gabedabomb

This is a general car buying question. I know buying a car is actually 3 steps: negotiating the price of the car, the value of the car you're looking to trade in, and financing. Now, lets say you walk in and they ask you, are you looking to trade in, and you say "possibly." You start dealing, and you get to a really good price for the new car. Meanwhile you're letting on that you DO want to trade in your car. When they make you a low ball offer for the trade (which you expect b/c you got your new car to a very low price), you tell them you decided that you won't trade in anymore. Dealer realizes they can't make up the profit on the trade, thus they get pissed off.

Am I getting this process right? Is this how it works, and if so, how do dealers react? Last time I bought a car my mom knew the owner, so it was pretty easy to knock off a couple grand (though they got me on the "special coating," doh!). This time, I'm looking to buy the car on my own and give my brother my car. Can I use my current vehicle as leverage to try to get a good price?

Any comments appreciated.

OsamaBinMartin

i think its a good idea. They have their shark tactics when selling, we can have ours when buying.

Sownman

Please report back on your success using these tactics. I doubt you'll have any success as dealers are in the business of making money. If you won't allow them money in any manner they have no reason to do business with you.

1) I want to buy this car at $4000 under sticker
2) I want high blue book trade for my car
3) I want 1.9% 6 year financing.


Not likely to work out. I think you can get 1 of these three, but never all three.


Steve

gabedabomb

Moderator: thanks for the move.

Solless

What is wrong with just being honest?

I understand that many dealers aren't honest but you need to make the decison not to do business with them.

To often i see people getting raked over the coals because want and need get mixed up. THe best car shopping advice is be a stong negotatior and always be willing to walk out. If you walk out on a "lowball" if they don't honor that price upon your return LEAVE! don't play thier games

Thier are many resectable dealers out there, many of them tarnished by poor salesmen.


Salesmaen are paid on commision if you want to buy a car from a dealer but you don't like your sales person ask to speak to his manager in private and express your concern if the manager is worth his salt he will provide you with a salesman that will listen and work with you not against you.

Dealers are under pressure to make $$$ per unit but many understand that sometimes moving a car is as important as making the big dough.

no_really

Don't worry about the price they give you for the car you want, and the trade-in offer they want to give you. Worry only about how much money you are going to have to give them on top of your car. They can quote you a high price for the new one, give you a high trade-in, and you'll still pay the same as if they gave you a low price on the new one, and low-balled the trade-in value.

Only negotiate the extra money, and financing if you need it. Everything else is just a distraction.

Say you only want to pay $6000 on top of your trade-in. Now you only finance whatever you have left on your original loan, plus $6000. If you have a bank loan, this is easy - the bank gets the title for the new car in exchange for the old car title, and writes you a new loan. Financing at the dealer will make this a more complicated process, and they will likely piss and moan about paying off your trade-in, but write the numbers down on your own piece of paper, and stick to them.

steven975

3.9 is about as low as you can get financing. maybe 3.49 with almost an 800 credit score.

anything lower is what is known as factory subsidized financing. the factory offers lower finance rates in lieu of cash savings.

koala

steven, he was using 1.9% financing to illustrate his point.

no_really has it figured out. All that matters is the net difference between what you're trading in and what you're buying.

Scot

here in Pennsylvania you can do a "courtesy trade" with your current vehicle..... you basically find someone to buy it, then on paper you trade it in to buy the new car..... then your buyer buys it from the dealer....

that way, you get a little more $ on your used car, you get the sales tax beneifts of trading and you get the benefit of the dealership giving you the lowest price on their new car......

Officer_down

Apparently, you didn't read his post carefully. He said he wanted to use a trade-in as a tactic.

I agree that if a dealer doesn't see a profit in selling you a car, they will and certainly can turn around and refuse the earlier stated price. It's not written in stone.