How to get the best new car deal - help!

cookie123

New member
What's the best deal you can expect when buying a new vehicle, as related to the sticker price.

I was looking on line at some CRVs and at Walser, they have 'the Walser way.' This is haggle-free pricing. The CRV is 200 off MRSP. Is that really the best deal you could expect?
 
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autumnlily

New member
$200 off doesn't sound like a good deal.
I noticed a lot of sales ending tomorrow... might be worth going somewhere you can haggle.

We have a "haggle free" lot and they actually do an amazing job - especially with used vehicles.
 

LISmama810

Admin - CPS Technician
There's a website you can go to that will tell you the high, low, and average price people in your area are ACTUALLY paying for new cars. I forget the name of it though. :eek:

Anyone know? I can ask DH.
 

tl01

New member
True car.com can help you get a price certificate for a car in your area. If you are financing a Honda.. They have .9% financing this weekend. Look online at your local dealer, check their new car inventory... Find a car you want and then call, ask for sales and offer a price for the car. Hondas are in shorter supply due to the tsunami but I'd still want to save more on a CRV.
 

Guest

New member
Bahahaha, $200 off MSRP? The CR-V is about to be replaced with an all new model. In CA, dealers would have to seriously start discounting soon.

Edmunds.com is the site LISMama is talking about. I find that "price" useless. Very easy to beat.

Easiest way to get a good price is to e-mail all the dealers you're willing to drive out to to buy a vehicle. Whether this is a 20 mile radius, 50 mile, etc is up to you. You e-mail them all what car you're looking for (a Honda is easy cuz they don't really have any standalone options so it's basically "white 2011 CR-V LX 4WD"). Then, wait a day or two to collect responses. Then, take the best offers and play them off each other. Like, "a dealer offered "X" amount, can you beat it?" Or, just counter back with your own offer.

Use Edmunds.com to look up the invoice price and see if there are any rebates. If it's a factory to dealer rebate, you still take that into consideration. That's how you get a car under invoice. I doubt a CR-V has big rebates tho. Hondas rarely do. In CA, all that's out there is 1.9% financing.

Always negotiate from the invoice. In this case, take invoice and negotiate up. Like $200 over invoice. Starting from MSRP is what a dealer would love to negotiate from cuz they tend to make more that way.

And when e-mailing, ask for the out the door price to make sure you're comparing apples to apples. Some dealers like to sneak in extra "fees" and crap so they might offer $200 over invoice like another dealer, but then add in $800 extra in fees that the other dealer doesn't.
 

SafeDad

CPSDarren - Admin
Staff member
Use buying services to get a price first. Try www.carsdirect.com, www.carwoo.com, www.truecar.com, try pricing services from your credit union, wholesale club or online at places like Amercian Express or Consumer Reports. Many of these use a third party company like zag to get quotes, but some use their own network.

Use one or more of the above and you'll get plenty of offers. You should be finding a deal similar to the best offers or negotiate one below the best offer. On the car I bought a couple months ago, I started by using a few of these, then emailed dealers that had a model in the trim level and color I wanted. I ended up driving a few hours to get what I wanted at a good price, but that usually isn't necessary.

On a model that has good supply and normal demand, you should generally get offers around "invoice" price and a good deal will be below invoice price, before any rebates. On a few low supply or high demand models, you may well pay close to sticker price or above. For example, models like the Prius and Volt command a premium in some areas.

If you have a trade-in, do the same with used car quotes from Edmunds.com, nada.com, kbb.com or best yet, get a guaranteed offer from a Carmax if you have one nearby. If you get taken on your trade-in, all the effort you spent getting a good price on the car you are buying was wasted.
 

cookie123

New member
Use buying services to get a price first. Try www.carsdirect.com, www.carwoo.com, www.truecar.com, try pricing services from your credit union, wholesale club or online at places like Amercian Express or Consumer Reports. Many of these use a third party company like zag to get quotes, but some use their own network.

Use one or more of the above and you'll get plenty of offers. You should be finding a deal similar to the best offers or negotiate one below the best offer. On the car I bought a couple months ago, I started by using a few of these, then emailed dealers that had a model in the trim level and color I wanted. I ended up driving a few hours to get what I wanted at a good price, but that usually isn't necessary.

On a model that has good supply and normal demand, you should generally get offers around "invoice" price and a good deal will be below invoice price, before any rebates. On a few low supply or high demand models, you may well pay close to sticker price or above. For example, models like the Prius and Volt command a premium in some areas.

If you have a trade-in, do the same with used car quotes from Edmunds.com, nada.com, kbb.com or best yet, get a guaranteed offer from a Carmax if you have one nearby. If you get taken on your trade-in, all the effort you spent getting a good price on the car you are buying was wasted.

Thanks. By invoice, does that mean sticker or ?
 

Admin

Admin - Webmaster
Invoice is a totally meaningless price that is usually well below MSRP. It is quoted in most price lists along with MSRP. It's basically a good place to start. It certainly does NOT mean dealer cost.
 

Guest

New member
Invoice is supposed to be dealer's cost. It isn't, but unless the car is totally disliked, it's really hard to get actual dealer's cost. Not much point in trying for it for most cars.

Just use that as a starting point for negotiations. MSRP is more of a "meaningless price" than the invoice is. The reason for that is right in the name. The "S" stands for "suggested", meaning it's not set in stone so no reason why a consumer should really look at that price at all.
 

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