How to talk a dealer down on a new car

Okay, so i am buying a Toyota Prius and I need some help negotiating.

Are there any rules about how low they will go?

The sticker price is around $24,500. They have agreed to give me $8,500 as a trade in for my current car. (I paid $10,000 for it a year ago)

They also gave me $500 off because of my employer and I made them give me another $500 because I found a competitor with an Internet coupon.

There is $589.00 in non-negotiable fees that you have to pay at closing. Can I make them take that off the sticker price too? I hate paying fees.

Does anyone have any advice?

Your salesman will make at least at an approximate anywhere from 1k to 1.5k on commish. That is throwaway money for the dealership. Also look for doc fees, that is a sneaky add on. Take an internet msrp quote in for your next round and tell them they are full of SHIT. (just threw that in for the new resmods, love ya, mean it)

Tell them you saw what they were doing last week and you know his wife.

http://www.carbuyingtips.com/

EDIT not sure if this is the site i used a couple years back. looks the same, but i don't remember the site I sued trying to sell a book...

Odd experience: I paid for Consumer Reports car price thingy the last time because I know less than nothing about that game. I went to the dealer saying "this is the report, that is what I shall pay". He responded with a lower price.

I had that same business of the closing fees not being mentioned until the last minute. I didn't try to negotiate the fees, I just negotiated the overall price down further to cover them.

Well..the first thing, after showing interest and dealing a bit, is to tell them you might be in over your head and be unable to afford it. Act all apologetic for wasting thier time and tell them you need to go shop around for a cheaper car. Thank them for thier time.

Now..if they let you walk off the lot without a counter proposal that is lower, then they have reached as low as they are likely to go.

Also, it helps if you start the entire conversation saying you can only afford a much lower amount than you can actually afford.

Those fees are usually bullshit. As soon as they mention any non negotiable fees, I make them take them off. You MUST be willing to walk away when you don't get what you want. I don't care what point in the deal you are at, walk when they try to dick you. Despite what they tell you, the car will be there tommorow.

A few months ago we bought a vehicle, we had all agreed on the price, shook hands with the general manager. They came back with all the paperwork and lo and behold, $795 dealer fees. He said these are absolutely non negotiable. I got up, and asked for my keys (they had already pulled my old car around back). They argued with me, thats when I got loud. They brought me a stack of papers explaining the dealer fees, without looking at them I tossed them in a trash can. We got the car at the agreed upon price. Needless to say, those fees are negotiable.

I don't get it. I could understand haggling over the price of a USED car but at least around here a NEW car costs exactly the same wherever you go, you buy them straight from the manufacturers, and whoever sells you the car is a corporate slave who probably doesnt know anything about cars and is not at liberty to negotiate anything, since the price was set by his corporate overlords... somewhere in a foreign country.

I used to live with the manager of a car dealership. They make nothing on used cars and could care less. They want the trade in and as low as they can get it. They will mark it up and sell it to some idiot and make a large margin.

Sorry Eggy, I wish I lived there with ya. Here in the US it's corporate greed. The manufacturer sets a recommended price and the dealer pays a wholesale price. He then owns the vehicle and can set whatever price he wants. The poor slob trying to sell it to you is hired by the dealer, therefore he has to make the dealers' set bottom line and try and get more for his profit. That's US Auto sales 101 extremely stripped down. Believe me it gets much uglier.

I know what I would suggest...



On a serious note, though, I would definetly shop around, though it sounds like your too late in the process for that. I bought my car from a dealer 100+ miles away from me, because after a ton of reading and reviews and consulting, they had the most outstanding record around. And I've never regretted it, they are a joy to deal with.

So awhat about all those handjobs I gave to the guys in the service department?

Will that help me out tomorrow when I go in to negotiate? I'm beginning to feel like I was duped.

Perfect! A 10!

That is how to handle it. You *must* be willing to walk away - the moment you get emotionally vested in a particular vehicle - they have you - hook, line and sinker (or stinker).

No. That was charity work.

If they say they can't remove the $589 then tell them to take it off somewhere else. The deal with Hybrid cars is there is a huge demand for them. The dealer will only go as low as he knows he can sell it to the next guy for. Don't let the guy think you'er in love with the car. Don't finance through the dealer, ever.

I rented a Prius once and thught is was a nice car. It had an awesome stereo system compared to most stock systems. The car is nice and quiet. I don't think it's worth the premium of paying extra for a Hybrid, but that's another subject.

Good luck

The service department only wanted hand jobs? I need to find a new mechanic... where I go I get bent over the hood before they'll even look at the car.

I don't know how the US car sales market got stuck in the dark ages. Some people love to haggle, but personally I'd love to see a more normal sales method. The only thing worse is the real estate market.

Like this ?

I agree with this. I really don't see why more dealers won't go to a flat rate pricing system. I would gladly pay up to $500 over their cost if I could avoid the haggle game. I avoid buying new because of this. I also feel a 1 or 2 year old used car is a better value than new. I don't think this is would be the case with a Hybrid since the demand is so large I think they would hold there resale value well. I have never priced a used Hybrid so I could be way off.

I loathe dealing with car salespeople. The only half-way decent ones I've encountered are the Saturn dealers since they have the one-price, no-haggle policy (though I'm not sure how hard-and-fast that is). I'm also really cheap about vehicles; it's just not worth it to me to pay an extra 10-20% of the car price just to drive it off the lot new.

I have always bought my vehicles from a used auto dealer who buys used rigs at auction, checks them out thoroughly, then resells them. He always gives me an extra good deal because he's an old friend of my dad's. He also gives a 90-day warranty on his vehicles (on top of any manufacturer's warranty they might have), so if something goes really wrong, he'll give a refund. We'll be looking for a one- or two-year-old minivan this summer, so this spring I'll call the dealer and tell him what features and price range we want, and then he goes to auctions and looks for what fits our needs. This will be my/our fourth vehicle purchased from him with no problems.

Hybrids are special, though. Like others have said in this thread, if you want a hybrid, there is such a waiting list for them that you'd probably better be prepared to pay whatever they ask. I'm waiting for a decent hybrid minivan to come out in the next five to ten years; at that point, buying new might be appealing to us.

To add to what Juro said, the older 1st generation Prius can command a premium price in my neck of the woods. They aren't easy cars to buy.