Car buying....can you negotiate with Toyota?

[puffkin]

We are in the market to possibly buy a Toyota Corolla. We need something with a back seat for when the baby comes (DH currently has a pick up truck). Our budget is really tight.

Anyway, we test drove a Corolla last night, and I was surprised by how much I liked it. We don't want a car with a lot of bells and whistles (like I said, budget is VERY tight) but we want reliable, safe, fuel economy, etc. Anyway, the preliminary numbers are coming in close to our budget, but not quite there yet.....we kept saying that it wasnt' going to cut it and the dealer kept trying to take away options or extend the financing term. My question is, will Toyota's deal on price, or are they one of those companies that pretty much sticks to sticker? We don't want to waste the time pursuing this if they won't bring the price down, and I refuse to pay sticker on a car.

 

[Laurajean1014]

I'm a professional negotiator and I was told (at a very young age), that EVERYTHING is negotiable. That was excellent advice.

You can try going to Costco or AAA - they both have programs (for a fee) that will lower the cost of the car you want. You may have to buy it at a different dealership.

 

[stinkerbelle]

When I bought my Rav4 last September...they were very tight on the number.

DH negotiated them giving us more for the trade in...(in the end, the numbers still worked out to what we wanted...but they never actually lowered the cost on the Rav).

Are you looking at an 05 or 06? (they might want to move the 'leftover' 05's...)

best of luck to you

 

[cepmom]

I just bought a 2005 Sienna...I got prices from the dealer on line before I went in there. I also got prices form various other dealers for the same car and no one could beat this dealer's price. The price they gave me online was about 5,000 off the sticker price. When we finally went in several weeks later, I did not tell them I already had a price via email. The salesman started with the sticker price and said "maybe we can get a little off that price, like 1,000 or so" Then I produced the email quote and they honored the price. We did have to negotiate a little bit also on the trade in value.

 

[crazyme5kids]

We negotiated with ours. I did my research, I knew exactly what I wanted option wise and knew what I should pay for them (ballpark figure). We knew what we wanted to pay, the dealer found the truck with the options I wanted, she came in at a higer price than what we were willing to spend. My husband said we needed the price to come down more, and it did. We had a price range in mind and they were within it so we made the deal.

Look at Edmunds.com. It's a great site and gives you a ton of info.

 

[CheshireVal]

Toyota will negotiate (Scion-- a Toyota divsion-- won't, though!)

 

[Tigger&Belle]

What I did when I bought my new Honda Odyssey (I know, not a Toyota, but it works the same) is to go to their website and do a search of all the dealers within a couple hours from my house. I then sent out e-mail queries with exactly what I wanted. I asked if they had what I wanted or if they could get it and exactly what the price would be, including all fees, etc.

I got some concrete prices. Some places didn't have it, but would be getting what I wanted. Others said they could get it. I contacted a place that had the exact van that I wanted that was coming in and asked their price. It was higher than other places. Before I went with a cheaper place I asked the one dealership if they would meet my price and told them if they would I would come there and buy it. They *almost* met the price and I was happy with their price. We agreed to the price and when it came in we went and bought it. The guy later told me that it was the lowest price that anyone has ever paid for one of their vans with those options.

The Odysseys are a very popular van and if I was able to deal with them I'm sure you'll be able to deal on the Corolla.

Oh, I did have to send the one dealer the e-mail that showed the price that the other dealer gave me so he knew I wasn't just making it up. That's the value of doing this all via e-mail.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

One other thing--by negotiating the way I did the dealers knew that I was no-nonsense and they did not try to push any extras on me. They knew that, very simply, if they cut a good deal I would be in to buy and wouldn't be leading them on for weeks or months looking, test driving, etc and then not buying.

It was actually a very fun process and I wish that we were in the market for another vehicle soon!

 

[crazyme5kids]

Tigger&Belle is right. One other thing too, don't let the dealer make you feel like you have to take what they have. My Toyota dealer ran a search of other dealers to find the truck I wanted. I was flexable on the color as well as one other small thing (can't remember what that was though). I think that helped as far as them feeling I wasn't impossible to please. It was a pleasant transaction.

 

[LindaR]

I am a former car salesperson. It's way too difficult to try to explain all the "how to's" but I will tell you that every salesperson has a quota and every dealership has a quota to meet each month. The BEST time to buy a car (for you) is at the end of the month. If the salesperson or dealership (two seperate catagories) has not met their quota, they are more apt to negotiate to close a deal.

 

[stevenpensacola]

http://www.carbuyingtips.com/

Before you spend any money, take some time to look over this site. Will save you some money and peace of mind.

 

[golfgal]

We were able to negotiate some on our Toyota's. We had a Corolla that we drove for 16 year, needing a new starter once, that was it for repairs (other then maintenance things like brakes, etc.). The Corolla is probably the most reliable car on the market. We even fit 3 car seats in there in a pinch.

If you want to save a little money, a used Corolla would be the way to go.

 

[Christine]

My mom just bought a new Toyota Corolla last month. I believe she paid about $15,500 for hers.

First answer--yes, Toyota is negotiable.

Second answer--not so much on Corolla's. Because of the fuel costs right now, the Corolla is a hot car. In fact, when my mom was looking for them, she went to a few dealers and there were hardly any on the lots. Maybe one or two. Camry's are another story. They are VERY negotiable on these.

Anway, my mom ended up doing the internet pricing thing (that's where we feel we get the best price). She had to wait about a month to get the Corolla she wanted but she felt that they weren't too negotiable on THAT particular model.

 

[wilderness gal]

I know this is early in the year to ask but........will dealerships deal around Christmas time for the Honda's or Toyota's? We want to purchase our son either a Honda "Civic" or Toyota "Corolla" for this Christmas, he graduates in 2007 & we wanted him to have a car for graduation, but didn't know if it was feasible to wait until the 1st of the year or would they deal. I wanted to start looking now but we are very limited in the dealerships in our area.
1 - Honda Dealership
2 - Toyota Dealerships

Any info would be HELPFUL

Thanks !

 

[Christine]

I know this is early in the year to ask but........will dealerships deal around Christmas time for the Honda's or Toyota's? We want to purchase our son either a Honda "Civic" or Toyota "Corolla" for this Christmas, he graduates in 2007 & we wanted him to have a car for graduation, but didn't know if it was feasible to wait until the 1st of the year or would they deal. I wanted to start looking now but we are very limited in the dealerships in our area.
1 - Honda Dealership
2 - Toyota Dealerships

Any info would be HELPFUL

Thanks !

I would think that you could get a good deal during the holidays. Despite what the Lexus commercials would have you believe, *most* people don't get cars for Christmas!! I think most people are so busy attending parties and doing shopping that it would be a slow time for car sales (just like home sales). I would probably do it before Christmas rather than after the new year. I think people get the *itch* back after the holidays are over.

I also think that July/August is one of the best times for buying the last of the current model year.

 

[LindaR]

You have to research EACH car company to see when THEIR new model year starts - they are not at the same time! A month or two after a dealership is flooded with the new model year is a great time to purchase the previous model year. Again, shopping at the end of the month will be in your best interest. Unless there is some "fantastic" interest rate/rebate/employee "deals" being advertised (and business is brisk because of this), the holiday season is also a good time to shop. Most folks are focused on their holiday shopping (not cars) and the dealerships don't meet their quotas.

 

[wilderness gal]

Thanks ! we're still saving up to pay for it anyway, so that's good to know about the holiday's. I sure would like to find a "BIG" bow like Lexus has on those cars to put on "Michael's" new car. He thinks he's going to get the car @ graduation not Christmas but it's pending that scholarship offer. (Hopefully LSU and/or NSU) - as you can see a TRUMPET player

Thanks again for the info, much needed & valuable info !

 

[Davids-Coco]

I have to second the Costco thing... in terms of Mazdas, their deal is something like $50-$100 over INVOICE, no where near the sticker price. DH's work offers company fleet pricing, so we get ours for $18 over invoice. But, that is still a whole lot cheaper than msrp.

My fav part? No haggling, they give you the car at that price.

In terms of how this works (according to our fav fleet sales guy - 3 cars through him), the fleet guys are given comission based on how many cars they sell instead of how much markup they get on a vehicle.

 

[puffkin]

Well, now to throw another wrinkle into the issue, we are possibly looking at leasing a Camry......going to test drive one tonight to see if we like it or not.

I was checking around the dealerships for Corollas and the one large dealership has a whole load of Lease deals right now and the Camry was coming in cheaper than the Corolla with the terms we want.

It PAINS me to even consider a lease, but we are both SUV/truck people who keep our cars a long time. The only reason we are even in the market is because the truck doesn't have a back seat for the baby. If it did, we would drive it until it died. We can't afford an SUV/truck right now, and really want something to get us through the next couple years until my car is paid off. Therefore, we really want low monthly payments. We considered the Corolla because we knew it would hold decent resale value for us, but in this situation a lease would probably work too. I just hate the thought of leasing........ugh!

 

[EthansMom]

I have a 99 Corolla -- love it! When I purchased it new, the dealership was very willing to negotiate. I paid a lot less than the sticker price, but I had done A LOT of research.

If you aren't into the hassle of negotiating, I also recommend a car buying service like Costco has. I recently read an article in one of the finance magazines that said a car buying service will cost you only about $250-$300 more than the best price a hard-core negotiator could get on his/her own. And most of us (1) aren't hard-core negotiators and (2) are willing to pay $250 for the convenience of walking in to the dealership and just picking up the car.