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I have been emailing dealerships all over and they all have similar replies. They want you to schedule an appointment. They want you to bring your vehicle in for an appraisal. What happened to actually sending me a list of vehicles that meet my criteria?
Then I would go through them and if I am interested I would come in and test drive the vehicle without a chaufer.
I live around Raleigh in NC. Any dealers want to change my opinion about customer no-service through emails.
Yes, I have tried websites that specialize in contacting dealers for quotes.
If they did send you their "real" price, it would most likely be very high. Dealers expect that you are going to negotiate and most list the vehicles they have in stock on their website. You can scroll through and see if any meet your criteria. Plus stock is changing everyday, a car is not going to necessarily be there next week.
Besides I think car shopping is fun. When I bought my Yukon, I looked at TONS of different SUV's and had a great time doing it! You almost need to look at a vehicle in person, a picture may be worth a thousand words but the car you're buying is worth tens of thousands of dollars!
Speedy, I agree that car shopping "can" be fun at times.
I need to rule out the dealerships that are fair priced. I don't have the time nor the money to drive all over creation to haggle with sales people. Years ago I would write a few emails and get "out-the-door" pricing on any type of vehicle.
I guess different dealers are different. I did all our negotiations on our Honda Odyssey by email, letting each dealer know the best price of the other dealer. We got a VERY low price this way. Much lower than everyone else we know with the same exact Odyssey (and we know a lot of people with the same car!). Since then, some of my friends have done the same thing and also got very low quotes--much lower than in person.
I did not need to see the car in person though. We'd already looked around, read up on minivans, and narrowed it down to the Toyota Siena and the Honda Odyssey. Then we went to dealerships and figured out exactly what we wanted on the car, but did not even start the haggling process.
So you do need to know exactly what you are looking for. With our car, they knew they would have it in 3 weeks, and I'm sure for them it was worth it b/c they wouldn't have to put it out on the lot and try to sell it--it left the lot w/us the same day it came in. For us, it was worth the 3 week wait to save thousands.
I need to rule out the dealerships that are fair priced. I don't have the time nor the money to drive all over creation to haggle with sales people. Years ago I would write a few emails and get "out-the-door" pricing on any type of vehicle.
Something has changed.
I've had no problems getting a price on a car via the Internet. They all have internet departments now. Have you narrowed down the car you want? And yes, I agree they need to see a car in order to appraise it.
I need to rule out the dealerships that are fair priced. I don't have the time nor the money to drive all over creation to haggle with sales people. Years ago I would write a few emails and get "out-the-door" pricing on any type of vehicle.
Something has changed.
I sold Hondas back in '95. My dealership refused to give their best price over the phone. The reason being that once you give your best price, you will never see that customer because they take that number to a dealership close to them and ask the dealer to either match or beat it. All dealerships want to close the deal at their dealership and not help another dealership sell the same car.
There is no exact best price on any car. The dealership wants to sell a car that's on their lot and ready to go. If they have a few of them, then that's the best scenario for you. If it's in some popular hard to find color, then the dealer may try to get more for it. Finally, negotiate your best deal, start with offering them invoice on it. Be ready to walk away from the table. And sometimes, as you are walking out the door, the salesman may "if" you. They may make you a low selling price offer starting with "if I could sell you this car for $xxx today, would you buy it? At that point either accept the price or shoot a little lower. If they shake their head at your lower price, then I would grab the offered price right then and there. Otherwise, if you return the to the dealership the next day deciding that the "if" price was the best one, you will never get it offered again to you once they know you really want to buy the car from them.
I know it sounds odd, but when a customer isn't seriously ready to buy a car, the dealership will try make you return to them by offering them a ridiculously low selling price. And they know that in throwing that number out, no other dealership will want to sell it for that price. So they know that it will help you to return to them.
Otherwise, having sold new cars, in the unlikely event that I ever buy a new car, I would pick a dealership with a good reputation for customer service. I believe in supporting good well run businesses. And a dealership that is allowed to make a little profit on their cars also take better car of their inventory. Sure it's a new car with a warranty, but there are subtle ways a new car can be abused on the lot or in their service department.
Also, depending on what kind of car you want to buy, you can make some posts in the appropriate car message boards to see what the membership has been paying for them. Another thing to make the deal sweeter is to ask for some free oil changes or scheduled maintenances thrown in.
Go through the Costco car buying program if it is available (autobytell and others are similar).
No hassle $200 over invoice buying!!! I bought my truck that way, and my MIL bought her Camery. They send you prices over the phone, etc because you will deal directly with the fleet manager instead of a salesman.
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. When I bought my Yukon, I looked at TONS of different SUV's and had a great time doing it! You almost need to look at a vehicle in person, a picture may be worth a thousand words but the car you're buying is worth tens of thousands of dollars!
Speedy, I agree that car shopping "can" be fun at times.
