New car buying saga

[DapperDan]

Yep, buying Honda and Toyota is nothing like buying Ford etc etc. Little to haggle room. No massive rebates. All dealerships are required to put on an extra package. No special Honda sales month.

I’ve had the exact opposite experience. First tundra I bought was stickered at 43k and got them down to 34,200 before trade. Second tundra was 44 and got them down to 36k before trade. My wife bought a Camry and was stickered at 29k and change and I got them down to 22,800 before trade. None of these had more than 3k in rebates. And all had the free Toyota care with oil changes and blah blah.

Except the Camry. It did not have the the tire warranty. We bought that from discount Bc of the brand of tires on the car. Was half the price through them. But they only do it on certain brands I believe. Always worth checking on any new car you buy.

Looked at Ford F-350’s last couple of months and 7k off was the best I could find on a truck that had a MSRP in the upper 70’s. So 10% off Msrp from Ford. Dodge was the same.....

still driving my tundra...


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[CaptainDave]

Based on my experience, some foreign car brands just don't deal like GMC/Ford.

Coming from buying a few Chevy trucks over the years, I went shopping for an Audi my wife wanted several months back. To my surprise, these guys would not hardly budge. I went to a few dealerships, left my business card, walked out, etc., and never even received a follow-up call from the sales person, other than some dealer survey questions. Literally, getting 6% off MSRP was the deal.

It's all a game at the end of the day. Who's to say that Chevy and Ford don't inflate their MSRP's to make it appear you are getting a better deal. These manufacturers also are dealing a bit more in volume and offer more rebates.

I also think some of these brands rather a more up-front approach on the deal as compared to the haggling back and forth for multiple hours.

[tigerscowboy]

Just something to ponder...

If you owned a business, would you be able to make it on a 5% profit margin?

[DapperDan]

Just something to ponder...

If you owned a business, would you be able to make it on a 5% profit margin?

Depends on volume and price of product I suppose. But we all know dealerships operate at higher than 5% margins even when you think you got a great deal. If I had 10 salesman doing 30 cars a month, each car has an average of 2000 profit set at 5%, that’s 600,000 a month. Now I don’t know what it costs to operate a dealership each month, or the exact margins in the average sale, but 600k is pretty solid.

One of my best friends is in sales and is a GM for a big corporate company. Clayton homes. And he does extremely well for himself. I know his margins and he is a volume guy. His staff sells around 100-120 homes a year. Better to sell slot for a little than a few sales for a lot.


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[ejj005]

About to be going through the same thing. Not looking forward to it!!!

[dustoffer]

So thankful for my friend who is the GM at our local dealership---I walk in, tell him what I want, and his staff finds it, get it to their location, and I am done.

[retrieverman]

My wife is on her second CRV, and we couldn’t be happier. Bought the first one local off the lot in 2004, and I believe we got a fair deal. Went back to the same dealer in ‘14, and if it wasn’t on the lot at the time, you were just out of luck. Well, after 10 years with her first CRV, my wife had some “got to haves” on the second one, and the dealership wouldn’t even try to find her what she wanted. Long story short, I found the exact color, interior, package she wanted at Holmes Honda in Shreveport. I called to confirm that particular CRV was still there, and after confirming it was, they asked how long it would take us to get there and said it would be idling with the a/c on with a salesman to meet us. It was, and it was the single best car buying experience I’ve ever had. Good price and absolutely no BS. Ask for Jason Norman.

As for attempting to buy a Ford truck from Randall Noe in Terrell, that’s a story for a different day, but I will say it didn’t happen and never will...

[Kdog]

Hate the negotiation process of buying a car. Bought our last 3 vehicles at places that don't negotiate. My dad used to work at a car dealership in the 70's, he actually enjoys the process. I don't.

[BlackoutRam2500]

Car buying can be stressful but my advice is don't give in and find a dealership willing to negotiate. Be willing to travel and look everywhere. My wife looks EVERYWHERE! I'm talking Dennis Dillon Dodge in Idaho EVERYWHERE and she will ship it in on a flatbed if it will save her $500. We drove all the way up to Longview to get my Dodge but I got what I wanted and she paid what she wanted.

[N Dubya]

The one time I walked into a Honda dealership I was told they don't negotiate. So, I bought another brand.

As for the add on's, it's pretty annoying. Stick to your guns and be patient. Something will turn up. I wouldn't fold just yet.

[jdg13]

Some will work with you, but when someone walks in knowing how much they want to pay, what is a "fair" price, and is savvy enough regarding all the add on charges, most don't want to play. They figure eventually someone naive will walk in and buy it or will finance it forever and not care about the price. On my last truck I called a bunch of dealers, all of which had the same truck like I wanted. After a while all the prices were within a couple hundred bucks, so I figured that's the best I would get. I had to reiterate numerous time no add ons. Keep looking and don't take your eye off of them.

[Mike D]

Just another reason I don’t buy new cars. Not worth the hassle when I can save several thousand on a 2-4 year old used one.


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[Brad96]

I hate the dealer add-on's. When we bought my wife's Accord a couple years ago, it had a bunch of that stuff on it. I told the salesman to remove the add-on's, or order us a new one without all that junk. Of course, they didn't do that. But, he did cut the price of the add-on junk DRASTICALLY, until I felt like it was a fair deal. Maybe I could have done better by finding some remote back-woods dealer that doesn't do the add-on's. I knew that stuff was overpriced, but I was still shocked at how much he knocked off.

[meltingfeather]

Just something to ponder...

If you owned a business, would you be able to make it on a 5% profit margin?

Isn't "making it" by definition 0% profit margin with profit being gravy?
Also, % of what?

[meltingfeather]

Deals are vehicle specific and depend on demand.
Think you could have paid under sticker for a 50th anniversary Mustang? A bit of an extreme example, but that is how it works. If they don't have to work to sell the car, they won't.