Help me negotiate new car

[happily single]

Well friends, the time has come. I need to purchase a car. I hate car shopping. Seriously. So I’ve made it simple. I’m getting a newer version of my current car. The last time I purchased a car was in 2018.

im looking at a brand new Nissan Rogue SV. I am not trading in a car.

how do I negotiate the best deal?

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

Email 5-10 closest dealers with the spec you want. Let them reply with what they have and what they are willing to do on price.

 

[Southernmiss]

In our recent experience, there's not much negotiating now.

There was a customer waiting behind us to see if we were buying our new car. Had we not bought it for full price, they would have.

In fact, cars had been selling over list price.

Took dh a little while for me to get him to realize before we headed out to shop that there would not be any haggling.

 

[fla4fun]

Email 5-10 closest dealers with the spec you want. Let them reply with what they have and what they are willing to do on price.

I agree. We did the same thing by phone in the days before Internet too. I have never haggled on a car price.

Do some research before you contact them, so you know what a fair price is, and you know what to expect. Make sure you compare apples to apples. I once had confirmed the model and trim and arranged for home delivery, only to have them try to pawn off a base trim car instead. It was very obvious when I got in the car for the test drive and the interior was all wrong! Needless to say, they turned around and drove the car back to the lot, and we never took our business there again. Bad move on their part, because we had purchased other vehicles there in the past.

My last car purchase was so painless, it was great! I knew what I wanted. One of my coworkers had recently purchased a vehicle from the same manufacturer and liked the guy he dealt with, so I got a personal referral. Their starting price was below where my offer would have been and the dealer dropped the price twice more without me even asking (pre covid) because they wanted a sale before the end of the month. I got the car I wanted, in the trim I wanted, at a good price. I doubt it will be so simple next time.

Good luck with your search!

 

[lowlight]

In our recent experience, there's not much negotiating now.

There was a customer waiting behind us to see if we were buying our new car. Had we not bought it for full price, they would have.

In fact, cars had been selling over list price.

Took dh a little while for me to get him to realize before we headed out to shop that there would not be any haggling.

That is definitely true in some parts of the country, in others like mine the lots are now overflowing again and the desperation is apparent. I've been looking for the past few months and I don't even notice the dealers adding the 15k of dealer options to base models they were doing anymore. This definitely is dependent on location and also car you are buying (for example someone buying a 'vette is gonna have a bad time).

 

[tvguy]

I follow a couple auto vloggers and the new car market is still upside down. Dealers in many parts of the country have cars, but many are refusing to negotiate on price. They got used to the 2021-22 market where there was a shortage of cars and more buyers than they could handle, so they wanted above sticker price. Despite rising interest rates and more cars available, it appears many of them would rather let a car sit on the lot than sell it for a reduced price.
Let us know how it goes.

 

[barkley]

do you belong to costco? their car purchase program is free of charge and takes the hassle out of haggling. there are also some nice perks. easy to use-just call the program and they connect you with the authorized dealerships.

 

[kymom99]

do you belong to costco? their car purchase program is free of charge and takes the hassle out of haggling. there are also some nice perks. easy to use-just call the program and they connect you with the authorized dealerships.

Years ago AAA had a program like that. We wanted a Camry and they put us in touch with a dealer and a pre negotiated price. It was so easy.

 

[OneOftheB's]

When I purchased my last car I built it on the Costco website and got a price. Then I contacted, via email, a couple of other dealers around me with the specifics I wanted asking for a drive out price. I went with the dealer that came in about $1800 below the Costco price, but was farther away. It helped that I purchased the car in April 2020, during Covid lockdowns, but were I buying a car now I would follow the same steps

 

[happily single]

do you belong to costco? their car purchase program is free of charge and takes the hassle out of haggling. there are also some nice perks. easy to use-just call the program and they connect you with the authorized dealerships.

Thanks for that reminder. I do belong to Costco. I will check them out.

 

[GAN]

I’d start with a site like truecar….
https://www.truecar.com/nissan/rogue/

That will give you an idea of what level others in your area are paying for the same model.

 

[loves to dive]

I have the same car. When I bought mine I went to the local dealer and a few in the Atlanta area. I didn't know exactly what I wanted so first I went to all the local dealers and drove the same type of cars to narrow it down. I did my research to find out what the average price was at the time. I went to my local dealer and got a price from them and went to the Atlanta dealer. He gave me a price I didn't like, we went through the whole let me get my manager thing and I said nope, not doing that crap here is the price I've been quoted elsewhere give me a lower price or I'm walking. He said he couldn't do that so I got up and walked. I was halfway out the door and he came running and said he could give me the same price as the local dealer. I told him nope, we were done, I said I was walking and watch me walk. I came back and bought it locally.

I've also bought one through Carmax years ago. Again, did all my research in advance, got my financing in hand after much research for the best place for that. Found the best price for the exact car I built on line at Carmax, ordered it and got the price, got the check and went and did a quick test drive handed over the check and out the door.

I will say it is a little more challenging being a woman but I've learned that if I'm firm and do my research first it takes them about 2 min. to realize I'm not a push over. I had my son with me one time I bought one and after it was said and done and we drove off in the new car he was bent over laughing. He said he thought the salesperson was going to start crying at one point. That time I was trading in a car I didn't really want to trade in but was caring for my mom and needed on that was easier for her to get in and out of. Since I didn't really want to trade in my car I was being a little, shall we say, less agreeable then normal.

 

[cvjw]

Before covid, I would get in touch with the internet sales person at a few dealerships and tell them what I want. They would compete against each other to sell the car to me. Each one lowering the price. Until we got where I wanted and then I bought the car.

This only worked because the atlanta market had lots of competing dealerships.

Not sure how it will be post covid. If I were buying a car, I would try the same thing again. Won’t hurt and I would just be ok with paying more.

 

[HannaBelle]

In our recent experience, there's not much negotiating now.

There was a customer waiting behind us to see if we were buying our new car. Had we not bought it for full price, they would have.

In fact, cars had been selling over list price.

Took dh a little while for me to get him to realize before we headed out to shop that there would not be any haggling.

This is 100% true.

We just bought 2 trucks for our small business and there was zero haggling.

I agree about emailing multiple dealerships with specs you want to ask for their best and final offer. I would probably send it all in 1 email so they know who I am shopping. They need to send their best and final offer.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I’ve used this the past few times I’ve bought to find what I was looking for.
(Some of us remember when it used to be a monthly book you picked up at the convenience store.)
https://www.autotrader.com/

It helps you find vehicles out of your immediate area.
Don’t hesitate to use Advanced Search.
I’ve even had distant places offer to take the car to me to see. (Helps if they’re in a somewhat remote location.)

In the past I’ve used Mass Buying Power which was a predecessor to the AAA and Costco programs.
You bargained (or not) up from invoice cost, rather than down from MRSP.

Haven’t bought anything since Covid, though. (And hope I don’t have to!)
Good luck!

 

[barkley]

I will say it is a little more challenging being a woman but I've learned that if I'm firm and do my research first it takes them about 2 min. to realize I'm not a push over. I had my son with me one time I bought one and after it was said and done and we drove off in the new car he was bent over laughing. He said he thought the salesperson was going to start crying at one point. That time I was trading in a car I didn't really want to trade in but was caring for my mom and needed on that was easier for her to get in and out of. Since I didn't really want to trade in my car I was being a little, shall we say, less agreeable then normal.

it can get interesting from the female perspective though a major dealership in the region we previously lived ended up changing one of their trade in policies for all their locations after a negotiation interaction with me (they didn't want to be on the losing end a second time).

 

[Skippy918]

I went thru Costco. Super easy.

 

[JLTraveling]

My dad negotiated contracts for the DoD for 15 years, and he taught me to negotiate hard on a car. Have gotten some amazing deals over the years, but I haven't tried since Covid. Still, I'd stick to the tried and true:

1. Do your homework. Know how much the car should cost, both baseline and out the door.
2. Never open with your final number. Always start with a lowball (but not too low, or they won't take you seriously). This gives you room to negotiate.
3. Always negotiate on the price of the car, not payments. Best to secure your own financing before you go, but dealer financing is okay as long as you don't get distracted by payment talk.
4. You said you're not trading in, but for anyone reading along who is: Always negotiate the trade-in separately. Never, ever, ever let them roll the trade-in into the negotiation. Stick to the sales price of the car first.
5. If you have someone who can go with you, the good cop bad cop routine works brilliantly. One of you play the role of sympathetic to the dealer, totally understanding of whatever they tell you is a reason they can't lower the price. The other has a choice: Play hardball and reject all the arguments or, if you can pull it off, play clueless. Pretend you don't understand what they're telling you, and substitute your own arguments instead.
6. Be willing to walk. You can tell in the first five minutes if they really want to sell you a car or not. I've sat there for an hour with a dealer who really wanted to come to a deal, and I've walked almost instantly with a "take or leave it" type. And do NOT ever go over the final number you had in mind. I've walked over a $250 difference (and ended up saving $1500 by going to a different dealer).
7. Be willing to wait. They'll try to wear you down with mind games, in hopes that you'll either cave or leave. As long as they're still throwing numbers out there, you still have a chance to get to where you want to be.

 

[SteveH]

As it's been said there is not a lot of negotiating going on. I drive by the Toyota dealership daily, they have almost no cars on the lot, Mercedes is even worse. Jeep/Ram/Dodge dealership gets a lot of inventory in, it may last a week or two. As I'm a Jeep guy I watch their stock.

I just bought a used Jeep Gladiator on December 29th. I used the end of Month and end of Year to my favor. The non-Jeep Dealership wanted to move it, but they also are not going to lose money. In my case I did have a trade-in, I'd done my research so I had a reasonable value on my old Jeep in mind as well as for the new Jeep. Back in the fall trade-in values were crazy, it's mellowed a bit but you can still do pretty good. I won't get into the back and forth with the sales person running to the "sales manager" in the dark room. They presented their offer and I told them where I would need to be. I countered once and they accepted.

I also pretty much decline anything the "finance guy" offers.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

It does give you negotiating power to have your own financing all set up. BUT, you may be able to sweeten the deal if you take the financing the dealer is offering. They make money on it, so they will usually try to match or beat yours, but sweeten the deal another way. For instance, once I got a three year warranty, and another time I got got some extra rustproofing, etc. Not the end-all-be-all, but they wouldn’t offer it at all if they weren’t trying to persuade you about something. Just one more piece of the puzzle of car shopping.