Negotiating A Deal On Your Car
How can I figure out an offer on a new car?
The quick fix for figuring out how much to offer for a car is to never offer a price. It's up to the car salesperson to offer his best price to you, and until that offer matches with your own personal number, there's no deal.
What attitude should I have when negotiating with a dealer?
The personality or sense you want to bring into the process is that you're well informed, you know how much you want to pay and not a penny more, you're confident, and if at any point in the process it starts to go a way your not comfortable with then you can always get up and walk away, there are plenty of otherdealerships to visit. Your playing right into the dealers hand if you show them how desperate you are for a new vehicle and they know if they keep whittling away and having you speak to different people and really stall the process eventually you'll just sign whatever you can to get that car. There's a lot of buyers remorse in that situation. You want to make sure that you're always willing to walk. Remember, if you don't get the car that day you'll find it from a potentially a better dealer at a different location the next day.
What steps should I take before negotiating the purchase price of my new car?
There are three steps you need to consider before you buy a vehicle. The first step is to know your credit score so that you know approximately what sort of percentage financing you should get if you use the financing at the dealership. Know the maximum you are willing to pay for a car, and know the value of the vehicle you are willing to buy. With those three things you can negotiate with a strong degree of confidence. Another thing to definitely avoid is becoming a payment buyer. Don't go in thinking, “I'm willing to pay $399 a month for that vehicle”, and then negotiate to that number. Dealers and their salespeople are very savvy at getting people to their stated $399 per month price, but doing so at a cost that you don't recognize until much later. Car salesman can do this by increasing interest rate over a longer period of time to get that particular price. It's very common for a salesperson very early in the negotiation process to ask you, “How much are you willing to pay per month?” Never ever answer that question because you are basically giving that salesperson the tool they need for building a program which will be to the benefit of the dealer and not to your benefit as the buyer. The point is never ever share that information; have an idea personally, but keep it to yourself and let the salesperson develop a program for you which hopefully will be below that threshold. Then you'll be a happy customer.
What does the "Monroney sticker" tell me?
The Monroney sticker is the official document that all vehicles are required to have to identify the cost of the base vehicle, and then the cost of all the specifications that have been added to that vehicle by the factory. That's the key: it's from the factory the way it was delivered to the dealership. The dealer add-on sticker is going to quite often be a small sticker just to the right of the Monroney, which is, sneakily, often a similar color and similar type, but it's going to have things like new wheels that have been added since the vehicle came from the factory, and maybe an upgraded stereo system, rustproofing, Scotchguard on the seats, etc. - things that the dealer has added as additional profit opportunity for them.
Is the manufacturer's suggested retail price the price I will have to pay?
The MSRP, or manufacturer's suggested retail price, is just that; a suggestion. A rough idea for what the market value of that vehicle is. It is the starting point for dealer negotiations, and unless the vehicle is super-hot in the marketplace, in very short demand, and has a lot of interest, MSRP will be far away from your actual purchase price. The only reason you would pay MSRP is if the vehicle was in short supply and had a line of people out the door to buy it as soon as you left. You're always looking to get below that MSRP price for the vehicle. That's the starting point, then you want to take it down to as close as invoice as you can go.
