Should you negotiate "selling" or "out the door" price when buying used car? (payments, vehicles)

[abistro]

Always negotiate the out the door price (OTD). Doc fee is BS and is definitely negotiable, in northern VA, they charge $600 for the doc fee...

[DutchessCottonPuff]

Originally Posted by galaxyhi

You want to know what the "OUT THE DOOR" or "WHAT NUMBER DO I WRITE ON THE CHECK" price.

That is true even if they are searching for financing. I often ask for the OUT THE DOOR/ NUMBER ON THE CHECK and tell them I will seek financing on my own.

I warn them when I get the number that I will NOT pay for any additions after the check is written. EVERYTHING must be negotiated prior to that Number.

Even if I go back and let them do the financing, I tell them I WON'T finance/pay a penny more than the previously agreed price.

That's one way to guarantee your deal. I HATE dealing this way. Put a number on it and if I will pay it, I will pay it. IF not I move on.

Simple.

I pretty much do the same no matter who is financing or if it is cash . I tell them straight up tell them that out the door has to be $***** or less with a perfect carfax or I am leaving and I do not want to waste anyone's time . I cannot stand all that fee **** and I am often surprised when they find out what the bottom line is for me OUT THE DOOR I suddenly have a much larger selection . They cannot play with the price and/or ones close to it will suddenly go on sale .

Some people don't care about the carfax part , totally up to you .

[cjlak]

I currently have Honda civic hybrid 2012 for now in excellent condition. I would like to sell it away and buy hyundai elantra 2018 in lowest payment that I have never done in my life for previous cars in dealership.
Do you have any recommendation, friends? e.g. discounts or fee negotiation etc?
It should be done soon~~~.
Thank you

[Quietude]

If you insist on buying from a dealership (always a losing proposition by its very nature), then refuse to talk about anything but the out-the-door, bottom-line, "I write you a check for how much?" amount. Keep returning to that basis no matter how much they try to move the shells around on you. Fine, pay their stupid $600 dealer fee - but it comes out of the bottom line. Pay for the imaginary $400 "required security device" - but it comes out of the bottom line. Let them mark up the DMV fees - ditto.

You often cannot get them to eliminate their extra fees and it's a waste of time, money and sweat to argue that way. Let them shuffle the numbers any way they like - as long as you pay the agreed OTD price. Repeat it to them often - "So, I'm going to write you a check for $X,XXX and no more, right?" Otherwise, as noted above, you'll find that the "bottom line price" comes before all those "fees," along with some they oh-forgot-to-mention.

Don't get rushed, don't get distracted, don't let them change the game on you, and tell them you want all the papers in one pile before you will sign any of them. A late-stage scam is to get you to sign one thing after the other, and then, halfway through - whoops! There's the hidden surprise!

And - Rule #-1 - be prepared to walk out at any moment short of handing over a check for an amount you are content with and taking the keys. Five minutes, five hours, it's not done until it's done, and they count on you thinking of that time as "sunk cost." It's not.

Or buy from private sellers instead. That and a good brand shop for a mechanical survey, and you'll come away much happier.

[Electrician4you]

Originally Posted by Surfertx

Is there a difference negotiating one or the other? Last car dealership they show me the out the door price with title and taxes and then included this $200 fee for some GPS bs equipment they put in every car.

Anyways, which pricing is better to negotiate on?

Out the door price

The GPS thing isn’t bs. It’s to track the car when the buyer stops making payments

[rb79]

What about the property taxes (city and county)? Bought a new car with OTD price and the dealer paid for license, title, and HUT. Still need to pay > $500 for property taxes to DOT.
Should property taxes extra been covered by the out the door price?

[galaxyhi]

Originally Posted by cjlak

I currently have Honda civic hybrid 2012 for now in excellent condition. I would like to sell it away and buy hyundai elantra 2018 in lowest payment that I have never done in my life for previous cars in dealership.
Do you have any recommendation, friends? e.g. discounts or fee negotiation etc?
It should be done soon~~~.
Thank you

We have a 2014 Hyundai Elantra. Paid cash in march of '14. It was tge first new car my OH (other half) had ever had at age 55.

I also have a Kia sedona minivan, '06. Bought used in '10, got a loan but paid off in just over 2 years.

They are sister companies.

I WILL NEVER buy either one again. They are "c rap" with a capital "C".

The Elantra last summer develooed an a/c problem, a serious one. Fortunately we bought the extended warranty to cover the ancillary items attached to the engine. They finally fixed it the 4th time we took it in for repairs, but claimed not all the repairs were covered by the warranty they didnt want to cover.
The Elantra s original battery went at 3 years instead of 4 or 5 years. COULD have been a 3 year battery, but that shows you how cheap they build them.
The tires wore out quickly, they were cheap original equipment. I think we got about 15k out of them.
There are other things that went wrong.

The Sedona i have been basicaly rebuilding for the last 3 years with repairs and replacement. Finally when i grumbled at Firestone about it, the lead mechanic said tyey didnt start building better vehicles that were reliable until 2012 or so.

That could be, but the '14 Elantra is not proving them to be reliable either. Its better than the Sedona, i guess. But not by much.

If you wish to buy it go ahead and negotiate the out of the door price first, before financing. Dont mention financing until you have that out the door price locked up.

I usually tell them " I'm paying for the car base price, plus title, taxes and tags and I'll allow a dealer prep fee (about $100), THAT IS IT". I tell them I'm NOT paying for anything else.

Im glad we purchased the extended warranty on the Elantra, but i somehow got talked into it, by my OH, i normally don't buy them . Its often not even usable AT the dealer you buy from. On the '06, they desperately wanted to sell me one. I pointedly ask " do you honor that warranty?" They said no!!! ( but said " any repair shop will honor it")
So i called up Firestone ( close to my house my regular go-to shop) right in front if the finance man and asked if they honored it... they said they do honor certain ones. But they had never heard of that one!!!
With thise two "NO"! The finance guy quickly removed it from the line item it was.

Its totally up to you to buy it, but I'll never buy one again, of either brand. They sell cheap for that reason.

Stick with a Honda, even a newer used one should be better than the Elantra.

But its YOUR MONEY spend it how you like.

[Okey Dokie]

Originally Posted by rb79

What about the property taxes (city and county)? Bought a new car with OTD price and the dealer paid for license, title, and HUT. Still need to pay > $500 for property taxes to DOT.
Should property taxes extra been covered by the out the door price?

If the property taxes are paid by the dealer...s/b included in “out the door” price. If taxes are paid BY YOU when you go to DMV to register it (as we do it in Missouri with sales tax) then no. IMHO.

[djohnslaw]

it's not hard to get out of document fees.just don't pay them.

[Okey Dokie]

Originally Posted by djohnslaw

it's not hard to get out of document fees.just don't pay them.

Latest dealership ploy on that: “ If we don’t collect them from everybody, we can be accused of discrimination.”

Heard that one last month.