Tell me about the art of negotiation for consumers

[Todderbob]

Know the product before you purchase it. Know the cost of the product, know as much as you possibly can.

My advice about cars, from another thread.

@Todderbob

@OP
Now, I’m going to give you advice from the side of someone who has been in the car business his entire life, literally, and still is.
First, Toyota is offering 0% not 0% of $2000. This is because $2000 in cash diminishes resell value, not that that fact is particularly relevant to this conversation. That means that it’s not 0% at the expense of other deals. Toyota only offers cash incentives to recent graduates (+/- 6 months from graduation date) of College.

Second, as has been said before – Negotiate based on Price of the car first.
As a tip, MSRP is nothing close to invoice on a car. In fact, don’t even trust the Invoice if the dealer shows it to you, he pays 3% less than that (this is called “holdback”) unless he purchases it from a Broker.

If you want the best possible price on a car, your first step is emailing every single local dealership of that brand and say the following, quite simply.

I’m in the market for a new XXX vehicle. I want YYY feature package. Quote me your best price. Include all possible incentives, whether to the dealer or to the customer. I’d like an out the door cost, so include Documentation, Licensing and Title fees. I have no need for any additions to the car, I’d like it as it comes from the factory, with no after market equipment.

If your price is suitable, I will be in for delivery within the next 48 hours.

Use that as your email, and you’ll get responses, most of the first responses (if they’re following proper procedures) will be along the lines of “We don’t quote prices online, but come on in and we’ll talk…”

Reply to that with:

Quote me a price on XXX, with feature package YYY and I will be in for delivery if it’s suitable. If it is not, or you do not wish to quote a price, our discussions are over.

Chances are, one of the dealerships will quote you a price at, or just above invoice. They’ll give it all away if you start up front stating exactly what you want. Once you have your price, you have all the power, because you can phone the local dealerships and ask them if they want to beat it or not. Sometimes, one will, sometimes not.

Using the above method, you’re a complete pain in the ass for people like me. It’s my job to get you to pay full MSRP for a car, and take all of the addendum packages (nitrogen filled wheels, running boards, mud guards, etc) with a happy smile.

I never lie, and I never obfuscate the truth. I just reenforce the fact that you don’t like your old car, and you really like your new car (it’s already yours, you said you loved it.), so there’s really no need to worry about all the extra stuff we’re giving you in the price. I mean, you do want your paint to be in good condition in a year, not all scratched up from rocks, right?

@Todderbob

You’re not an active pain, more of an annoyance.

But, in reality, I don’t have a problem with that because I’m fine with getting my unit bonuses higher. There’s a reason that I outsold all of the other salesman when I worked the floor. I wasn’t afraid to take small deals, if the money wasn’t there to make.
Sales payplans, at good stores, typically work off of a percentage that bumps as you sell more cars. So you might get 10% F/B (Front and Back, front is how much above cost and pack – pack is how much the dealership marks it up on their books, so they don’t have to pay commission on it – back is finance) at or below 10 cars, 15% from 11-15 cars, 20% from 16-20 cars and 25% at 20 cars or above (that’s actually a really weird payplan, but you get the idea).

Keep in mind, that’s not 10-15-20-25% of the cost of the car, that’s of the profit on the car (above built-in expenses).
I got the big grosses out of customers, when I could… but when I couldn’t, I wouldn’t let the managers pass on minis.
ETA: And I was all over incoming phone and emails, and I’d take crap deals that didn’t require work, just for the reasons you mentioned. It was beneficial to me and the dealership. Dealerships wont tell you this, but based on the number of cars they sell, they get more cash per car from the factory.

That means if they’re 1 car away from their tier bonus, it pays for them to lose money selling you a car. at 40 Accords in a month, they might get 200 Dealer Cash per accord, at 41, they might get 300.