-than-average condition. And the ‘inspection’ wasn’t really all that much. I think all they did was look it over and drive it around the lot. It only took about 5 minutes.
Yeah, the “inspection” took 5 minutes because they don’t really care what kind of mechanical condition the car is in. They’re just going to wholesale the thing, so all they really care about is that it starts and drives, doesn’t have any glaring cosmetic problems and has a clean vehicle history. It’s completely reasonable for them to give a trade-in quote over the phone or e-mail (obviously contingent on you not having misrepresented the car) but they hate doing it because they know if they can get you on the lot under the pretext of an “inspection” they’ve got a way better chance of making a sale.
I concur with the posters here on doing internet research first, identifying the models you are interested in, and pricing thru dealer’s internet sales depts. at several dealers, as being the best game plan.
The dealers will still try to wear you down with financing options, trade-in games, and of course discussing extended warrantees and service plans with the sales manager. Of course, the first thing you want to nail down, before discussing anything else, is the final, out-the-door price of your chosen vehicle. With all the online resources these days, you should pretty much know what to expect if you have done your homework.
I might mention a great article from Edmunds written a few years ago by an undercover journalist who got a job at a couple of dealerships: Confessions of a Car Salesman. There are links from this page taking you to the original article as well as an update and tips to avoid hassles in today’s environment. It’s kind-of a long read, but interesting.
Well, the vast majority of trade-ins do get sold at auction. Regardless of what they ultimately do with them, the point is that they try to commodify used cars as much as possible. They only care about the condition in very broad terms. The vast majority of cars on the road are in “good” (aka 4/5) condition and if they’re not, it’s pretty easy to tell based on an honest description. It’s not as if they’re going through with a fine-toothed comb and tabulating the pros and cons of every little thing on your car and adjusting accordingly.
Short of you outright lying to them, there’s nothing their perfunctory inspection is going to turn up that’s going to drastically change their offer. Plus even if you were going to, say, argue your car is really a 5 not a 4, there’s no reason they can’t give two quotes (or a range if they don’t do the 5/5 thing) depending on what they decide when they see it. Although not that the difference between an “excellent” car and a merely “good” one is really all that much anyways-- your experience of getting an extra $500 out of a $9k car is about normal.
While I have heard a lot of good comments about Costco’s program, it has some limitations. A friend of mine recently tried to use the program, but for the brand she wanted, the nearest “participating” dealer was an hour away, and would not provide quotes over the phone or in e-mail - she had to show-up in person in order to get the quote. She passed on that process and instead got e-mail quotes from several local dealers via their internet sales dept, and ended up with one of them. The price she paid was below what she found on her internet research - we’ll not know if Costco would have beat it, but it was too much a hassle to try and find out.
