Who's good at haggling??

Lee81

I'm trying to psych myself up to buy a new car and I need to know #allthetricks. I don't want to pay the asking price because I feel like that is mostly for suckers. But I have no idea how much less I can offer before I'm just insulting them. Does the strategy change if I'm looking more towards a certified pre-owned type vehicle? Does anyone have any secrets to share?

Bunkster2008

We just bought a car last week...we paid the asking price.  The sticker price was already a couple hundred less than the low average on KBB...and we felt we were getting a good deal.  We are not hagglers. 

They told us they could do 3500 for our trade in, and before we could ask, they offered 4500. When we were signing papers we saw that they decided to do 5000.  so....We felt great about it!  If we needed to we were prepared to ask for more on our trade in. 

Lee81

Connorsmama2006 said:

I believe you have more room to haggle on pre-owned vehicles compared to new. 

Huh! I would have thought it was the other way around. Good to know.

tashad18

Research other dealerships in the area and what their going price is.  Obviously if there is a better deal out there, you can use that as a starting point.  Maybe the dealer you are at will match plus go a little lower. 

Also, during your test drive, don't let on at all how you feel about the vehicle.  A friend is a dealer and he tells me that he knows when the driver gets excited about certain things about the car that he won't have to give an incentive to buy such a a little cash off the asking price.  When I was shopping around, I pretty much stayed silent about anything I liked about the vehicle and occassionally threw in a comment about what I didn't like.

Lee81

NRyan55 said:

Do you have a trade?

Yes, but I have gotten my money's worth out of my current car. The trade in value will not be all that impressive.

Lee81

tashad18 said:

Research other dealerships in the area and what their going price is. Obviously if there is a better deal out there, you can use that as a starting point. Maybe the dealer you are at will match plus go a little lower.

I think this may be part of my problem with used cars. You're not going to find one with the exact same stats. If this one is a year newer, but has 5,000 more miles than that one, how does it affect the value? Better trim level vs lower miles/newer model year? I start to get confused.

Shortie24

If it's a new car, ask to see the invoice. Then offer $500-1,000 over

stephl3055

Do it all online.  I knew exactly what I wanted, including interior and exterior color and the package.  I was not willing to haggle on any of the features or the colors.  I emailed one dealership and told them what I wanted and asked what their best price was.  I then emailed another dealership and did the same thing.  I then went back and forth (all through email) and basically played the two against each other.  I even got free tint thrown in.  

Lee81

NRyan55 said:

Lee81 said:

NRyan55 said:

Do you have a trade?

Yes, but I have gotten my money's worth out of my current car. The trade in value will not be all that impressive.

That is where you can typically leverage some discounts, if you want the car for 20,000 and they are offering 22,000 then say you need 2,000 for your trade. They know what you are doing, but it is a different department so the sale goes through as the same amount for their dealer stats.
~~~~~~wavitywavewavewave~~~~~~
How realistic do I have to be on the amount I need for my trade? Like if my car is worth $500 would they laugh at me for suggesting I need $2000 in trade.

mancila60

If it's a new car you can go to the website of the maker a build your car an it will give you a price you can then use that to decide how you want the deal to go. Also for pre owned or new you can always ask them to try and get you a better interest rate somewhere else sometimes that can make a difference at least on the monthly note. And you can always tell them to give you a few days to discuss it and think it over most places call within 24 hours with a new offer.

Or just do like H and I did and give them a price you refuse to go over and make them come down to your offer. If they want to make the sale then they will do it. And sometimes they will factor in a BIG warranty so make sure that isn't changing the price as well.

Lee81

I think my problem here is that I am the kind of person who is never going to feel like I got a good deal if I think I left money on the table. If I got that $2000 trade in value, I would wonder if I should have asked for $2500.

Lee81

mancila60 said:

Or just do like H and I did and give them a price you refuse to go over and make them come down to your offer.

How did you come up with the number you refuse to go over compared to the asking price of the car? If I want to stay under $20,000 on a used car, can I look at a car priced at $22,000? $25,000? I can't figure out when I've crossed the line. I want there to be magical formula where as long as it's no more than x% off the asking price, it might be realistic and I'm not crazy for trying. Wishful thinking, I know :-/

muffyvonmuff

My 1998 Lexus SUV had a donut/ salvage title/ Cracked windshield and didn't start, LITrally it needed to be jumped to start.  They gave me $1000 for a trade when I acted as though I wasn't going to buy a car.  I say leave them with your contact info and walk away so they can contact you later to make a deal.  And you always get the best prices at the very end of the month or a rainy day.

mancila60

Lee81 said:

mancila60 said:

Or just do like H and I did and give them a price you refuse to go over and make them come down to your offer.

How did you come up with the number you refuse to go over compared to the asking price of the car? If I want to stay under $20,000 on a used car, can I look at a car priced at $22,000? $25,000? I can't figure out when I've crossed the line. I want there to be magical formula where as long as it's no more than x% off the asking price, it might be realistic and I'm not crazy for trying. Wishful thinking, I know :-/

You can 100% look at something 22,000 and 25,000. The only thing with 25,000 is they may get it under or they may get it close. The way we figured it up was we already knew what car we wanted and we knew the price range they ran. We also knew about what we could expect for my trade in because we looked at Kelly Blue Book and got a price check done based on mileage and year and condition (it takes 5 min to do). We also had an amount we wanted to get between say 20,000-25,000. And say they the value of my trade in was 3,500 then we would look at cars around the 28,000 mark.

If they offered less on the trade in the we told them that we had the KBB price of 3,500 and we woul get them closer to that. We also kept our price in our head until we felt the need to let them know. Like if they kept saying oh the best we could do is 24,000 and we wanted 21,000 and they wouldn't budge we would tell them we weren't going to agree until it was 21,000 or better.

Obviously if they got to 21,500 we would take it. H is a pretty good haggler and so is my dad so between the 2 of us they had no chance. Also when they brought us a new offer we would tell them to give us a minute to talk about it and H and I would discuss the offer but then talk about other things so it looked like we were really deep into the conversation about it. And then they would come back and we would say well that is better but we were thinking something a little better or that is still just to high once you factor in the insurance of this car compared to the old one.

Lee81

mancila60 said:

Lee81 said:

mancila60 said:

Or just do like H and I did and give them a price you refuse to go over and make them come down to your offer.

How did you come up with the number you refuse to go over compared to the asking price of the car? If I want to stay under $20,000 on a used car, can I look at a car priced at $22,000? $25,000? I can't figure out when I've crossed the line. I want there to be magical formula where as long as it's no more than x% off the asking price, it might be realistic and I'm not crazy for trying. Wishful thinking, I know :-/

You can 100% look at something 22,000 and 25,000. The only thing with 25,000 is they may get it under or they may get it close. The way we figured it up was we already knew what car we wanted and we knew the price range they ran. We also knew about what we could expect for my trade in because we looked at Kelly Blue Book and got a price check done based on mileage and year and condition (it takes 5 min to do). We also had an amount we wanted to get between say 20,000-25,000. And say they the value of my trade in was 3,500 then we would look at cars around the 28,000 mark.

If they offered less on the trade in the we told them that we had the KBB price of 3,500 and we woul get them closer to that. We also kept our price in our head until we felt the need to let them know. Like if they kept saying oh the best we could do is 24,000 and we wanted 21,000 and they wouldn't budge we would tell them we weren't going to agree until it was 21,000 or better.

Obviously if they got to 21,500 we would take it. H is a pretty good haggler and so is my dad so between the 2 of us they had no chance. Also when they brought us a new offer we would tell them to give us a minute to talk about it and H and I would discuss the offer but then talk about other things so it looked like we were really deep into the conversation about it. And then they would come back and we would say well that is better but we were thinking something a little better or that is still just to high once you factor in the insurance of this car compared to the old one.

This is good information. When will you be available to do my haggling for me ;;)

bkeane619

Rule of thumb. Always walk away. They will call. Just be well informed on prices before you go in.

mancila60

@Lee81‌ I'm available Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 11-4 and Saturday and Sunday by appointment only!

MangoMama82

I've bought 2 cars solo, both with trade ins. Like everyone says, don't be afraid to walk out if they aren't giving you what you want. The last deal I did the magic number for my trade in (in my head) was $9k. They offered me $7500. I said they were really undervaluing my car, asked for them to do better. They said $8k was the best they could do. I thanked him for his time, and got up. He stopped me and offered $8500, and in the end they threw in $500 for a key replacement that cost me $100. Walking away is a very powerful negotiating tool. Also, I paid cash for my last car. If you can say, "I'll pay $x right now, cash money, and get this thing off your lot" they tend to work with you.

KerCo51

I did really well when I went in and told them the exact number I wanted to pay out the door.  This was on a new car, though, so I knew exactly what to ask for.  At first, they pretended that my offer was way too low, but then offered to give me more on my trade. Doing research is really important.

PixiesDust

DH and I can't haggle either, but when we bought his Jeep I got quotes for the car we wanted from a number of dealerships in the area, as well as fair price quotes from Kelly Blue Book and Edmunds.  Armed with the right information, you can basically say what you want to pay based on what it's being sold for (or should be sold for) elsewhere.