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I negotiated my last vehicle purchase online. Sent 8-10 dealerships a email saying I wanted X car, with Y options and I was going to take delivery by month end. And that I was taking the lowest offer I received. About 5 responses were the "call me" type. I ignored them. I got a couple high offers, and two that played ball with a great price. I took the lowest one, walked in, signed the papers and called it a day. I'm sure some of the salespeople thought I wasn't serious, but their loss....
I was just talking to my FIL this week, and he tried buying a car online. The salesman kept steering him to making the trip in, and wouldn't quote a price. He complained to the general manager of the dealership. Long story short, the sales people WERE supposed to be quoting prices online but were ignoring the rules. Evidently the GM decided to dig into how deep it went, so he accessed their emails and looked at the online quotes. He called my FIL back and said all the sales guys were getting mandatory retraining on how to handle online transactions, and thanked him for bringing it up.
I like this approach. My question is how you deal with the test drives. Do you go to a bunch of dealers and do a bunch of test drives before you ever start in on this? Like show up at a slow time and announce that you're not buying today but you'd like to drive [X]?
I'm pretty surprised that negotiating for a new car via email actually worked for some posters here.
Two years ago when I was looking to buy a new car, I read a few articles and saw some television segments saying that it's possible to shop for a car completely online/by email - just email several dealers, and ask them to quote their best prices. So, I tried this approach, emailing many dealers in the area. Every one responded with "when would you like to schedule an appointment or test drive?" After trading emails with one dealer, I pressed her that I wanted to see her best price. The answer was: we don't negotiate over the internet; you need to come into the dealership.
Another thing that made me weary of the internet car buying experience, was that I found the sales prices listed on most dealer websites were pretty much bogus. I'd see prices that were just too good to be true. When you looked a little more closely and read the fine print, you'd see they were applying every manufacturer rebate (many specialized, such as being a veteran or student), and adding disclaimers like "this is the internet price, but doesn't include destination charge, processing fee, etc," which would add a few thousand to the price.
I'm pretty surprised that negotiating for a new car via email actually worked for some posters here.
Two years ago when I was looking to buy a new car, I read a few articles and saw some television segments saying that it's possible to shop for a car completely online/by email - just email several dealers, and ask them to quote their best prices. So, I tried this approach, emailing many dealers in the area. Every one responded with "when would you like to schedule an appointment or test drive?" After trading emails with one dealer, I pressed her that I wanted to see her best price. The answer was: we don't negotiate over the internet; you need to come into the dealership.
Another thing that made me weary of the internet car buying experience, was that I found the sales prices listed on most dealer websites were pretty much bogus. I'd see prices that were just too good to be true. When you looked a little more closely and read the fine print, you'd see they were applying every manufacturer rebate (many specialized, such as being a veteran or student), and adding disclaimers like "this is the internet price, but doesn't include destination charge, processing fee, etc," which would add a few thousand to the price.
There are a lot of dealers who are doing the bait and switch online. Posting a great, low price on a vehicle, just to get you through the door, then they add every junk fee imaginable to that price. That's why you really have to do your research, ahead of time, before you even start contacting dealerships. Know what's a great price and what isn't.
I've negotiated online with a follow up call/fax to make a deposit... it was a special order vehicle.
Started by emailing the 6 area dealers exactly what I wanted with option codes and the price I was willing to pay to be a buyer.
Three ignored and two said to come in which was a waste of time.
The last one emailed back and said if I was ready to make the deal today with a deposit... OK
It was a very good deal and everything was super easy.. almost too easy.
Later I found out the person at the last Dealership with the General Manager with the power to say yes or no and place special orders... so Dealers certainly vary as to how they conduct business.
I like this approach. My question is how you deal with the test drives. Do you go to a bunch of dealers and do a bunch of test drives before you ever start in on this? Like show up at a slow time and announce that you're not buying today but you'd like to drive [X]?
When I am truly going to test drive only, I tell them up front that I am shopping for different cars that are similar to compare and so far you haven't found one that stop you from more shopping. I don't talk about price or deal.
Once I figured out what car I want.. online shopping is a totally different process.
As for them not dealing online, Costco is one of them. They know people use it for get dealers to compete. When I find a dealer who has what I want, I give them my offer OTD price.. Make sure you are clear that OTD is for a vehicle with the specific stock/vin number and no dealer prep fee.
Started by emailing the 6 area dealers exactly what I wanted with option codes and the price I was willing to pay to be a buyer.
I did something similar when looking for a hard to find used vehicle. After getting jerked around at a local dealer (they wanted way too much) that had one I identified 10 dealerships that had the car I wanted and emailed all of the sales managers my price. I ended up buying the vehicle from a dealer 600 miles away in Chicago, but I saved nearly $4,000 vs. what the local dealer wanted. Shipping was only $450 because I was willing to wait two weeks to take delivery.
There are a lot of dealers who are doing the bait and switch online. Posting a great, low price on a vehicle, just to get you through the door, then they add every junk fee imaginable to that price. That's why you really have to do your research, ahead of time, before you even start contacting dealerships. Know what's a great price and what isn't.
Oh, I did my research, and had a pretty good idea what I should have paid for the car. That is why I was suspicious of the online prices.
After I couldn't get any dealers to give me an email quote, I changed tactics. I would email the dealer with a link to a car on his website, and ask him to break down the price - i.e. what is your price without any manufacturer rebates, etc. (really the dealer shouldn't be including those rebates anyway, since they are coming from the manufacturer). Only one salesperson actually responded to this simple request (and that was the dealer I eventually bought from).
We shopped on line for a 2015 Jeep GC and we got a pretty good deal. I asked them what their bottom line for the Jeep and they sent me back an email that was about 2000 dollars less than MSRP. We told them we wanted the Red Jeep and he responded that they had just received one in that evening and ask if we wanted to come down for a test drive. Sure we did, if we were going to buy we would have to go down anyway. I sent him an email telling him how much we wanted out of our current Jeep, 13.5K, which, had a clear title. We showed up at the dealer, he had the GC all preped and ready to go. We got 13.5 for our Jeep Liberty and all was happy. Took about 1 1/2 hours.
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