Car shopping and "internet pricing"!?!?

[Mrs. Charming]

So we spent the whole day yesterday car shopping. We even looked and test drove on Friday night. Does anyone know what the deal is with this "internet pricing" crap?!! All I'm seeing on cars.com, autotrader etc... is this "exclusive internet pricing." (i.e. 'bring in this ad for internet pricing'. Friday night, the dealer said he could work with us, gave us the whole spiel about what he could do to get us into the car. We were *starving* and didn't have the money on us, so we had to leave.

We went back the next day, did the whole spiel again... they wouldn't come down from their "internet price." We even overheard the other sales manager telling the other salesman that the internet price is essentially the bait-and-switch (my words) to get them in the door and sell them something else. We told them what we had to work with, and yesterday, they wouldn't budge. Nothing. Nada. He said that that's lower than what it would cost if you walked in off the street!! Then they said "oh maybe we could take off a couple hundred bucks." Ugh. Soo... we walked out.

Maybe we made a mistake by coming back, or maybe this "internet pricing" is the new fad. I just thought used cars were negotiable... what gives?? Oh, and the other thing I'm confused by-- why are the dealer prices *thousands* over the book value??

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

Around here it really depends on the dealership but most with internet pricing won't budge. That said 1 dealer I went to was 4k over book and would only budge by 1k on the "internet price". The dealer I bought from was 3.5k under book on their internet price and well below all other dealers around. The car checked out, no haggling, easy purchase.

 

[livsmom04]

I agree that it is really up to the dealership. I went to a dealership once with the ad in hand off the internet and they wouldn't budge but then went to another and they had the car priced 3K under book and they even got it down 2k more so that I would be able to purchase the vehicle. I'm hoping to get another deal soon because I'm looking at getting a Mazda5 real soon! I want a car that doesn't chug gas! LOL

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

In marketing terms the internet price is a "loss leader" It's one product they are willing to take a loss on to entice people in. Most places won't budge on the price. Not all dealerships haggle on car prices these days. A lot have gone to upfront priceing because thegeneral public does not like the hassel of haggling for hours with a bunch of restless kids waiting. If you don't like that dealers prices, move on. They aren't required to come down off thier prices.

 

[Mrs. Charming]

Around here it really depends on the dealership but most with internet pricing won't budge. That said 1 dealer I went to was 4k over book and would only budge by 1k on the "internet price". The dealer I bought from was 3.5k under book on their internet price and well below all other dealers around. The car checked out, no haggling, easy purchase.

Wow... sounds like you got a great deal! It's weird. Somehow Nissan dealers here seem to have mistaken "Nissan" for "Ferrari." They're all super expensive. I guess we'll just have to keep looking!

Thanks for letting me know it *is* possible to get a good deal!

 

[Handbag Lady]

I just bought a car a month ago using internet pricing. I wanted a very specific car and color, so I did a lot of searching online. I found the one I wanted in San Diego and it had this internet pricing.

We drove down and saw the car and drove it and got down to the fun part. It was internet priced at $11,960. It was just above BB value but I also knew it wasn't a terribly popular car. I started to haggle and got it for $10,650.

I think that internet pricing can be haggled upon, but you have to be willing to walk away if the price isn't right. I had been looking for three months and was willing to continue looking and told the salesman exactly that.

 

[Mrs. Charming]

I agree that it is really up to the dealership. I went to a dealership once with the ad in hand off the internet and they wouldn't budge but then went to another and they had the car priced 3K under book and they even got it down 2k more so that I would be able to purchase the vehicle. I'm hoping to get another deal soon because I'm looking at getting a Mazda5 real soon! I want a car that doesn't chug gas! LOL

That's an awesome deal, too! I hope you get another one

 

[NikiM20]

I bought a Pathfinder in December and paid $8000 under MSRP. I emailed the 3 local dealers and said x dealer has this for y price, can you beat that? It took half a day before i got to the lowest price and we bought it that afternoon

 

[bonoriffic]

This is an article that spells out what internet pricing is for new cars.
http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/articles/78914/article.html

I have never spent more than 10 minutes working out the price of a car. It should be pretty much known to you what the price will be, plus or minus a few hundred. At that point it is just a matter of finding out if you can go even lower than that, or find out if there is a compelling reason why it might go slightly higher. For instance the color we wanted was not in stock anywhere and we were literally buying one on a boat heading our way. Clearly you won't get the absolute best deal when that happens.

 

[sanapunk]

I found a car once with "internet pricing" and they tried to tell me it was a mistake when I gave them the price. The next day I came in with the ad in hand and they wouldn't go ANY lower. They also gave me the whole "a little old couple drove it to atlantic city every weekend" bit, when it was obvious by the years and the milage that this was a commutor vehicle.

Another time I went to a used car dealership looking for a specific car, and they told me it was gone already. And when I told them the price, they told me I must had been mistaken and had been looking at such and such a car they had. I told him, "um no, I'm looking for this specific type of car, why would I be looking at listings for other cars you have."

Like a PP said, it's alll to get you in the door.

 

[Evi]

when I purchased my most recent car we were quoted a price and they wouldn't go down. After signing papers I got home and went on their website and found my car for 1600 less then I paid for it I called them on it and they honored it. I was also told the car had 3 years extended warranty and 2 years free service online they also honored it they also put in that I have to pay no svs charge first 3 years if the car needs to be serviced and free car rental.

its always worth double and triple checking.

 

[Sadie22]

We once made an appointment to look at a specific used car which was advertised in the newspaper and which we had researched. It turned out we were at a funeral that day, but drove home soon afterward specifically to keep the appointment. When we arrived at the dealership we were told that the car had just sold for $5,000 more than the newspaper advertised price (which was about blue book value). Not to me, I said, and we left. A week later we received a phone call saying the car was back at the dealership; were we still interested? We checked out the car, negotiated the price down to what we wanted to pay, and bought the car. DH had fallen in love with the car (it reminded him of his first car). DS has been driving it for five years now. Would we buy another car from that dealership? Not likely.

 

[dd50]

No matter if you go in person or use the internet, always get your price for out the door. Sometimes it looks like a good deal but then they put many different fees. If you use out the door it doesn't matter how they use their little fees.

 

[SarahKate]

There is a website called www.invoicedealers.com where you can find dealerships who offer pricing at invoice.

We bought our 2011 Kia Sorento in St. Louis last month and it seems to be normal practice to sell autos at invoice cost because several sites we were on listed the invoice cost right on the site.

That Edmund's site will also list the "going price" for things like tax, title, doc fees, etc. so you know if those are in line.

We got our car at invoice cost, PLUS $2,000 in Kia incentives/rebates. They also gave us Kelly Blue Book trade-in value which got us $2,000 above and beyond what we owed. So we ended up getting our Kia about $6k off the MSRP!!

I think that all dealerships do this "internet pricing" thing differently. We have a Kia dealership right in our hometown but their "internet salesman" never would even GIVE me a price over email - he incessantly asked when I was going to come in ! On the other hand, the guy I worked with in St. Louis was 100% forthcoming. I knew EXACTLy what to expect before we ever got to teh dealership - we knew what we were going to pay, what incentives, what financing options we could go with, and what our trade would get us!

As far as OP's experience, I think that was crooked and not honest!

 

[heatherleigh]

It doesn't mean anything. It's just another sales tactic to draw in customers.

It's kind of tricky when it comes to used cars, because you do not know what price the dealership took the car in for. Of course they are entitled to making a profit, but because it isn't so cut & dry it can be difficult. I like what one of the previous posters said about knowing what price you are willing to pay for X vehicle, and paying just that.

My husband is a general manager at a Nissan store and I used to be in the car business yrs ago.

 

[LilGMom]

We have had good luck with internet pricing on new cars but we've also been willing to drive a few hours to get a good deal.

We bought a Honday Odyssey using an internet price from a dealership near Atlanta (we live 5-6 hrs. south) and it was 6k less than any dealership in my area. My SIL, that lives in that area, called and actually asked the dealer "How can you sell it that cheap?" - I could have hurt her! We made a weekend trip out of it and drove home in our new vehicle. A week later a friend of my SIL's wanted the same price for her new Odyssey from the same dealership and they were no longer offering the internet price.

When we bought a Honda Fit it was the same thing. There was a dealership 3.5 hrs. from us in Tallahassee that had an internet price that was 3-5k less than the local Honda dealership. A half day of driving and signing papers is worth that to me. And we got a good internet deal when we bought our Charger. My DH found one that had been used by the wife of the dealership owner in Central FL (again about 5-6 hrs. from us) so it technically was a used car. But dealerships in our area were 5-6k more with less options so we called to confirm the internet price and my DH drove down that weekend with a friend to pick it up.

Whenever we buy a new car we always search within a certain radius.