Negotiating a new car purchase - any tried & true tactics?
IdaClaire
4 years ago
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IdaClaire
4 years agoIdaClaire
4 years agoRelated Discussions
Bringing a real estate agent in late to negotiate new constructio
Comments (30)sylviatexas: "Representation & procuring cause aren't the same thing. Procuring cause is getting a buyer for a property or a property for a buyer. Representation is representing the client's best interests. HaHaHaHaHa. OF COURSE it isn't the same thing! That's the point that I was making, lol! It was you who was implying that the builder wouldn't let the buyer have representation when all along the issue was the builder wasn't going to pay the agent because the agent wasn't the procuring cause for the transaction. Nice spin. And speaking of spin..... sylviatexas: "If I started negotiating with a builder on my own & felt that I was in over my head & the builder told me I couldn't bring my Realtor, I'd look for another property." Let's change your example ever so slightly without altering the basic concept. Let's say instead of looking at a new house you're looking at a resale. Same circumstance except instead of dealing with a builder's sales office, you're dealing with the seller's listing agent. Okay, now let's get back to your example. You're negotiating with the listing agent on your own and feel that you're in over your head and want to bring in your own real estate agent to negotiate for you. Are you seriously suggesting that the listing agent should now allow the buyer to use his own agent and pay that agent half the commission? Hmmmmmm?? I didn't think so. And the reason why? Let's all say it again: Because the buyer's agent would not have been the procuring cause for the transaction. It is really not that difficult a concept....See MoreEfficient use of time in buying a new car
Comments (14)When I got home at 6:15 yesterday I found I'd received an email from the Honda Fit salesperson, who sent me a price quote, a PDF attachment, at 5 p.m. I had dealt with him over the phone one day earlier and sent him a long email after the call. -!- Yes, the email was based on the draft above, and modified in ways that reflected comments above. I can post it if people want. His message: "Thank you for the detailed email. Here is a price." At 6:30 I emailed back and phoned (leaving message) saying we'd be available downtown around 7:30 p.m. for the test drive he wanted us to do. I live downtown. A similar story: Yesterday I called the Suzuki retailer closest to me and spoke to a salesperson. Ten minutes at 10 a.m. Before 12 noon I sent email to the manager for him to forward to the salesperson. The same long email modified as per feedback received. The salesperson called me back at 2:30; his price was $X thousand lower than the web price. He agreed with me that this was just the "over the phone" price with a stranger so the real price would be even lower than that. After calling him again at 4 he was expecting me to confirm later whether he'd see us that same evening. I sent email at 6:30 asking if it was reasonable to expect him to pick me up and drive another mile to fetch my wife who was finishing work. In other words, if the test drive could start at my wife's workplace or at my place. That email was also sent to the manager's email address, for him to see and discuss with the salesperson. Then I called and asked him the same thing. He went to get the email and consult his manager, and got back to me. No go. At 7:30 p.m. I was at his front door showing him my drivers' license while standing a few feet inside the front door. He gestured to a chair and I said "No time, remember we're driving now to go pick up my wife." He walked over to a floor model to show me things, and I said "You'll show all this to my wife when we get her into the vehicle, right? So let's get going." We left to go pick up my wife. The manager observed from the distance and did not approach. Minutes after picking up my wife, I was driving and my cell phone rang. It was the Honda Fit salesperson getting back to me at 7:50 p.m. Can't talk now, thank you for the email, bye-bye. I drove the three of us back to the Suzuki showroom, my wife drove a second vehicle, and then we did all sit down. Since he used silence as a closing tool, my wife resisted him. --- The best way to save money is to avoid spending money. (An SX-4 at $X deprec./year, plus insurance, plus gas, plus maintenance, etc) We still have our ten year old car depreciating at $1700 per year (bought used) and have never paid for major repairs for it yet. Since last year we now belong to a car sharing service. We've used it a few times. Compare A to B: A. carsharing service, regular car rental service, taxis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carsharing) B. owning a car Conclusion: A is way better. My wife was frustrated with our current situation. Now she is happy. She was the one who said "A" is way better after we went for a walk around the duck pond in the park. At 10 p.m. I feel now I've come as far as I needed to on Tuesday, 48 hours ago. We'll go rent a Versa or a Fit for our vacations. To try it out. I'll look into inventories visible on the web. Thank you!...See MoreIs there an advantage to NOT paying for new car in cash
Comments (13)The loan is totally unrelated to any issues you may have with the vehicle. Even if the manufacturer used a drinking straw for the gas line and the car burned up in your driveway, you'd still be responsible for paying back the loan. That wouldn't preclude you from legal action against the manufacturer but the two are unrelated. As for paying cash, there's a few things to consider. First off is if you have enough cash reserves for an emergency. Having a paid in full car in the driveway is nice but might not do you much good if you're being evicted from your home. Maybe split the difference, with a healthy down payment to keep the payments low while still having some ready cash should the need arise. Beyond that, it's really a simple question of if you can get a greater return on your money by investing it than you can borrowing money. In all likelihood, the difference is going to be pretty small and you have to also consider the tax implications of any return on investment. Obviously a history of on-time payments has a positive effect on your credit rating, which is important now for a lot of things beyond borrowing money. I might suggest not mentioning that you are considering paying cash until you've agreed on a purchase price for the vehicle. Dealers do make money off of financing, so they may offer a slightly better deal if you finance the vehicle. If you are going to finance the vehicle, it's a good idea to do a little loan shopping before walking into the dealership. Loan rates can be negotiable, just like the price of the car. Some years ago I was buying a new car and did a little shopping before hand and knew I could borrow money at, say, 6%. The dealership was offering 8%. I asked if that was the best they could do and I got the usual pained look from the finance guy like I was taking food out of the mouth of his child. When I told him I'd be back in a couple of days with a check, amazingly he could match the rate....See MoreNegotiating a Good Deal on a Car
Comments (29)Scott, I just took a look at the website for the dealership where I bought my car. The dealership has two Fleet Managers. The one who sold me my car in 2013 is still there, as is the other one who was there at the time. The General Manager and two Sales Managers are the same. The Service Department Manager has changed, but many of the Service Consultants are the same. I don't know where you get your car serviced, but one thing you could do is find a service consultant who has been there for a while, and talk to him/her to find out which sales person they would recommend. The service consultant that I deal with when I take my car in has been there since 1989, and I trust him. Of course, I don't expect to ever buy another car. If I did, I'd want to upgrade the model that I currently have, and the model I'd go to starts at over $72,000 so I think I'll just hang with what I've got. :-) I think it is best to NOT mention trading in your current car when negotiating a price for a new(er) car. A dealer will NEVER give you the best deal on a trade-in because they will have to detail the car and sell it at a profit so they will always low-ball you. You're better off doing a private sale. But, if you really must trade-in the car to save some money on the new car, negotiate the price on the new car first, then ask how much they'll give you for your trade-in. Do you have Microsoft Excel? I ask because before I bought my car I created a spreadsheet that I used to see what the differences would be for financing different amounts at different percentage rates. I've plugged in new numbers for you -- taking wild guesses because I don't know how much you would spend or what percentage rate you would get on a loan. But, this shows two different amounts financed -- $35,000 and $20,000, both with the same three different loan rates -- 1.9%, 4%, and 10%. All are amortized over a 5-year period. You could do something like this in advance of your negotiations, to have a better idea of what different monthly payments would do to your loan. Creating the spreadsheet is really easy. In column A, write exactly what I've got. In column B, you enter formulas on lines 7 through 12. If you're familiar with Excel, you will know that you can then just do a copy/paste of the column B formulas to as many more columns as you think you'll need. Or, you can manually enter the formulas in each column, making sure to change the column designation to the correct one for each column. The formulas for column B are (and I will indicate the appropriate line number first): 7 =PMT((B4/12),B8,-B3) 8 =B5*12 9 =SUM(B7*12) 10 =SUM(B3) 11 =SUM(B12-B10) 12 =B9*B5 (The line numbers are bolded, and all of the formulas begin with the "equal" symbol. This forum doesn't allow showing more than one "space." There are NO spaces in the formulas.) So, you can't just plug in a new monthly payment amount if the salesman says "ok, let's say we make your payment $25 per month." You'd need to mess with the amount financed, and/or annual interest rate, and/or duration of loan. The monthly payment amount shows up automatically as a result of the formula based on the amounts entered on lines 3, 4, and 5. But if you've messed around with the spreadsheet before you go to the dealership, you'll have a good idea what the different monthly payment amounts will represent....See Moremtnrdredux_gw
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