Please Help me buy a new car!

[jec2]

Ok, so DH and I started the ball rolling on a new car purchase (honda pilot) as our jetta is just way too small.

I have rec'd two quotes from dealers via email. Both quotes are below MSRP but, depending on what the invoice price is of a few add'tl features, the prices appear to be at or slightly above invoice. The qoutes are definately above CRW (the Consumer Reports Wholesale price) by +/- $1000 (about 4%, which falls in line with what consumer reports suggests is a reasonable price). The quotes DO NOT include Taxes, Licensing and Documentation Fees (adding these on then bring the price to just below MSRP.

So here are my questions,
1) how do i find out what the invoice price of these 3 addt'l features we want? The Honda website has prices but those are MSRP prices. I think I want the invoice price, right?

2) I emailed the guy back and asked him to give me an itemized breakdown of the quote and he misunderstood (or is being evasive) and gave me the exact figures for the Taxes, Licensing and Documentation Fees. Do I push him to give me an itemized breakdown of his quote or am I being silly and should just know that the quote includes what he said it did.

3) And, I obviously want to try for the best price. Do I email him and say I want to pay X (CRW), will you accept it? And then see where it goes from there?

I really want to make this a good purchase as last time we bought a car, we were SO naive and probably paid way too much (read close to sticker). Please offer any advice you can.

Thanks :)

[mattiew]

edmunds.com has lots of great info (including MSRP and invoice)

HTH!
Carrie

[jec2]

thanks, I've already got those figures :)

[pritchettzoo]

Do you belong to Costco? Friends of ours bought their Jetta through Costco's car-buying thingie and saved a bunch of money.

Otherwise, keep doing what you're doing. BIL (who's normally a total moron) got a good deal on his new truck by letting 6 dealers compete against each other. Around here, they do it by fax much easier than email, but they may be more technologically advanced on the West Coast. ;)

Anna
Mama to Gracie (Sept '03)

[C99]

Juliet,

Funny that you should mention this...we are also looking at getting a new car. Thanks for posting the information about CR. We are subscribers online and I totally forgot about checking that out. Instead, I've been bugging my dad every 3-4 hours about it...

[jec2]

We had been emailing back and forth today and I kept trying to get him to break down the quote. Finally, he said that was JUST for the car and not the addit'l accessories. WTF?!!! I requested a quote for A, B, & C! So, I said, listen, here is what I would like to pay--gave him the CRW price--and asked him what he could do? He replied "no thanks."

my head is spinning! that is not what is supposed to happen! He said his offer (of about $1000 above invoice) was very fair and that he was a "no-haggle" dealer! Come on, yeah right! I always wonder if I had a penis whether car people (sales and mechanics) would treat me differently.

I'm kind of ticked off since we have requested four quotes and have only heard back from two dealerships. Don't people want to sell a car?!

Caroline, if you pick up any helpful hints in the process, please share them. My DH is not a very savvy negotiator so I'm feeling the pressure to do this well.

[Melanie]

That stinks. Definitely try going through Costco or AAA to get their "no haggle" prices. They are a set dollar amount or percentage (depending upon dealer/vehicle) over invoice. No haggling. I have found them to be quite reasonable...and there's no obligation.

Good Luck!

[ralu]

Fool.com has also some very good tips about buying a car. The invoice price of the options can be found on sites such as carsdirect.com and edmunds.com. We recently bought a new car (from carsdirect) at a price that was about 3% over the consumer reports price; I thought carsdirect was the easiest way to do it, although I am sure we could have gotten it cheaper if we went to a dealer and haggled a bit. The price was about the same as the Costco price.

From what I understand what you need to do is:
1. Look at carsdirect and compare the price with CRW
2. Go to a real life dealer and ask if they can "outbid" the price
3. If they can, then go to a second dealer and ask them to "outbid" the first dealer
4. Go back to the 1st dealer with the offer from the second
5. Repeat until you feel comfortable with the price.

They don't take you very seriously over email (at least from my experience).

I was pretty lazy and figured out that the stress of haggling was too much for me, so I prefered to pay a little more (still ok) with carsdirect.

Please let me know if I can help more.
Raluca

[C99]

Juliet,

I'm sorry. My experience has been similar in terms of people being reticent to actually NAME a number. My dad said that where he lives (Houston), they do just name a number and let you make a decision to go into the dealership based on that. In Chicago, I only had 2 of the 4 dealerships I e-mailed give me a price quote (which is what I asked for) and even then, it was after a couple of e-mail exchanges "confirming" that what I said I wanted was really what I wanted.

I think the key in carbuying is not to name a number. Even at the dealership I went to, they laughed at me when I gave them the quote that Carsdirect.com had given me for the car (and Carsdirect.com *referred* me to their dealership in the first place, so I reported back that they didn't honor the price). It's kind of like w/ salary negotiations: which ever party names a number first is going to be screwed. The dealer doesn't want to be the screwed party. I also don't think car dealerships like to haggle over the price via e-mail, because then you would have a printed number that could be construed as a contract.

My dad suggested that if the e-mailed quote is close enough to what I want, to go in and negotiate in person. So that's what I plan to do. I think dealers know that if you are e-mailing them, you are savvy enough to have done your research and you are buying on price. Hell, who isn't really buying on price? Maybe someone who wants custom options and who gives a deposit in advance of the shipment? I don't know; I am not that person! Oh and I also think that every dealer these days knows that you know about their tricks and try to reassure you that they aren't using them...even if they are! It's just a way to get you to trust them a bit, even if it's not actually true (like "no haggle" prices).

Anyway -- I have to go because my husband is bugging me. We used Carsdirect.com for our last car purchase and it was a lot better than our current experience. I would recommend them again, but they seem to work differently in California than they do in the rest of the country, which may explain why I was happy the first time and disgruntled this time.

[jec2]

I went to carsdirect.com and their price for the 2005 is actually higher than the dealer who dumped me (both quotes still about $1000 above invoice). So, I think we'll call one of the other dealers (or go in person) and see what we can do using the lowest quote to negotiate.

[cleo27]

Hi,

If you belong to a credit union, they may have car buying services that they offer to members. I work for a credit union in Maryland and there are two companies that we are connected with - United Buying Service and MVCP (motor vehicle certification program, I think). With both of these companies, you would call them and identify yourself as a credit union member and they have prenegotiated pricing with certain dealers in the area. They would send you a certificate for a specific make and model and the dealer would honor that pricing.

Not sure if this would help,, but definitely worth checking if you belong to a credit union.

Cleo
Proud Mama to Lindsay, 6/2/04

[DebbieJ]

Doesn't buying a new car and dealing with those a$$holes just suck? Last time we bought from a private party and it was so easy.

Friends of ours recently bought a brand new Acura TL and they did the faxing thing. They faxed their demands to all the Acura dealers around and then waited for the faxes to come back. They then bought their car from the one who had the lowest price. I'm not sure how much they negotiated if at all, but they felt they got a good deal.

Good luck! I hope you're able to get what you want. Just remember you can always walk away. If the dealer wants to sell the car, they will call you back.

~ deb
Mommy to my sweet boy
B born 12/03
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/10023.jpg http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/10029.gif

[psophia17]

I haven't yet bought a new car, but when we were recently looking, I found a really awesome female car salesman who I actually enjoyed dealing with - she did NOT show me where the vanity mirror was, and was impressed that I had done lots of research on what I wanted and why XYZ were necessary or not...

See if you can find a woman to deal with if you can...the rest of what you're doing sounds exactly right (or at least like exactly what I would do).