Is paying invoice or under invoice for a car the norm or rare in 2013? (vehicles, best)

[Yuptag]

Originally Posted by dude_reino

Ask yourself this: how long can a dealer stay in business if he sells cars for the same price he bought them for?

Invoice is not what the dealer pays. Almost all brands use incentive, hold backs, give backs, bonuses etc.

So the invoice may be 25,000, but holdbacks for the car may be $1500, and bonus for selling 30 cars in a month is $15,000 (so $500 per car) and incentive for selling the particular trim level vs another trim level of the same model is $250. So the dealer can sell $22750 and not lose any money.

[Yuptag]

And this.

Originally Posted by Me007gold

Long time, there is still profit to be made in the svc department, parts department, used car department, financing, ect....

[MJ7]

who still buys new cars? oh yeah, suckers do, thank you suckers for taking the first hit

[ccm123]

Exactly. The dealer receives discounts from the invoice price from the manufacturer. Even if they sell at a reputable "invoice price" (such as from Edmunds.com), they still make a profit. They won't sell the car, if they won't make a profit on it, so negotiate hard, you have nothing to lose, unless you don't mind overpaying.

Originally Posted by CCc girl

Do you really believe they are showing you the real invoice?

[PDD]

Originally Posted by MJ7

who still buys new cars? oh yeah, suckers do, thank you suckers for taking the first hit

Just like you I used to buy used before I had a real job.

[28173]

So many here call the difference of what dealer paid and what he sells as "profit".

Ii is not a true profit until the dealer removes from that "profit" all his expenses (capital, salaries, utilities, taxes, etc).
So dealer selling for true invoice = selling at loss = not happening

[C8N]

^ Agreed
Unless a dealerships sales and admin staff work for free.... generally, I would highly doubt they would sell a car for what they paid for.

[burdell]

Originally Posted by dude_reino

Ask yourself this: how long can a dealer stay in business if he sells cars for the same price he bought them for?

Unless it's changed, most manufacturers have what's known as a 'holdback' for each vehicle a dealer sells, it's credited to the dealer at the end of the year and used to be at least several hundred $$$ per unit.

[Army_Guy]

Holdback and I've also read that some manufacturers will run incentives at times, sell so many units of a certain model and the dealership gets a bonus, etc...

They're in business because they make money and have for years.

I've read that selling used cars are more profitable than new cars. Of course, if you're looking at used cars, you have no idea how much they paid. At least with new cars, you have somewhat of a baseline to go off of.

I don't think they start paying interest on cars until the 90+ day mark that it's been sitting on the lot.

And think about this: car salesman are commission only jobs. If he doesn't sell any cars, the dealer isn't out much so they can afford to stack the floor with salesman.

I'd say parts and service are probably your bigger money makers than selling new cars. You buy a car every few years, unless you're the type who likes to trade cars in every couple (nothing wrong with that, it's your thing) but you do have to maintain the vehicle constantly so where do you think the dealer does more business?

[longnecker]

Originally Posted by sinatras

A long longggggggggggggggggggg time, since most people are stupid enough to pay MSRP and more than make up for him selling it to me at invoice.

So you believe you would be the only one paying invoice price?