Buying a Car Through the Internet Dept?

[daemom]

Have any of you negotiated for a car through the dealer's internet department? Any tips for me?

Thanks!

 

[ceecee]

I bought my Honda CR-V thru the internet, he gave me a quote and I said I didn't want to go over a certain price. Then we went and tried to get the same price in person and couldn't! I didn't want to commit to buy until I saw and drove the car first. We then told them about the internet quote and got it. My friend did the same thing with her Oddessy.

 

[Folklore]

This is how we bought our last van. It was actually at a dealership 2 hours away. We did all negotiation over the phone/ Internet, which included our trade-in. My husband drove our trade-in there, drove and inspected the new van, signed the paperwork and was on his way home. It was the best car buying experience ever and we would do it again in a heartbeat. We also got a better deal then if we just walked in off the street.

 

[si-am]

I did this with my most recent car. Just make sure you print the offer. When I went into the dealership to make the purchase, they tried to give me some other deal and only when I produced the printout did they honor the Internet pricing.

 

[Catira]

We have bought 3 cars through the internet sales dept. The car we wanted was not sold locally so we did all our negotiations via emails. I let them know ahead of time I am shopping for quotes with other dealers close by and to please let me know their best offer. Love the fact that we never set foot in the dealership until we are ready to sign the paperwork.

 

[Scotico]

We did that for my wife's car. They delivered the car to us and that was it. If the car ever needs servicing, they come pick up the car and give us a loaner.

 

[findmewdw]

We bought our highlander via internet from a dealer in North Carolina. I had researched and tried to find a better deal close to home and never could. I figured my family could take a mini vacation and if everything added up according to our emails, I'd drive home with a new car. We drove a rental there, checked out the car, no hassling from anyone, signed the papers, and then enjoyed some touring of Biltmore Estates. Best car buying experience ever. I did keep thinking that any minute they would try to pull something out of the hat, but everything was smooth sailing. Price was just as what we had agreed online. We would definitely buy this way again. Very nice experience.

 

[Pigeon]

We bought a new Nissan a few months ago. I went to one of the sites that sends a request to a bunch of local dealers.

I got one response from a dealer at a great price for exactly the car I'd asked about (base model). They did include one small discount that I'd expected I wouldn't qualify for, and I emailed back and I was correct. It was still a very, very good deal.

A second dealer responded with an invitation to come in to test drive. I responded that I didn't need to come in, if that's what I wanted, I would have just come in in the first place. What I wanted was a quote and did he want to provide one or not. He did and it was a decent quote, but not as good as the first.

A second responded again with an invitation to come in. I responded to him the same way as the second guy. He then responded with a quote for a higher level trim package. I asked if he had any base model cars he could quote and again he wanted me to come in. We were done.

We bought from the first guy and it was remarkably painless. So, be clear about what you want and also make them clarify any discounts to be sure you will qualify for them. Take the printout with you when you go in.

 

[daemom]

Thanks so much everyone!! Your comments make me think I'll be on the right track by using the internet department!! I hate, hate, HATE negotiating!! And I'm glad that a PP mentioned printing the offer! I would like to think that I would, but can see myself heading to the dealer and THEN remembering that I had left it! For those of you that had a car to trade, did you just tell them what you were trading and they gave you a trade-in price without seeing or driving the vehicle?

 

[ljcrochet]

We did this when I had an Odyssey, except the dealer who gave us the quote would not honor their deal so we went to another local Honda dealer. We showed them the email, they honored the deal but we had to take the one in the color i wanted which they didn't realize was my first choice in colors.

 

[clh2]

We did internet negotiating with our 2 latest cars.

Car 1 - DH and I met at the dealership - we were just coming from different directions. Did the deal...we left in exactly 1 hour. That is all the time I had, I had to pick up DD from a practice. They must not have thought I was serious on the time, but at 1:55 - I put on my big heavy winter coat. They wrapped things up quickly at that point.

Car 2 - DH and I had the price all negotiated - prior to getting to the dealer. No surprises. We test drove the car, and bought it. No trade-in as we were keeping DH's old car for our soon to be driving DD. This one probably took about 30 minutes.

The internet negotiators need to "grab" you with a good deal, otherwise you won't go in. Keeping a copy of the deal - is a really good idea. Also - KNOW what you want for your trade - if you are doing one. That is really their wildcard - and can swing the deal one way or the other.

Car negotiating (whether you do it in person, or over the internet) is really about research. The more research you do, the better your deal will be.

 

[rock_doctor]

Know what you are talking about. Do your homework, know what the sticker price for the car is (can usually download the window sticker), know what the invoice price is, the hold back price and the kick back amount. This can usually be calculate by knowing the percentages for each item. When i bought my pickup in 09 i had it worked out i could calculate the different amounts with in $5... I looked online, going to each dealers website and if they had the truck i wanted on their lot I printed the window sticker and they made it into the running. Once i did my research i narrow it down to a half dozen trucks along the eastern seaboard (Florida to Maine). I then called each dealer and asked their rock bottom price and also what they charge for administrative fees (which are fake, only a way to make a little more money off you). I ended up with two dealers, one in Maryland and one if Florida. The one in Florida wanted $399 in admin fees and the one in Maryland wanted $99. I told the one in Florida to take a leap and talked the one in Maryland to eat the $99... Bought the truck for $200 under invoice and at the that time Ford was giving $8000 cash back. So i got the truck for a little more then $21k off sticker price. The truck before i bought from a dealer called VanBortel in NY over the phone. They do not negotiate a price. They set a flat price and that is it. Usually the price is extremely good and is much lower then the rest (they are a very high volume dealer ship). They sell Ford and Subaru and i totally recommend them. Their price was $1500 under invoice...i don't remember sticker for that truck as it was 6 yrs ago.

 

[Happiest mommy]

my DH is in the process of doing this now, he says its the best buying ever, like pp said yes do your research on the car you want

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

Yes! We did this with our last 2 cars. It was the best, stress-free way to get a good price! We e-mailed several local dealers, told them exactly what we wanted, and asked for a quote including all charges and fees and taxes. We picked one, scheduled a time to come get it, and all the paperwork was waiting for us.

 

[amcnj]

Also investigate any deals from the manufacturer such as rebates or special interest rates. I questioned which rebates were included in the price I was quoted as it seemed high, and was asked which ones I knew about! So I listed every single one I had read about and saved a good deal when all applicable were now included. As said before, do your homework first.
Good luck.

 

[Jeff_G]

Did this with the last car I purchased, I emailed every dealer within driving distance stating the make, model color, and options I wanted and asked them to provide their best out the door offer.

This was in 2004 so Internet sales were still fairly new some of the emails I received back were hilarious.

"We only sell vehicles at MSRP..."

"Oh sure we could come down several thousand dollars on that vehicle to MSRP..."

"You will not find a single dealer in this state selling that vehicle below MSRP!"


I forwarded the last guy several of the quote from his competitors....


In the end I went with the one who said they could get me the vehicle at the best price. The vehicle was inbound to another dealer and they did a dealer trade.


Before all of this I had done my research, test drove a similar model vehicle and had a good idea what I wanted to pay.

We made a small deposit via credit card that was fully refundable. A few weeks later the vehicle arrived at the dealer, I printed out the emailed quote (just in case), drove to the dealer, inspected the vehicle test drove it and finished the sale.

I handed over a check for the previously negotiated price, they did ask if I wanted a couple of other extra dealer installed items which I declined without any pressure.

It was by far the fastest transaction I have ever made for a vehicle purchase, I think we were in and out in less then 30 minutes (not include the test drive).

 

[teCh0010]

I've done this twice with Honda's. They are easy since all you have to worry about is color, an EX-L is an EX-L at any dealer.

I get the best price from the high volume internet dealers within 400 miles of me (St. Louis and Chicago seem to have the best prices), and then I take them into the local dealer and talk to the sales manager. If they will match the price within a reasonable amount (a few hundred since I don't have to drive) I'll write a check on the spot, if they come back with a high number I just walk out take a road trip to pick my car up.

One car they matched, the second car I bought this way they local dealer said he couldn't match the price and make money. The higher volume dealers get "manufacture support" based on volume, sometimes they will sell cars at almost break even to keep volume up for that kick back.

 

[jgreco]

We've been buying our cars like this for years. If you use the website cars.com, there is an option for local dealers to send you their best price. We got $5000 off MSRP on our new van this way. I was originally going to buy a used one, but the brand new one wound up costing the same!

 

[Pigeon]

We've been buying our cars like this for years. If you use the website cars.com, there is an option for local dealers to send you their best price. We got $5000 off MSRP on our new van this way. I was originally going to buy a used one, but the brand new one wound up costing the same!

That was my experience as well. We went into this last purchase thinking we'd buy used, but it was the same price to buy new.

 

[dex08]

Our most recent automobile purchase was done through emails. I did a lot of research online before we went to see a dealer. We walked in and test drove the vehicle we wanted and they just didn't want to bargain with us so we walked out.

The next day I looked up to find over 25 dealers within a 30 mile radius of us. I went to 10 of their websites and shot off the same message to each of them. It basically said we are ready to buy now, this is what we want and in this color, we don't have a trade in and are not in a hurry to purchase but we want the bottom line absolute best price you can give us on this vehicle. We asked for a breakdown of base cost with destination charge included, separate costs for the accessories we wanted and their document fee info.

Ultimately, the dealer that had the highest quote was the one we got the best deal from. They called me and I told them their quote was too high and they said they would beat any quote by $200 plus we got free oil changes for life. All we had to do was show them the email with the lower price. Because I had them breakdown the base cost plus destination charge separately from the accessories, the dealer we bought from charged us the same base + destination. It worked out better for us because our dealer's accessories prices were lower.

Oh... also since our dealer's doc fee was ridiculously high, I asked if they could do something about that and they tossed in additional accessories for us that I requested!

It was the absolute best vehicle buying experience I have ever had!! Easy and pain free!